Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/619545
AGGREGATES MANAGER / January 2016 27 L ike all quarries, the journey from being a reactive plant to one that operates within a preventive and predic- tive equipment culture can be a long one. The question to be asked despite the lengthy journey is: Can the gains be immediate, while also being sustained and expand- ed for the long haul? For Northern Oregon's Baker Rock Resources, the answer appears to be a resound- ing 'yes' as the company built on its gains in effi ciency, maximized productivity, and increased uptime with its stationary equipment in its Beaverton, Ore., quarry via imple- mentation of Total Process Reliability (TPR) principles. As an outgrowth of Total Productive Maintenance principles devised by Japanese Engineer Seiichi Nakajima, TPR is about increasing equipment reliability, de- creasing downtime, and creating a unifi ed asset management process. This is embodied in permanent and engrained methodologies that shift processes and mindsets in ways that change the company's culture from top to bottom. While the results have, thus far, been impressive, a closer look shows how changing and tracking main- tenance and reliability processes with equipment is about changing the company culture and creating shared partnerships with its per- sonnel and crews. Founded in 1956, the fami- ly-owned company and its more than 100 employees supply ag- gregate and paving materials to Northwest Oregon via divisions in Beaverton, Dayton, and Malala. With ongoing relationships with major and minor road and construction projects throughout the state, Baker Rock's main Beaverton quarry spans 250 acres and processes an average of 1.5 million tons of aggregate per year. Like many aggregates opera- tions around the country that have been around for any length of time,