Transit bus maintenance programs, like most vehicle maintenance programs, have traditionally consisted of two basic categories: preventative maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM). Preventative maintenance consists of visual inspections, oil changes and lubrication of components on a defined time or mileage interval. Corrective maintenance is the repair of a failed component that occurs in between the PM intervals. Preventative maintenance is considered proactive while corrective maintenance is reactive. Up until June of 2015, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (RTA) Fleet Maintenance Program was built around the tenants of preventative and corrective maintenance.
In June 2014, the RTA began to explore a relatively new maintenance program titled “predictive maintenance,” which was believed to reduce the amount of time spent on corrective maintenance. In addition to the reduction in corrective maintenance, several other benefits were expected to be gained, includingimproved service reliability; improved forecasting and management of fleet lifecycle costs; extended bus life, thereby reducing capital costs; reduced operating costs; and reduced inventory carrying costs.
In June of 2014 the RTA’s big bus fleet mileage between service interruption (MBSI) was averaging around 5,000 miles between mechanical interruption. Speaking with a vendor who had helped implement predictive maintenance for St. Louis Metro, they shared their MBSI results pre- and post-predictive maintenance. Prior to the implementation of predictive maintenance, they averaged just under 5,000 miles between interruption. After implementation, MBSI increased drastically each of the first three years, up to a fairly steady 20,000 miles between interruption. Given these results, the RTA embarked on its journey to change the way it maintained its fleet of buses.
As executive management and fleet maintenance supervision learned more about the structure, principles and framework of predictive maintenance, it was clear that RTA had the information needed for developing predictive maintenance, as well as the staff expertise to interpret and develop a predictive maintenance program plan for its fleet of buses. A concern shared by both executives and fleet management was the time frame for implementation and integration of predictive maintenance into the current maintenance program if done solely by internal personnel. Again, the question was not if it could be done by RTA staff, the question was how long would it take for the PMPP to be developed, implemented and benefits realized.
Given the positive results in St. Louis following the implementation of predictive maintenance and RTA’s need for improvement in vehicle reliability, it was decided that RTA would prepare and advertise a Request for Proposal (RFP) for development of a comprehensive Predictive Maintenance Program Plan (PMPP).
RTA’s Fleet Management Department drafted the RFP, which was then advertised and awarded to CodeRed Business Solutions (CRBS) for the development of a comprehensive Predictive Maintenance Program Plan. In the RFP were many contract deliverables including:
- First draft report detailing the PMPP submitted to the RTA for approval
- Formal report detailing the PMPP
- Successful implementation of the comprehensive PMPP. Some of the criteria for this deliverable included:
- PMPP shall address all preventative maintenance, predictive maintenance, and corrective maintenance issues with each of the revenue fleets/buses without overlooking any safety considerations or revenue service requirements
- Provision of oversight for a six-month implementation period monitoring the PMPP performance, providing a feedback loop, and recommending changes necessary for the program’s success.
- PMPP shall be the stand-alone maintenance program to maintain the RTA identified fleets without requiring any manual tracking or adjustments of data after initial start-up.
- PMPP shall address vehicle lifecycle costs and midlife actions to extend vehicle life 25 percent beyond manufacturer’s stated vehicle life
- PMPP shall be flexible enough to allow periodic “special” campaign-related work to be scheduled, tracked and performed on the revenue fleets/buses without requiring any PMPP program modifications
- Development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as required to accomplish the successful implementation of the PMPP
- Development of detailed bills of materials for the “kitting” of parts as required to accomplish the successful implementation of the PMPP
- Development of training for operations managers and supervisors, inventory personnel, and planning and configuration management personnel for the introduction, operation and successful implementation of the PMPP
- Development of mutually agreed upon performance metrics to quantitatively measure the success of the PMPP
After CRBS was selected, they worked collaboratively with numerous stake holders at RTA to develop the PMPP. RTA personnel provided CRBS with necessary documents and information for review. Some of the documents reviewed were RTA’s SOPs for vehicle maintenance; inventory policies, procedures and operating instructions; Bus System Safety Program Plan; RTA Procurement Manual; Procurement Department Policy Guidelines; and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) maintenance manuals.
Some of the information provided to CRBS included historical vehicle mileage, detailed part usage by sub fleet and fleet maintenance records. After review of key documents and information, CRBS met with RTA staff from Fleet Management, Central Inventory, District Management, Asset and Configuration Management, and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) in order to fine tune the PMPP, as well as communicate to the staff the importance of this new maintenance methodology.
Once the data collection and review was complete, a draft PMPP maintenance schedule was produced containing the list of parts to be replaced with suggested replacement intervals for one bus fleet. This maintenance schedule was reviewed and edited by RTA and CRBS to optimize the effectiveness of the plan. Upon completion of the PMPP for each bus fleet, RTA’s Inventory Department would take the list of parts and develop parts kit(s) as needed separated by system. For example, they would generate a kit for brakes, engine, steering, transmission, HVAC, etc.
At RTA, there are two bus operating districts and a Central Bus Maintenance Facility (CBMF). At the operating districts, all running repairs including PMs are completed. At CBMF, heavy repairs are performed to include engine replacement, engine rebuild (both in and out of chassis), brake jobs and major body work. When the PMPP was developed, each sub system was considered and decided where the PMPP would take place (operating district vs. CBMF).
RTA targeted two bus fleets for the initial role out of its PMPP. One was an existing bus fleet that had been in service for about 6 years, the other was a new fleet that was expected to be in service in the summer of 2015. The benefits of implementing PMPP on an existing fleet as well as a new fleet were that it provided a framework for RTA to use for other existing fleets, it allowed a side-by-side comparison of the effectiveness of the PMPP vs. the traditional method of bus fleet maintenance, and lastly it ensured that the new fleet of buses would immediately be placed on the PMPP. With the implementation of PMPP on two fleets with different ages, lengths, power plants and different OEMs, came the challenge of developing two completely different PMPPs.
PMPP Kick Off
Once the final PMPP was published and the new maintenance practice was to begin, RTA held a kick-off meeting at the district where the work would take place. Attendees included the deputy general manager of Operations, CRBS, fleet management, district management, asset and configuration management, and members of the ATU. Holding a kick-off meeting provided an opportunity to explain the benefits of the PMPP to those who had not been close to the development of the program, illustrate executive management’s commitment to the program, explain everyone’s role in the PMPP process moving forward, and answer any questions employees might have.
Additionally, it was clearly communicated to all stakeholders that the PMPP was not a static plan, that it was truly dynamic and required feedback from all involved in order for it to be as effective as possible. To streamline the feedback process, a PMPP log book was developed for each bus and was to be kept at the bus during the PMPP maintenance activity. This log book tracked all maintenance activities by those performing the work and was to be reviewed daily by shop management staff.
Opportunities for Improvement
As with most projects of this magnitude, many lessons were learned. First, the time required from the Inventory Department for parts research, verification, kitting and processing was greater than anticipated. Inventory will need to be brought into the planning and development stages earlier and more often to allow them time to complete their roles in the process. As is often the case, those closest to the work will identify improvement opportunities sooner than those overseeing the process. It is imperative that communication flow quickly from all involved, especially from those performing the PMPP to those managing the process.
Another challenge that RTA faced was the volume of work for the initial PMPP on the 6-year-old fleet. Originally it was planned for the majority of the work to be completed at the operating district. After the second bus was completed, it was apparent that the hours needed for completing the first PMPP cycle at the district were too great, and that redistribution of work to the CBMF was necessary. Once this was done, buses began to cycle through the PMPP at a more rapid rate.
Lastly, the design of the PMPP within RTA’s maintenance software is critical. Halfway through the 6-year-old bus fleet initial PMPP maintenance activity, RTA is on its third major iteration of the electronic format for the PMPP. Major changes have included the PMPP nomenclature, as well as the maintenance interval/triggering mechanism for PMPP activities. There have also been many smaller changes to the maintenance requirement for items such as task list, location and number of parts to be replaced, and auto-generation of parts demanded.
Results
As mentioned previously, a successful PMPP should result in many improvements for an organization. The two most important areas that RTA was looking to improve were vehicle reliability (MBSI) and improved vehicle lifecycle cost forecasting and budgeting. Although the implementation of predictive maintenance is still in its early stages at RTA, the results thus far have been tremendous, especially in these two areas.
Prior to implementing the PMPP on the 6-year-old bus fleet, the average MBSI was roughly 2,800 miles between service interruptions. A year-and-a-half in, over half of this fleet is on the PMPP and for these buses, the MBSI is averaging more than 6,800 miles between service interruption. This is nearly a 150 percent increase in reliability. In addition to the increased MBSI for these buses, there has been a corresponding reduction in corrective maintenance work orders of 12 percent. In regard to the improvements in budgeting and lifecycle forecasting, the Inventory Department ended 2016 with a positive balance in its operating budget, which is the first time this has happened in well over 10 years.
The benefits of a properly planned inventory budget are many. When a department such as Inventory exceeds its annual budget, often this cannot be ignored, because the effects of running out of money means not buying parts, which in turn leads to down buses and therefore no service for customers. Accurate Inventory budgeting allows the Office of Management and Budget to better plan its expenditures and prevents the need for “finding” money to augment parts purchases every year. Other benefits of accurate budget planning are improved parts availability, better predictability of parts needs, reduction in on-hand inventory and reduced carrying costs.
Summary
Although RTA is early in its transition to a fleet maintenance plan that incorporates predictive maintenance, the results are already positive, and there is no reason to believe that results won’t continue to trend in the right direction. Thus far the implementation to PMPP in Cleveland has been well received and is progressing at a steady rate. The decision to contract with a vendor to begin the PMPP was the right decision. Having CRBS do much of the heavy lifting for the first couple of fleets shortened significantly the timeframe for predictive maintenance implementation, and also laid the PMPP framework for RTA’s remaining and future bus fleets.
With the likelihood of the Federal Transit Administration increasing the useful life criteria for transit buses beyond its current level of 12 years, the need to properly maintain vehicles and extend their useful life is critical. RTA’s new maintenance program is designed for improved fleet lifecycle cost forecasting, extended bus life, reduced capital costs, reduced operating costs and reduced inventory carrying costs — all of which puts RTA in line not only to meet or exceed FTA requirements, it also provides stability for budgeting purposes and improves the state of repair on its bus fleet.
Ronald Baron is the director of Fleet Management at the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
