St. Marys Paper Ltd., located along the banks of the St. Marys River, at the hub of the Great Lakes, produces over 200,000 tons of supercalendered paper per year. The product, a high grade, uncoated paper, is most commonly used in advertising inserts, catalogues and magazines.
Construction of the original mill, driven by an American entrepreneur, Francis H. Clergue, was completed in 1896. The facility began as the Sault Ste. Marie Pulp and Sulphite Company, the first mill in North America to produce dried pulp. Today, it is privately owned, partially by the employees, making it somewhat unique in the paper industry in that every employee has a personal stake in the success of the company. Workers pride themselves in their commitment to quality and service and their efforts have paid off with receipt of several supplier awards from major corporations.
Maintaining the Assets
As competitive pressures increased and technology continued to advance, St. Marys found themselves behind the technology curve. The company had no automated methods to maintain their critical production assets which totaled over $500 million.
Up until 1989, the approach to maintenance at St. Marys was completely manual. High value equipment assets such as grinders, slashers, debarkers, paper machines, screens, refiners, and supercalenders required the highest level efficiency output and uptime. St. Marys recognized that a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) was necessary for planned maintenance and reduction of downtime.
With the goal in mind of finding a CMMS to help reduce costs and improve efficiencies, St. Marys began their search. Initially, the search for a system required interfacing with the companys financials system which at that time was VAX-based. Of the vendors evaluated, CHAMPS was determined to be the best fit. After a successful implementation, St. Marys had a system in place to help reduce downtime and standardize maintenance processes.
Technology-Driven Maintenance
In this age of continuous change, however, St. Marys was faced with further maintenance requirements. Maintenance technology advanced as well, with the advent of Client/Server (CS) applications with graphical interfaces and greater flexibility than previously possible. Having updated their financial system to C/S it was time for St. Marys to do the same for their maintenance department.
In 1998, St. Marys decided to investigate potential vendors for the maintenance system upgrade initiative. After a review of several vendors, the mill once again turned to CHAMPS. We felt they brought a lot to the table including a solid reputation, extensive experience and an attractive data migration plan that fit our needs, stated Brian Delvecchio, Information Systems Superintendent for St. Marys Paper. The ability to access the system remotely was another factor in our decision process. And, we already knew the company and support staff on a first name basis so familiarity certainly influenced our decision.
Another factor influencing the decision was the maintenance systems ability to interface with St. Marys financials application, EmpowerFinancials. To address this situation, a cost-effective interface was mapped out between the maintenance and the financial systems to the mills satisfaction.
Prior to implementation of the upgraded version of the maintenance system, St. Marys dedicated a core group to develop mill-specific user manuals and procedures based on job functions. The core group delivered the training to all users just prior to implementation. This same approach has been used to address training needs of new hires and for those personnel requiring refresher courses.
The remote access capability of the maintenance system has been a tremendous benefit for planners and supervisors. These users are able to connect from anywhere over the Internet and run the application from their virtual desktop provided by a Citrix Metaframe server. Having this connectivity enables them to prepare for the upcoming day by planning and scheduling their work orders from home on the previous evening if they choose. This remote connectivity also enables St. Marys to efficiently address support issues. Rather than going through the attempts of describing a particular issue, St. Marys is able to access the maintenance system support desk which is immediately able to shadow the administrator to quickly resolve issues. This enables both St. Marys and the maintenance system vendor to view the same user session and know exactly what needs to be done.
Construction of the original mill, driven by an American entrepreneur, Francis H. Clergue, was completed in 1896. The facility began as the Sault Ste. Marie Pulp and Sulphite Company, the first mill in North America to produce dried pulp. Today, it is privately owned, partially by the employees, making it somewhat unique in the paper industry in that every employee has a personal stake in the success of the company. Workers pride themselves in their commitment to quality and service and their efforts have paid off with receipt of several supplier awards from major corporations.
Maintaining the Assets
As competitive pressures increased and technology continued to advance, St. Marys found themselves behind the technology curve. The company had no automated methods to maintain their critical production assets which totaled over $500 million.
Up until 1989, the approach to maintenance at St. Marys was completely manual. High value equipment assets such as grinders, slashers, debarkers, paper machines, screens, refiners, and supercalenders required the highest level efficiency output and uptime. St. Marys recognized that a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) was necessary for planned maintenance and reduction of downtime.
With the goal in mind of finding a CMMS to help reduce costs and improve efficiencies, St. Marys began their search. Initially, the search for a system required interfacing with the companys financials system which at that time was VAX-based. Of the vendors evaluated, CHAMPS was determined to be the best fit. After a successful implementation, St. Marys had a system in place to help reduce downtime and standardize maintenance processes.
Technology-Driven Maintenance
In this age of continuous change, however, St. Marys was faced with further maintenance requirements. Maintenance technology advanced as well, with the advent of Client/Server (CS) applications with graphical interfaces and greater flexibility than previously possible. Having updated their financial system to C/S it was time for St. Marys to do the same for their maintenance department.
In 1998, St. Marys decided to investigate potential vendors for the maintenance system upgrade initiative. After a review of several vendors, the mill once again turned to CHAMPS. We felt they brought a lot to the table including a solid reputation, extensive experience and an attractive data migration plan that fit our needs, stated Brian Delvecchio, Information Systems Superintendent for St. Marys Paper. The ability to access the system remotely was another factor in our decision process. And, we already knew the company and support staff on a first name basis so familiarity certainly influenced our decision.
Another factor influencing the decision was the maintenance systems ability to interface with St. Marys financials application, EmpowerFinancials. To address this situation, a cost-effective interface was mapped out between the maintenance and the financial systems to the mills satisfaction.
Prior to implementation of the upgraded version of the maintenance system, St. Marys dedicated a core group to develop mill-specific user manuals and procedures based on job functions. The core group delivered the training to all users just prior to implementation. This same approach has been used to address training needs of new hires and for those personnel requiring refresher courses.
The remote access capability of the maintenance system has been a tremendous benefit for planners and supervisors. These users are able to connect from anywhere over the Internet and run the application from their virtual desktop provided by a Citrix Metaframe server. Having this connectivity enables them to prepare for the upcoming day by planning and scheduling their work orders from home on the previous evening if they choose. This remote connectivity also enables St. Marys to efficiently address support issues. Rather than going through the attempts of describing a particular issue, St. Marys is able to access the maintenance system support desk which is immediately able to shadow the administrator to quickly resolve issues. This enables both St. Marys and the maintenance system vendor to view the same user session and know exactly what needs to be done.
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