At the end of 2023, I took a little tour around some sites in the UK, accompanied by two senior females Reliability, Maintenance, and Engineering (RME) leaders: Rachel (a Global Director) and Anna (a Sr. Manager). I visited some robotics sites (I do love a robot!), one near Birmingham, which launched back in 2017 with a plan for future expansion involving robots. Post site construction, it was realised that extra concrete would have to be poured in order for the floor to be strong enough to support the additional weight of robots. Fortunately, this was able to take place before the site fully opened; a change like this in the middle of operations would have been extremely difficult (not to mention disruptive). There was the possibility that the floor would have been strengthened unnecessarily (if expansion hadn’t happened), but I’m pleased to see that the plans came to full fruition.
One of the more recently launched robotics sites, which I also had the pleasure of visiting, is also located near Birmingham. During my time on site, I took the opportunity to visit a dedicated training area, where I was able to refresh some of my safety skills, such as using the emergency stop procedure, without the risk of impacting production. I also practiced Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) drills, which are very important to ensure that equipment doesn’t accidentally start while its being repaired. I particularly like the ‘LOTO Walkway’ comprising 15 guided steps for employees; I think the colourful visual really brings the process to life. Another clever initiative, and one that I was involved in delivering, is the Amazon Monitron system, which uses Machine Learning to enable predictive maintenance for industrial equipment. Alongside other members of the RME team, we deployed small temperature and vibration sensors to provide early warning when an asset is going to fail, so that we can repair it before it breaks down. One of the biggest benefits from this implementation will be reduced unplanned equipment downtime, which will allow us to ensure we can continually deliver packages to our customers.