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Successful FATs improve equipment start-ups

Amway’s John Giles walks through the OpX Factory Acceptance Test protocol and checklist for CPGs and OEMs.

FAT checklist guidelines
FAT checklist guidelines

A factory acceptance test (FAT) is critical for verifying capital equipment operability prior to it leaving a supplier’s factory. Unfortunately, FATs are often overlooked or underdeveloped in the early stages of a project. This often leads to unnecessary costs, delays, and difficulties in later stages.

John Giles, Manager, Operations Engineering Group, Amway, shared a Consumer Packaged Goods company’s perspective on running a successful FAT during a recent PMMI and OpX webinar titled Improving project results using factory acceptance testing (FAT) best practices. Giles is uniquely qualified to address this issue, as his team is responsible for identifying, purchasing, installing, and qualifying process and packaging equipment for Amway North America.

“At Amway we conduct more than 15 FATs each year, and that covers a wide range of equipment—both processing and packaging,” said Giles. “This could be a $50,000 labeler up to a $2 million dollar filling machine.”

Amway was looking for a standardized approach to FATs across the organization, and the development of an OpX protocol, a work product, and an accompanying checklist called Factory Acceptance Tests: Protocols for Capital Equipment in the CPG Industry, tied in well with Amway’s plans to positively impact equipment start-up.

“We wanted to rapidly accelerate to reach target performance levels,” Giles said. “We want this equipment to go in and run extremely well when it gets integrated into a line, or if it’s a new line, [run well] from an OEE standpoint. We felt that if we could do a better job upfront, we could help with our results with production ramp-up and achieve higher sustainable OEEs sooner in the production environment.”

The FAT work product and checklist from OpX emphasizes that it’s unwise to overlook that upfront portion of the FAT. Planning comes first on the checklist, and within the planning section, staffing is the number one element.

Staffing includes the labor needed to run the equipment during the test, the technical staff required to observe and evaluate, and any others for training purposes. Giles says the complexity of the equipment will dictate who attends.

“In the past, we sent 10 or 15 people. It can become a zoo, and it’s not a good experience. Today, we send our maintenance group, operators, and setup personnel, along with engineering. We love to give these guys initial exposure with the potential for some advanced training, and they can meet up with the OEM personnel. This establishes critical relations that can pay off during equipment start-up,” he said. “From the CPG perspective, you want to make sure that you are going to have the same group of individuals attending the FAT that will be responsible for starting up the equipment when it goes into production.”

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