For the third consecutive year, Siveco China is running the online survey "Maintenance in China", a joint project with the European and French Chambers of Commerce in China and academic partner ESSTIN (a leading Institute of Technology in Nancy, France, specializing in maintenance engineering). The main objective of the survey is to obtain a clear picture of maintenance management among multinationals in China, providing an opportunity for benchmarking across different industries.

 
Although primarily targeted at European companies, the survey is open to all – multinationals and Chinese companies alike – at the following address: //www.hbdbzs.com/Survey/survey2009.htm. The survey will run until after the Chinese New Year holiday, after which results will be presented during a roadshow in at least three cities: Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. In addition, the analysis report will be sent to all respondents.

 
The 2009 survey was launched at a conference with the European Chamber of Commerce in China in Nanjing on December 4. During the event, Bruno Lhopiteau, General Manager of Siveco China and coordinator of the "Construction & Maintenance Working Group" at the Chamber, presented several case studies featuring maintenance improvement projects based on the results of last year's survey. The objective was to provide attendees with ideas on how to better utilize the survey for benchmarking against other MNCs but also to define their own improvement plans. The event was attended by top managers from some of the largest petrochemical companies in the area, who provided useful insights on key issues facing multinationals operating large process facilities.

 
One of last year's survey's respondent, a leading chemical producer, chose to go deeper with a one-week audit by Siveco China's maintenance expert team. The audit focused on evaluating the utilization of existing CMMS systems, in order to optimize the existing IT investment and recommend future action plans. The company's General Manager was quoted as saying, referring to the financial crisis: "In this period of slowdown, we had an excellent opportunity to look into our own plant management processes to see how we can continuously improve". The audit result, with action plan for 2009, were successfully presented to the company's management team on Dec 17.