Download the building blocks for maintenance

THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR MAINTENANCE
By
Bob Steibly, Sr. Reliability Engineer, GenesisSolutions
Most Maintenance organizations have been designed and built upon foundational
building blocks that have brought the organization to the point it’s at today. The current
Maintenance organization may be one of the best, the worst, or anywhere in between.
How well those building blocks were designed and implemented defines the
Maintenance organization.
In this initial article we will begin with the overall scope of the building blocks required for
a Best in Class Maintenance organization and take a look at the composition of each of
those building blocks. A Best in Class Maintenance operation is one that is both
effective and cost efficient in its performance and service to its customers. We will also
look at how these building blocks fit together to support or compliment each other as the
Maintenance organization continually matures.
Any Maintenance organization, regardless of the business sector, should have the
correct, basic, building blocks in place if it wants to become an effective and efficient
organization. What is an “effective” and “efficient” Maintenance organization?
Unfortunately, many Maintenance organizations are either effective or efficient. In the
real world, however, few organizations are both. Effective Maintenance organizations
may be maintaining the equipment (assets) of the plant to the current satisfaction of the
Operations-side of the business. However, in the process, they are not efficient at
fulfilling their charter for the business itself.
For example, Maintenance may function primarily in the reactive mode (emergency) by
reacting to equipment breakdowns and fixing the problems quickly. Perhaps the
Maintenance Supervisor will even take $100 out of his or her pocket to give to a trades
person to make a run downtown in the company pick-up truck to buy that needed
bearing for the equipment that is down. Is this effective? Yes!
•
•
•
•
The broken equipment is repaired using an emergency work order
after it breaks down.
The supervisor is a superstar because he or she took money out of
their own pocket (of course the company will reimburse the
supervisor) to buy the bearing.
The trades person flew out of the plant to run downtown and buy the
bearing.
The equipment is up and running in short order.
Sounds wonderful…or familiar, right?
100 Danbury Road, Suite 105
Ridgefield, CT 06877
(203) 431-0281
www.GenesisSolutions.com
However, is this efficient? Many people may be surprised to hear the answer is “No.”
Although the work was done somewhat effectively (the equipment was quickly put back
into service), it was not accomplished efficiently. Maintenance suffered, Operations
suffered, and the business suffered. How?
•
•
•
Maintenance suffered because it tied up its resources, which are
typically in short supply, reacting to a problem that they should have
anticipated through PMs, PdMs, and other proactive maintenance
technologies.
Operations suffered because the equipment was down, and it had
direct labor people standing around with nothing to do as well as not
being capable of producing its product.
The business suffered because its customer is not satisfied with either
the quantity or the quality of the end product.
There must be a better solution. There is and that is where the term “efficient” comes
into play. First, however, let’s look at the big picture: The Maintenance Model.
THE MAINTENANCE MODEL
This Maintenance Model is depicted in Figure 1. It is composed of building blocks that
define Maintenance at four levels. The lower levels are the basic or foundational
building blocks upon which the subsequent levels are built.
The major building blocks consist of four levels, with the highest level being The Goal of
“Equipment Reliability”. However, before reaching that top level, three lower levels must
be designed, developed, and in place correctly. The foundation or first level consists of
three Fundamentals: A “Mission” for the Maintenance organization in support of the
business, the “People” who make up Maintenance, and the “Vision” of where
Maintenance will be in the future (5 years and out). It is next to impossible to build an
effective and efficient Maintenance organization without first having the Fundamental
building blocks in place. Without them, Maintenance will always be reacting to problems
and issues concerning the business. Maintenance will operate in the reactive mode and
not in the proactive mode.
100 Danbury Road, Suite 105
Ridgefield, CT 06877
(203) 431-0281
www.GenesisSolutions.com
THE MAINTENANCE MODEL
THE GOAL
EQUIPMENT
RELIABILITY
THE CORE
THE CORE
THE CORE
THE CORE
THE CORE
THE CORE
ASSET
MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM
WORK
IDENTIFICATION
AND CONTROL
MAINTENANCE
PLANNING
WORK
SCHEDULING
INVENTORY
CONTROL
MAINTENANCE
TRAINING
THE DIRECTION
THE DIRECTION
KEY PERFORMANCE
METRICS
STRATEGIC PLAN
THE FUNDAMENTAL
THE FUNDAMENTAL
THE FUNDAMENTAL
MISSION
PEOPLE
VISION
THE MAJOR BUILDING BLOCKS
Figure 1: The Maintenance Model
Once the Fundamentals are in place, the Direction for Maintenance must be determined,
and, in doing so, two key areas must be addressed: the development of “Key
Performance Metrics (Indicators)” (KPI’s) and a “Strategic Plan”. Without KPI’s,
organizations cannot identify those areas that are barriers to success, and without a
“Strategic Plan” that is built upon the “Mission” of Maintenance and the “Vision” for
where Maintenance will be in the future, Maintenance has no direction or plan of how to
reach its goals.
Following the development of the Fundamentals and the Direction, Maintenance should
then concentrate on the Core building blocks to success. Those include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Asset Management Program
Work Identification and Control
Maintenance Planning
Work Scheduling
Inventory Control
Maintenance Training
The Goal of all of these building blocks is ultimately “Equipment Reliability” in the plant.
All come together to support and improve the reliability of the plant equipment (assets) to
cost effectively perform to design expectations and to be available to Operations when
100 Danbury Road, Suite 105
Ridgefield, CT 06877
(203) 431-0281
www.GenesisSolutions.com
the equipment is needed to produce the product for the plant at the quantities and
qualities demanded by the business and the customer. “Equipment Reliability” might be:
•
•
•
•
the air handling system operating correctly when needed for an office
building;
the dependability of a public transit bus to begin and complete its
route on time;
the operation of a forge press to produce quality jet engine parts;
the quality of paper produced by a paper mill, etc.
At this level of ”Equipment Reliability”, a first-rate Maintenance organization does
perform efficiently and effectively in support of the business.
In subsequent articles we discuss each of the building blocks in detail. Do you have a
Vision for your Maintenance operation? Do you have a Mission statement developed, in
place, and clearly understood by all in Maintenance? If not, perhaps the next article will
help guide you through the process to develop that Vision and Mission.
Author:
Robert L. Steibly, Sr. Reliability Engineer at GenesisSolutions
100 Danbury Road, Suite 105
Ridgefield, CT 06877
(203) 431-0281
www.GenesisSolutions.com