Below are 23 categories intended to capture all observed maintenance activities. Occasionally, activities are observed which do not fall neatly into one of the pre-defined categories. When necessary, after consulting with either the maintenance supervisor or maintenance manager, a category is selected and an appropriate category clarification is made in these instances. continue reading…
So, what DOES a planner do? Industry wisdom claims that the process of planning and scheduling dramatically improves maintenance productivity. But what exactly does a planner do throughout the day? This narrative follows a planner through a normal day to see. It also identifies the planning principles and concepts along the way. When properly put into practice, these principles and concepts help the high performing maintenance organization make planning work. continue reading…
Empowering maintenance crews and personnel means allowing them to make decisions within their areas of responsibility. This greatly increases the quality of maintenance work. However, empowering does not mean turning each of the specialized areas of maintenance loose on its own. The maintenance process takes a coordinated team effort to master and an explicit scheduling process is necessary to advance productivity. Superior maintenance requires both empowerment and scheduling. This paper explains where and how high performing maintenance organizations utilize and leverage each concept. continue reading…
The work order priority system often goes unnoticed as a significant opportunity for boosting maintenance performance. We focus our attention on big initiatives and technology and few if any vendors try to sell us a new priority system. Restructuring the priority system requires no technology or cost. Yet, this system is one of those little things that can really help or really hinder progress toward maintenance excellence. It is a “low tech and high value” tool for improvement. continue reading…
A perfect job plan is not a single event. A perfect job plan develops over time built on the foundations of planner expertise and repeated maintenance work. continue reading…
Maintenance planning and scheduling should dramatically improve the productivity of maintenance. For example, a group of 30 maintenance technicians should be performing the work of 47 persons when aided by a single planner. Yet most maintenance organizations do not have a planning function and most that do are frustrated.
Created by the author of McGraw-Hill’s Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook, Doc Palmer, the course reviews the fundamentals and then provides class exercises to illustrate the principles and techniques to achieve success. This Planner/Scheduler course not only covers the theory and vision, but the nuts and bolts of how planning and scheduling work. continue reading…