11Maintenance_Control PT2 – Click To Download PDF

MAINTENANCE CONTROL

(Part 2)
Albert K. Fletcher
CEO/PM Consultant
(Dataman System Consultancy)

Maintenance Control

Each of the nine (9) questions typical of the Plant Managers’ concerns should be supplemented with its “why” statement. These facilitate the definition of the development steps listed previously. The nine (9) questions are as follows:

  1. Is our Facility Secure against disastrous production interruptions?
    Or, is our operational security under control? Such interruption has the risk of direct, traumatic effect on my performance at any moment.

  2. Do I have the right Quantity of Maintenance?
    Or, is the amount of Maintenance required and provided under control? Do I have too much? Too little? The right amount of Maintenance has an indirect effect on Plan; is hard to establish; and can have a rapid effect.

  3. Do I have Maintenance Costs I can live with in today’s situation?
    Or, are our Maintenance budgets and costs under control? Costs have a direct effect on Plan; are visible, measurable, can change quickly, and are monitored by management levels above me.

  4. How Good is my Maintenance Department? Will it get better? How well does it do what it does?
    Or, is the quality of the Maintenance function under control? Maintenance quality has an indirect effect on Plan; is hard to measure; and response to change is slow.

  5. Can the Maintenance Department respond to the next change in the Plant Production demand?
    Or, is the Maintenance ability-to-respond under control? Ability-to-respond has an indirect effect on Plan; is measurable; depends on Plant’s potential for changes in product mix.

  6. What is the Image of my Plant to employees and outsiders as influenced by Maintenance?
    Or, is Plant appearance under control? – (Appearance as affected by Maintenance Department – not Production Department). Plant image comes from direct impressions with an indirect effect on Plant Manager’s reputation; it has no effect on Plan; is easy to measure; and has a relatively slow rate of change.

  7. How are we fixed for Hourly and Supervisory Employee?
    Or, is Maintenance Manpower Planning under control? Employee availability has an indirect effect on Plan; is measurable; and has a slower impact.

  8. Are we Minimizing Maintenance workload on a regular basis by Capital Investment, Process Simplification, Product Elimination?
    Or, is systematic reduction of Maintenance workload under control? Such efforts have a direct effect on the Cost Reduction Plan, an indirect effect on other plans; and a slow response.

  9. Does Maintenance have the Support it deserves from other Departments of the Plant?
    Or, is Departmental interaction under control? Support of Maintenance has an indirect effect on Plan; is hard to measure; and has a slower impact.

Some installations may add a control subject or two, but the foregoing are typical of the concerns of any manager held accountable for the condition of facilities.

Following the determination of what is to be controlled, the measuring sensors, the units of measurement, and the acceptable control standards must be identified. Each of the nine (9) questions has been analyzed to identify the development phase elements. These were then converted to chart form.

To make the charts easier to follow, the first chart relating to Operational Security has been processed to show how all are to be read. The charts relate performance measurement to:

  1. Operational Security

  2. Quantity of Maintenance

  3. Maintenance Cost

  4. Quality of Maintenance

  5. Response Capability

  6. Plant Appearance

  7. Employee Development

  8. Maintenance Minimization

  9. Support for Maintenance

These charts will be discussed in subsequent editions of the newsletter.

(End Part 2 – to be continued)

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