Five Useful Maintenance Management Tips

1) Keep detailed records of work done. This makes it much easier to see where one needs improvement as well as identify areas where one is doing well – something that is very important to show stakeholders & management. It may be tempting to use spreadsheets or a homegrown database to keep track of work due and work done. However, the volume of data to be managed will soon make it difficult to review trends or keep accurate track of work done. Much useful information will not be recorded and there is a tendency to miss work that needs to be done. This is where computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) can help.

2) Follow equipment manufacturers recommended maintenance schedules and log them. This will help maximize equipment life. Detailed maintenance records will also be useful to get better pricing if the equipment can be sold at the end of its useful life. Try to get manufacturer information on expected failure rates and repair costs. These can be useful benchmarks to measure your performance with the equipment.

3) Standardize maintenance schedules and tasks. Have pictures, checklists and steps printed on each work order. This will reduce variance between work done by different maintenance team members.

4) Don’t forget to plan to preventive maintenance! Preventive maintenance can have a significant impact in more ways than one. Besides increased asset life it can reduce the need for redundant equipment due to reductions in unplanned downtime. Reducing redundant equipment & the need for earlier replacement of equipment has a financial impact that goes all the way to company financial statements & operating efficiency.

5) Try to audit work done on a regular basis. Not only review actual work done, also look at subsequent failure & repair history reports. It is possible that some parts of a job being done incorrectly can cause earlier equipment failure or the need for replacement parts earlier than required.

CMMS software (maintenance management software) can make this easier!

Doing all this can be quite challenging without a software package to remind you and collect the information you need. If you do not already have a maintenance software package you can download a 30-Day fully functional trial of FastMaint CMMS and see how it works for you.

Useful resources

1. “Use Equipment Criticality to Match Planned Maintenance Strategy to the Operational Risks” by Mike Sondalini of Lifetime Reliability Solutions.
2. “Lean Thinking and Methods” from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has several tips lean maintenance techniques.