Page 63 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

54 An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance

COMPARISON
(Benchmarking)
SHORT-TERM
TACTICS
CURRENT GOALS
VARIANCE MEASURE
PROCESS &
(Maintenance (Gap Analysis) (Where you want to be IMPLEMENTATION (How we are doing)
Evaluation) and When)
(How we get there)
LONG-TERM
STRATEGIES
IDEAL
(Duty-Task Analysis)

FEEDBACK
(Correction as required)

Figure 3–5 Business improvement process.

Successful maintenance organizations spend more time identifying trends and elimi-
nating problems than they spend fixing repetitive breakdowns. Computerized mainte-
nance management systems provide a tool to gather data and provide analysis that can
lead to improvement.

3.3.3 Improvement Process
Figure 3–5 diagrams a business improvement process. A maintenance organization
should start by measuring its own performance. For example, just a breakout of a
typical day in the life of a maintenance person is revealing. Many groups are cha-
grined to discover that maintenance staff actually works less than 30 percent of the
time. Benchmark comparisons with similar organizations provide a basis for analyz-
ing performance both on metrics and processes. The third step in goal setting is to
identify realistic ideal levels of performance. These goals should have the following
characteristics:

• Written
• Measurable
• Understandable
• Challenging
• Achievable

The goals will have firm times, dollars, percentages, and dates. Everyone who will be
challenged to meet the goals should be involved in their establishment. This may seem
like a bureaucratic, warm-fuzzy approach, but the time it takes to achieve buy-in is
earned back many times during accomplishment. Once the goals are set, any gaps
between where performance is now versus where it needs to be can be identified. Then
both short-term plans and long-term strategies can be implemented to reach the goals.