Reforming the Maintenance Industry
-- From loss to profits within the maintenance department. Equipment gets modified, changed out, or becomes obsolete. The employees who put band aids on these issues are gone. Where do factories go from here?
Staying current and providing adequate service to equipment will decrease downtime and provide a more reliable product. Procedures that are up to date help maintenance employees thoroughly navigate services. There are high technician turnovers across a variety of industries. In training, everything is labeled and clean. Nothing is more overwhelming for a new technician than the first time opening a panel with a rats nest of wires. The reality of working in the field is much different than what can be simulated. Bringing employees straight from trade schools will require a very different training schedule than an experienced employee coming from another industry. Having a good document culture saves time in training and repairs. Not to mention the price of parts sitting on the shelf. Searching equipment for the belt that’s been removed for a direct drive unit is frustrating. The current procedure may ask for tension readings. It’s hard to explain why different sections have been omitted in the middle of an audit. The amount of time and money wasted is immeasurable. A knee jerk reaction of micromanaging technicians time only demoralizes the team. Many meetings have been held trying to calculate and decrease the true cost of a maintenance department. Record keeping is the most commonly overlooked solution. Technicians documenting repairs is only the first step. Too often companies fail to follow through.
Why is it not enough?
Technicians have made changes to the system. It is actually well documented in the work order. That repair is then forgot about. Even the person who made the repair may forget about it after a couple months. Those changes never make it to the service manuals. Checking previous work orders can be tedious and time consuming. Turning a valuable resource into lost productivity. The automotive industry has Technical Service Bulletins. It’s easy when a thousand mechanics work on thousands of the same model. They communicate changes and common repairs. Preventing important information from sitting stagnant in old work orders. That’s not easily accomplished with industrial equipment. Machines have been custom built for specific applications of the client. Even manufacturers of the equipment have trouble properly documenting changes beyond the base model. Technicians have individual methods of keeping equipment notes. Documenting the changes made and information learned. That needed information disappears when the employee is no longer available. Equipment can sit idle for days waiting for them to return. Or even weeks waiting for manufacturers to send someone. That’s just getting the problem diagnosed. Waiting for the parts to repair the issue just adds to the downtime. Assuming the diagnosis was correct and thorough. It can be weeks or months of lost productivity before realizing the manufacturer service associate was wrong. Now the process must start from the beginning.
How to prevent wasted potential?
Record keeping is an amazing tool. Have one centralized location for all maintenance personnel. Beware of “too many hands in the cookie jar”, as the saying goes. Maintenance Planners/Schedulers is a common position. This can have a great impact if used properly with a Machine Productivity position. Being able to source digital manuals and track the most common/costly breakdowns. Keeping editing privileges to a minimum. Organized records can be processed into Troubleshooting Trees. Troubleshooting Trees are easy to customize and update according to specific needs. This document can be printable with spaces for testing results, or submitted digitally. The more it is used, and updated, the easier it is to predict problems. The common practice is throwing new hires into the fire. Metaphorically of course. Imagine having a guide on the first day of a new position. Something outlining exactly what to look for during specific problems. The tree adds room for supervisors’ review to verify the results. This will allow for better tracking of employees’ time without giving the sense of someone hovering over their shoulders. The service department receives a common complaint. The supervisor assigns a troubleshooting tree, based on skill level, with a time and date stamp. The assigned employee time stamps with initials to begin following the steps. A supervisor/lead can be notified when a possible solution has been discovered. Having test results for immediate review will aid in an accurate diagnosis without wasting resources. A proper guide with checkpoints will immediately track time, parts, and employee competency. Comparing average testing times to complaint resolution across employees in the most accurate way possible. No more throwing parts at a problem trying to guess a solution. An employee is more likely to sign parts out of inventory when a repair has been discussed and approved. All the while building confidence in the employees with each successful repair.
Our Mission is to empower industrial maintenance departments to transform losses into profits by implementing robust documentation programs that reduce costs, enhance productivity, improve quality, and ensure sustainable knowledge transfer.
Jack Vandergriff
Owner, Industrial Service
Consultants LLC