Fundamentals of Maintenance Planning

Work Flow Concepts Planning and Scheduling

Backlog Management Work Order Execution and Data Capture

Work Flow Concepts

As a result of recent audits and reviews of various medium to large-scale industry. It has been found that the following to be a general observation regarding systems of work.

As technology for maintenance has moved forward there has been an increasing demand on the time of the maintenance-planning department.

Areas such as:

· Equipment profiling (Plant Index information)

· Parts listings (APL’s)

· Equipment strategy philosophies, investigation of proactive methods

· Analysis of system data

· Spares criticality assessments, ANSI management

· Advanced shutdown systems

· Equipment overhaul / replacement / repair procedures

All are key to progressing the maintenance delivery systems towards world-class status. Organisations may use various positions to analyse this function.

Roles such as Plant Engineers, Stores analysts, shutdown planning specialists as well as outside consultants can provide these functions. Functional decision of this nature determine the effectiveness of the maintenance effort as a whole and need to be considered early in the development / review process.

Often overlooked, or not clearly identified, are the basic systems that require attention for execution of everyday works.

Coupled with this has been the proliferation of advanced ERP/EAM systems, designed to manage the processes of an entire enterprise’ requirements. However very little time is spent integrating the new system with established and functioning processes.

Claims to be able to replace 40 other systems or so are only valid if there is a focus on integration also.

Resulting from this combination of new technologies and system management focus is a requirement for a definite scheduling function for short-term maintenance works.

This function revolves around the following areas of responsibility:

· Backlog Management

· Weekly Scheduling

· Execution systems

The effective implementation and execution of the number of processes required to sustain the above systems can have a dramatic effect immediately.

· Introduction of work order vetting or a work requesting system can more accurately focus backlog lists to corporate rules.

· Agreed priorities and work order classifications.

· 24 hourly review systems and reports provide the trigger for future backlog control with valuable information also being available for daily review. Requires attention to work order-raising rules.

· Weekly capacity scheduling for maintenance purposes to be introduced. This will drive the worker availability to higher levels. Initial results generally are a surprise.

· Introduction of weekly KPI style reports highlighting areas of low compliance.

· Stores interfaces on holding, reserving, ordering and repairing equipment.

· Review reports for RCFA and further analysis.

Although directly effecting maintenance the customers of the maintenance department need to have this information clearly explained to them. As well they need to be informed of any changes to business rules that require their participation. Eg Work Requesting, Scheduling etc.

Agreed work order KPI’s

Although there are a range of work order KPI’s to choose from the following I have found to be key in controlling necessary scheduling / backlog functions:

· Backlog

o % Planned Work Orders (Minimum 1 Crew week)

o %Unresourced

o %Unestimated

o %Waiting for parts

o Age of work orders by priority

o Backlog forward resources (Crew weeks equivalent 4 – 5 weeks)

o Average work order life

· Scheduling

o Planned / Scheduled Ratios (Inclusive of standing work orders)

o Maintenance type ratios

o Overtime as a percentage of total man hrs

o %Contractor hrs

o Report of Unplanned / Unscheduled work orders per week

This provides an insight into the effectiveness of backlog control measures as well as the effectiveness of work control systems. From this point effective decisions can be made on:

· Work order criteria

· Planning criteria

o Work package development

· Execution methods

o Inclusion of repairs

o Worker flexibility

· Areas of investigation

o Either RCFA / or other optimisation technique

· Crew sizes

By developing the tools, training, work flows and measures for implementing the above systems a strong degree of control over the maintenance strategy can be developed. This will start the continuous improvement cycle by giving a baseline to improve upon.

The controls and benefits gained by effective scheduling and planning procedures are well documented and are not in question here.

Integrating them with the array of EAM systems in use as well as organising them in such a manner that they produce data that is focussed on improvement of the maintenance effort is the issue that has been overlooked. As has the effect of current technologies on the make up and focus of a maintenance planning department.

Planning

Planning can occur at any stage during the life of a works order. An electronic indicator in the work-order systems needs to be able to identify the work-order by status of planning. In this manner works orders requiring parts, procedures, documents, skills or equipment can easily be focussed upon. A work order cannot be considered planned until all of these have been considered. As well exception reporting needs to highlight:

No resources

No $ estimates

Incorrect coding

At this point, only, does it become a “Planned” work-order. Not all require planning; this also needs to be included in any indication.

Scheduling

Scheduling is the function of coordinating all of the logistical issues around the issues regarding the execution phase of the work. This can also uncover some areas of planning deficiency, which needs to be captured.

Scheduling is best performed in a capacity-scheduling manner, whereby the following takes place. Most modern systems have the capacity to output data to spreadsheets or similar. This is where the majority of scheduling work needs to occur.

· Overhead labour hours such as safety and toolbox meetings, break times and training times are to be gathered, along with holidays and scheduled as standing works orders for future analysis of these.

· Hours for PM completion to be deduced form data in the CMMS. This focuses on ensuring the equipment is maintained to its best levels.

· Addition of corrective and approved improvement actions as dictated by the prioritisation system and operations plan. These are to be Planned works orders only. A guide could be: Age of works orders against priority (As a measure of the priority systems effectiveness)

· The combination of corrective, preventative and improvement work needs to total the levels set for planned / scheduled work. Although this does constitute the most effective use of labour and resources, there are advantages to planned/unscheduled works. A workable level is 70%- 80% in the initial stages.

For example a planned works order may be used during opportune maintenance periods due to major failure or operations reasons. In this instance the benefits of pre-planning become clear. However there does not need to be a rush to repair equipment in an opportune manner simply because it has become available. If there have been higher priority work planned then this needs to retain that focus.

Review of this by week needs to focus on executed works. In this manner re-scheduled works, while important though difficult to fully quantify, can be captured in hour’s terms by omission. By setting a level of 70%, for example, you know that the schedule was forecast to that level. Planned / Scheduled work orders are to equal this.

Unplanned and unscheduled work makes up the majority of breakdown works orders generally. However modern systems do contain template work orders. Focusing of these on corrective actions can produce a “planned” breakdown work order.

Works order templates containing all planned information including parts and resources requirements. These can take a lot of the work out of the planning function so that it can be focussed more on improvement. Estimation variances, additional tips or instructions, improving the safe working practices and reviewing the stores re-credits can offer areas of improving work order templates. All delivering a more efficient and accurate tool for scheduling and execution.

Templates can also be used to store trouble shooting guides for specific symptoms / fault modes. OEM data and strategy review information is best for providing the detail for these.

Like all changes to maintenance processes this needs to be embedded via a range of initiatives. These include role-specific training, targeted reports for functional purposes and integration of KPI measurement with daily routines. This can happen as part of meeting structures, signs and symbols as well as integration with the salary expectations. (Usually via bonus schemes) Although effective, the behaviours being driven need to be carefully considered.

This is by no means a total explanation of the planning and scheduling function, reporting tools and or processes. It seeks to highlight areas most neglected where immediate improvements, through application, can be easily implemented.

Backlog Management

Few tools are as useful to managing the maintenance workload and effectiveness as the Maintenance Backlog. In many companies today management of the maintenance backlog has been neglected. As a result they are generally drowning in their own data. A poorly managed system has a dramatic effect on the entire delivery of maintenance services.

Although the situation may appear random and chaotic, there are several common symptoms of poor backlog management. From my observations of various maintenance demanding industries, these may include:

· Many duplicate works orders. This is one of the main issues causing waste in this area. Particularly if undiscovered they can result in wasted resources investigating already completed tasks. There are also the effects of re-ordering unrequired materials and additional planning effort.

· Non-standardised free text entries. Affecting future analysis and continuous improvement. This can also lead to confusion in planning and execution of works.

· No indication of forward resource requirements. Giving only best guess indications as to the true manning levels required.

· Poor coding of work orders (No business rules to guide these) Affecting the future analysis and continuous improvement function. This can contribute to important works being buried among the work order listing.

· Little focus on priorities, many unprioritised work orders. This results in corrective actions on the whim either the supervisor, or section manager. As there is nothing substantial to use as a guide, or give a rating relevant to other backlog works.

· Many tasks not kept in the backlog system. Maintained in lists external to the corporate system. Faith in the backlog system, and the maintenance delivery systems in general, are eroded.

· Unrequired works passing through the work order system, resulting in unnecessary expenditure.

As well as all of these issues, an accurately managed backlog is the precursor to effective planning and scheduling systems, which is a key driver of labour productivity.

Gaining control of the maintenance backlog is initially a difficult task. Requiring a great deal of effort and process development. Keeping it under control is the product of correctly targeted systems applied in a disciplined manner by skilled planners, supervisors and all involved in the work order process.

A correctly maintained backlog system will provide many benefits to the organisation. The system has control over the quality of tasks to be performed, quality of data used in this execution and the quality of data returning to the system or files for future analysis or improvement. Maintenance cannot move past the reactive stage without a firm control over this area.

Work Order Life Cycles

A clear-cut work order life cycle needs firstly to be developed. This needs to cover the full life of a works order from its inception to its later roles in analysis. Points for quality reviews need to be established for both data integrity control, as well as suitability for execution.

Once the system for this has been established, the process needs to be clearly communicated to all involved in it. Particular emphasis is needed on the role that the individual holds and any relationships to others in the process.

The following example of a work order life cycle is a process I have seen used or adapted many times, each with an almost immediate effect. However this system needs to be developed with the goals of each specific corporation in mind. Differences in creation criteria, forward activity forecasting, and standardisation levels for free text as well as methods for controlling work orders are common areas of difference.

Creation:

As the foundation of all the system, specific focus can assist greatly here.

Setting of criteria for what constitutes a works order.

Daily reviews by authoriser / planner for conformance to business standards and rules. Eg Classification, Priority, clarity of text, sufficiency of detail for further works. This can best be accomplished by a request system, using the planner to code and manage the work order details. The request system does need to contain a strong measure of specific data however.

Integration of the daily work request / work order reports into the morning operations meetings.

· Review of Breakdown works orders

· Discussion as to other higher priority ones.

Backlog Life

It is advisable to always have at least one weeks planned works ahead. Although the PM schedules can generally be planned/scheduled out way in advance there is generally not enough for 100% capacity scheduling of labour hours for more than three – five weeks And with weekly scheduling regimes, and opportune windows, this is a good minimum level.

During this life the work order needs to pass through various controls and processes:

· Planning

· Resourcing and $cost estimating

· Priority reviews

· Age by priority reviews

· Scheduling of “Planned” works only

· Execution and Data capture processes.

· Execution and planning analysis and exception reporting

· Reliability reporting

All of these are vital steps that need to be explored and organised to create an efficient system. Planning needs to be to a certain level of information, parts to be within a certain period, documentation prepared, the work executed in a safe and timely fashion and the data needs to be of high quality for reviewing the system.

By applying controls, accurate processes and of course role-specific training in these areas the backlog becomes a more efficient tools for use reducing waste of labour hours, parts resources and planning time. Other areas of course need to be focused on but this will provide the base for later improvements.

Work Order Execution and Data Capture

All of the work of backlog management, planning and priority targeted capacity scheduling are focussed on efficient execution. To ensure that the tasks that need to be done, as per the true requirements of the plant, are done in a timely manner with as little waste of human and material resources as is possible.

These will ultimately be an exercise in futility if the processes governing execution of tasks are not developed and followed in a disciplined manner. Of all the works required to provide a sound base of planning, scheduling and execution, this is the most critical. Without enforced schedule compliance there can be no true measure of improved execution, and without effective methods for data capture future analysis will be based on incorrect, incomplete or insufficient data.

Execution is an integral part of the work order life cycle and relies on a series of processes:

· Work package preparation

· Daily Scheduling

· Data capture / Reviews

Work Package Preparation

Preparing work packages for efficient execution needs to be an integral part of the scheduling process. Accurate procedures and tips, required tooling and equipment, accurate estimates, relevant drawings and illustrations as well as safety information all need to be presented for the supervisor to assign the work to their team/s.

This can be a time consuming task and as much as possible needs to be automated. There are a number of software packages on the market designed for such a purpose.

This needs to be presented to the supervisor in a manner that is easy to use, as well as relevant. Forms can be integrated within this package to capture specific information relating to the tasks. (Eg: Durations, additional tools etc.)

Like all other aspects of the maintenance function, work package preparation requires constant feedback in order to continuously improve the information presented to work teams. For example without feedback as to the relevance or accuracy of drawings the same drawings will be called on every time the work is executed.

Daily Scheduling

Once the weekly schedule has been passed to the supervisor it needs to be constantly updated to reflect changes to the operating environment. As most facilities or plants are still fighting with reactive style maintenance regimes, the probability of breakdowns and other unplanned events interrupting the daily flow of works is high.

The setting of levels for capacity scheduling needs to allow for these factors by leaving a percentage of man-hours for the rise of possible reactive works.

Daily scheduling needs to focus on:

· Unfinished works for the current day

· Planned/Scheduled works for the following days

· Changes to operations windows and accommodating these in a manner focused on priority.

Responsibility for this can sit either with the Schedulers or with the Supervisor. With the schedulers focussing on the following weeks work it is advisable for the supervisor to assume this role. However strict guides need to be set in place to facilitate this process.

For example breakdowns do not necessarily require attention, if there is redundancy built into the plant or if there is ability for operations to re-organise there works then a balance between the scheduled priorities and breakdown priority needs to be found.

Without either higher priority tasks arising, unexpected changes in labour availability or changes to operations plans there should be no reason at all to re-schedule works. Any changes need to be justified along these lines and reports put in place to measure and control this function.

The most common problem associated with execution is the Supervisor believing they are able to schedule works at their own discretion. Although they are the closest to the action and, in some cases, they may do this very well. It is not a sustainable manner for the maintenance departments to operate, neither is it focused on the systems of prioritisation and capacity scheduling that are used for delivery of the correct tasks at the correct time.

Data Capture and Reviews

This process needs to be developed to match the needs of the organisation. As much as possible the text of each completed work order should be in a standardised format. This can mean focussing on such things as:

· Failure causes per specific equipment coding

· Codes highlighting the work done

· Completion text containing further tips for execution, as well as any changes required to the work order template or planning information. This needs to cover safety areas also.

· Coding to identify any related work orders, or indication as to other work required

· Indication of the duration and man-hours taken to complete this works. (The majority of CMMS systems currently on the market will be able to perform this via timesheet functions, eliminating the need for man-hours indication at point of completion.)

All items are crucial to further improvement in the execution of tasks; they can also be vital to effective root cause analysis. Although these codes need to be highlighted at the time of CMMS implementation, they should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are accurately fulfilling their role of providing a good base of data for future analysis.

Who enters the data?

This is an area where there is usually a lot of disagreement amongst maintenance practitioners. As the maintenance function has become more sophisticated the number of work orders has increased dramatically. This is necessary due to the focus on future analysis and improvement that the modern CMMS system has given us the capability to perform.

So who should enter the data? Some organisations use the planner / scheduler for this task, while others believe that allowing the tradesmen to do so is a form of empowerment.

I have taken the view that data entry is not a form of empowerment, nor is it a duty that the maintenance planner / scheduler should be required to perform. The sheer amount of data entry that modern CMMS systems provide requires the dedicated services of a technical clerk for maintenance. This role can also be used for many updating and data entry tasks, depending on the amount of training provided.

Use of craft employees and or planning / scheduling staff reduces the amount of time these roles can be focussed on their core functions.

A review process for ensuring the data integrity on closure of works orders could appear thus:

· Hand written works orders passed to the supervisor at completion of the days work or of the task itself

· Supervisor to review the data to ensure it accurately reflects the works done, and in sufficient detail

· Planner to review the data for the following purposes:

o Changes to planning templates (Estimates, durations, additional tips and changes to procedures, documentation or safety information)

o Review of coding for compliance with overall business objectives

o Raising of additional works orders to cover extra tasks noted by the craft workers or caused during the execution of the work

· Technical Clerk to enter the data into the corporate CMMS system

· Exception reports to be analysed by the planner / scheduler to ensure that no work order has slipped through the system.

By focussing on the areas outlined in this article, the maintenance department can move one step closer to a continuously improving environment. All of the preceding work on backlog management, planning and scheduling are focussed, primarily, on effective execution. While the data generated during execution needs to be focussed, at all times, on improvement.

Again, without the support and understanding of management, this area of the maintenance function will remain unchanged and less than optimum. Training in this process, as well as all of the codes and roles within the process, needs to be delivered regularly on a role specific basis. Neglecting this vital communication function will ensure that the system does not progress at all.

Other Topics

Managing Maintenance As A Business

Preventive Maintenance

Root Cause Analysis

Pre Shutdown Checklist

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