When you're processing work orders, a substantial quantity of time can be wasted in trying to figure out which one to work on. This requires reading large quantities of work to find the most important, or to find one that a specific person can do. With good coding practices at the work order approval/induction point, you can dramatically reduce lost time by all of the work order stations. This article is for maintenance managers and people who use work order systems. Most

Maintenance turnarounds can be a lot of work, but they're even more work if you do them the hard way. There are 3 clear pieces that need to work well in order to make the turnaround go fast. 1. A roadmap built on what's actually constraining you. Most plants don't know their maintenance constraints or maintenance goals such that they can communicate them cleanly. When leading a turnaround, I always recommend that the department aim to "return every machine to standard." How d

Most manufacturers think they're short on maintenance techs, parts budget, and machine availability. But it's almost impossible to be short on all 3. In every situation only one of these is your actual constraint. You need to know which one it is and here's how you figure it out. Maintenance techs: You need 1 to 2 techs per shift who can respond immediately to whatever might break on the floor. These techs should only be assigned to work that can be quickly set down like

Every plant manager I talk to says the same thing: "We can't find good techs." They're not wrong. The skilled trades pipeline has been shrinking for decades and the guys who came up through apprenticeships in the 80s and 90s are retiring faster than anyone is replacing them. But here's what I've figured out: the shortage is a market condition, not a sentence. Some shops never feel it. They're the ones who are paying fair-to-good and who do the following things well. 1. Stop

I was new to the factory. The day I showed up I found out the plant was in danger of being closed. Division published a plan for "plant consolidation"... and we were the bottom performer. They didn't mention that in the interview. My department had four maintenance techs. One on each shift. 24/7 coverage. And they were good. They knew their trades. We always had someone there for emergencies, but we never had enough people there to compete with emergencies. Every schedul

A core function approach to eliminating maintenance reactivity. Walk into almost any industrial facility and ask the maintenance manager how things are going. You will hear some version of the same answer: "We're getting killed and everyone is mad at us.”
 It's typically not a laziness or staffing problem. It's usually an organizational issue and sometimes a matter of technical knowledge. But it's fixable.
 Running maintenance is like driving through a forest. It's easier

Hiring a maintenance planner can set a maintenance shop back. I see it too often. As soon as a planner is hired, techs stop making parts lists. Because that's planning, and they want support. Techs are overworked. They want a planner so they can stop doing paperwork and get back to the floor. That's how it should be... right? Nope. If you're doing it that way, you're better off without the planner. Making parts lists... that's not a planner. That's a very expensive assista