There is a very wise old saying, ‘what gets measured, gets done !’.

Having established a formal maintenance policy (based on the characteristics of best practice), the best way to bring about maintenance improvement is to measure the present performance, plan the actual improvement actions needed, and measure that improvement is occurring.

By primarily using an activity based assessment criteria to identified the current performance to the maintenance policy, you are then able to analyse this to identify :-               

how far away the performance is from the policy,

the estimated benefit from moving towards the policy,

the required actions to bring about the improvements,

The resources required for the actions identified above

Armed with this information, you can then develop a prioritised formal Maintenance Improvement Program. This program can be combined with periodic reassessment of the performance to provide management with a reliable tool to check progress in maintenance improvement is meeting their needs.

Included here is a summary graph and a few examples of the type of activity based assessment criteria used. As the assessment criteria is relatively straight forward and covers all areas of the maintenance policy, it lends itself to involving a wide cross section of maintenance and other affected groups in the assessment process.

The various ratings used also act as a quality training tool in how to improve maintenance performance, possibly turning resistance into cooperation. The maintainers can use this to begin the improvement process themselves.

ASL Management Services is able to assist in providing a comprehensive maintenance policy, a corresponding policy assessment process, or facilitate maintenance leadership team workshops. If you would like more information or assistance in this area please contact ASL Management Services Consulting.