You're facing urgent maintenance tasks. How do you maintain long-term facility performance?

It's helpful if the foundations that lead to successful prioritisation of maintenance and capital works are first laid. First is to understand the business context, i.e what the owner of the facility assets wishes to achieve from them, then, put in place a corporate risk matrix and risk management standard, from this a company-specific asset criticality analysis process can be created, which can form the basis for ranking all assets in the hierarchy and assigning them the appropriate criticality. If this is done properly, prioritisation of maintenance resources need not be rocket science, and there is an agreed and defensible basis that you can point back to for your decision-making.

When facing urgent maintenance tasks, I ensure long-term facility performance by balancing immediate repairs with a focus on preventive maintenance. I prioritize urgent issues that could impact safety or operations but also assess how these repairs fit into our overall maintenance strategy. By documenting these tasks and their outcomes, I can identify trends and underlying issues that need to be addressed. Additionally, I allocate resources for preventive measures to avoid future emergencies, ensuring the facility remains in optimal condition while managing urgent needs effectively.