3 questions to answer when choosing the right maintenance strategy

When choosing your maintenance strategy, there are plenty of factors to consider—?

-Your budget.?

-Your failure history?

-Your reliability culture?

-Your work environment.?

-Your equipment criticality?

-Etc…?

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So, just because a fancy, high-tech strategy works for big organisations…?

Doesn't mean it's going to work for you.??

You need a strategy that fits YOUR operational context.??

With that in mind…?

How do you choose a strategy that fits your needs??

Let me share 3 questions you need to answer:?

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First, does the failure mode you’re dealing with match the right type of maintenance??

If you really want to be efficient and effective with your PM program…?

Then your maintenance tasks should match the failure mode you’re dealing with.?

For example:?

Age-related Failure = Time-based maintenance?

Random Failure = Condition-based maintenance?

Hidden Failure = Failure-finding maintenance?

The problem is, a lot of organisations simply do time-based maintenance because it’s the easiest to do.?

You simply replace or service your equipment after a set amount of time.?

But most failure modes are NOT age related.?

So chances are, you’re better off doing some form of condition-based maintenance.?

Or else, you risk over maintaining your equipment which is a huge waste of resources.?

Worse: you under maintain your equipment and it breaks down despite your maintenance task.?

Second, is it worth doing the maintenance task??

Maintenance is an investment, you’re using scarce resource that could have been used to do something else.?

And like every other investment, you should expect an ROI on your maintenance efforts.?

So, when deciding on whether to do a maintenance task…?

Ask yourself: Is there an ROI in doing this??

If not, then consider the consequence of NOT doing it.??

See, not all failures have the same consequence and likelihood of failure.?

That’s why your maintenance strategy should only be developed for dominant failure modes—failures that have high likelihood or those that have serious consequences.?

Because chances are, there’s a big return when you fix these failures.?

So, avoid assigning tasks to non-credible failure modes.?

It eats up your scarce resources for no return.?

In some cases, the impact of the failure is so low that you simply accept the failure because it’s more economical that way.?

Third, do you have the budget for it??

Your budget is always a constraint on your maintenance initiatives.?

But that doesn’t mean you stop maintaining your equipment altogether.?

As maintenance practitioners, it’s our job to make do with our scarce resources.?

Luckily, there are cost-effective and scalable strategies that don't require a massive upfront investment… but can significantly improve your plant's reliability and performance.?

Initiatives such as implementing maintenance planning & scheduling, optimising your preventive maintenance program, and defect elimination, all of which focus on eliminating waste, can be highly effective.?

So, consider training your team in these basic maintenance process.?

Training your team allows you to avoid hiring expensive consultants to do the job for you. And it empowers your organisation to improve your reliability while doing less tasks and reducing maintenance costs at the same time.?

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Keep those 3 things in mind.?

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Remember, the goal is to find a maintenance strategy that offers the best ROI by reducing downtime, extending equipment life, and improving efficiency…?

…all within your budget constraints!?

It's about being smart with your resources and choosing strategies that align with your specific needs and capabilities.?

The key is to start small and scale your efforts as you begin to see the benefits. By prioritising high-impact areas and gradually expanding your maintenance initiatives, you can achieve significant improvements without overstretching your budget.?

Now, how do you put all of this into action??

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Start by assessing your current maintenance practices.??

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Identify any gaps or inefficiencies. Consult with your team and possibly a coach to get a fresh perspective on your maintenance strategy.??

Then, prioritise the changes that will bring the most significant improvements within your budget. It's also crucial to continuously monitor the performance and adjust your strategy as needed because maintenance is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix.?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start, I’m here to help.??

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Let’s schedule a call to discuss your maintenance needs and how we can tailor a strategy that fits your specific situation.??

You don’t have to navigate this alone.??

Together, we can ensure your maintenance strategy is as efficient and effective as possible.?

P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are 3 ways we can help you on your Road to Reliability:

1. Want to train your team on how to improve your plant's maintenance reliability?

Enroll your team in one of our most popular online training courses:

Implementing Maintenance Planning and Scheduling —increase your maintenance workforce by 35% without hiring anyone. Reduce costs, improve safety and increase morale.

Developing and Improving Preventive Maintenance Programs —achieve higher reliability and availability whilst doing less maintenance. Acquire the knowledge and tools needed to create a highly effective and efficient Preventive Maintenance Program.

2. Want to know how effective your Planning & Scheduling really is?

Use our Planning & Scheduling Scorecard ?to assess your performance and receive a personalised PDF report with recommendations on how to improve.

Use our Wrench Time Calculator ?to easily calculate how much value your organisation is missing out when you neglect your Planning & Scheduling.

3. Want to start your journey on the road to reliability?

Download the Reliability Academy eBook ? and discover a simple, proven framework that you can use to achieve a highly reliable plant for your organisation. Unlike other overly complicated models that use 10 to 20 elements, the Road to Reliability framework only uses 4 elements to achieve great results.