Why is Weekly Scheduling so Difficult?
Background
Having a scheduling background, when I crossed over to CMMS consulting, the first thing I looked for was the option to generate a weekly maintenance schedule. This did not exist. Over the years there were various add-on products. But I always wondered why this design inside the CMMS was not pursued as all of the data was there.
The Question Becomes "What is a Weekly Maintenance Schedule?"
According to several book authors, the definition is a "block of work". This is an important statement as it would be asking too much to build-out all the daily plans before the week begins. There are simply too many variables, such as, the (1) WO estimates themselves, (2) daily progress, and (3) new/emergent work with higher priority. And rather than get caught up into changing these pre-built daily plans, it is best to just create each one the night before (or start of shift).
Work Bundling is another Best Practice
Provided this work is not emergency/urgent, it is actually more efficient to perform these jobs at the same time as opposed to jumping into work the moment it is identified. The work could be at a remote location and thus you are saving on travel time. Or it may require substantial permitting (e.g. LOTO or confined space access).
Who Does What?
- The Maintenance Scheduler creates the weekly schedule; organizes work bundling if applicable. He would run the final approval meeting, and also the fortnight compliance analysis.
- The CMMS scheduling program performs automatic resource leveling, creating the block of work. This program reads entire backlog in 2 minutes using an order of fire, The screen design which permits this capability is called the RLP.
- The Craft Supervisor creates the daily plan -- and capture end of shift progress; repeats process for each day of the week.
- The Maintenance Technician reports status to supervisor and updates CMMS at end of each shift.
Sadly, Here are 10 Reasons why a Weekly Maintenance Schedule is not Created
And this is pure guesswork on my part ....
Note: Zero backlog should not be a goal or operating policy.
well said John. as every planner should be exposed to help aids like this to help make his job better and to help him understand why scheduling is important. management should buy into this this kind of thinking and support it
Organizational Effectiveness Resource & Certified RCFA Principal Investigator - Retired yet seeking opportunities to teach & mentor investigators
5 年You have to begin with the end in mind to do weekly block scheduling. In the planning the job has to be broken into parts allowing for the scheduling to occur. You have to plan the job but plan it to accommodate the scheduling steps. Depending on the CMMS system being used there are filtering codes available in the work order itself. We used theses code fields which are text fields to code the work 1-52 or OUT or TRN. During a pending outage we would run a report to find all OUT work coded as Ready to Schedule. All work scheduled for the week of the 22nd is coded and used to create the daily schedule. The work for tomorrow is scheduled 100% by afternoon the day before so Ops can prepare permits and get equipment out of service. Work not completed should be communicated by 2 o’clock for carry over. I have been training planners & schedulers weekly block planning & scheduling using block coding for over 15 years. Backlog is managed by ensuring the work is value adding and people have to be willing to say no (Conflict resolution) and Defect Elimination to reduce reoccurring failures. Backlogs that cannot be managed are likely because you are understaffed or there are too many Infant Mortality failures.
Transformation Leader | PMO Director | Fin | IT | Budget | Planning | Risk | PPM | Benefit Realization | Metrics | ERP | EAM | Cloud | Data | SaaS | O&G | Energy | Aerospace | Manufacturing | Consulting
5 å¹´As a Lean practitioner, the tendency was to suggest zero backlog as a sign of efficiency.? In a factory, I just need the next work order to arrive upon completion of the current order.? Do not want an in-box to cherry pick the work or feel good about having a backlog of work piled in bins behind the production line.? That was wasteful and inefficient. The Lean approach is not ideal for maintenance management scheduling.? You must have a backlog to plan and schedule against.? Even in a factory, what we see on the line is not reflective of what we have in the operations queue. That is not to say that you want a big back log either.? I do power generation, O&G, utilities, building maintenance, food and beverage, midstream, and airports too.? It is all about having balance and the smallest (high quality) backlog that is reasonable. For all the things I learned, John Reeve?will always be the ultimate CMMS resource.
Presidente de Argymca y Director Administrativo en Academia de Confiabilidad
5 å¹´Como bien lo dice el Sr John Reeve, "Zero Backlog is not, and should not, be a goal or operating policy." "Alcanzar Cero (0) backlog no es y no debe ser una meta o polÃtica operativa" Un apropiado (oportuno y efectivo) manejo de la recursos, si se debe promover, aprender y fortalecer en su gestionamiento.
Transformation Leader | PMO Director | Fin | IT | Budget | Planning | Risk | PPM | Benefit Realization | Metrics | ERP | EAM | Cloud | Data | SaaS | O&G | Energy | Aerospace | Manufacturing | Consulting
5 年As always, you are ahead of the pack Mr. Reeve. It’s not the scheduling that is difficult it is the lack of incentives to change our mode of operation that keeps us from planning, prioritizing, measuring, scheduling, etc. Less OT is anything but an incentive for the hourly / craft workers.