Many facilities people complain that operations leadership just doesn’t understand them. What we have is the classic failure to communicate. That’s correct, the CEO or CFO looks at maintenance costs and says “They’re too high, we need to cut them by 20%.” The facility manager shrugs and offers a blank stare.Unfortunately, this is going on all over the United States.
Decisions are made because senior leadership has no idea regarding maintenance operations what they should be asking for to get the data to make solid decisions. We have learned not to cut costs when it sacrifices safety or product quality, yet I have seen decisions made which sacrifice the life-cycle of an asset, endanger employee health, and create more problems because a decision was made without relevant data. There are tools available to improve quality, manage lifecycle and provide qualitative and quantitative data to measure performance of people, assets and comfort in any facility or plant.Many facility positions are filled by people who are computer phobic, and they hope to avoid dealing with those things before they retire.
Others who think their schedule on the wall of preventative maintenance is all they have to worry about. If the CFO looks at that schedule, it probably takes 20% of the time each month, so then the question begs itself, what are they doing with the rest of the time? Grim, you bet, but not hopeless. There are many facility people who treat maintenance as a Six Sigma operation. Documentation, processes, procedures, measurements, data is gathered and maintained. Lifecycle costs of assets are measured and compared.
Energy costs are analyzed and ROI on improvements are reported.As you look at the operation you’re currently working with, which camp does your maintenance/facility department fall into? Is it one that says, we don’t worry about recording the break/fix calls when people stop us, we only record PM information? Is it an operation that is done on white board, or a calendar? Is it effective? If you’re not sure, Eagle Technology can assist with an audit of your maintenance operation. Let us help you assess the effectiveness
