Profits Sinking? Put Down The Violin and Support Your Maintenance Team

In April 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. Within hours it took in the huge ship taking on water and eventually come under the ocean surface, a small group of musicians played music to calm passengers. This activity did nothing to change the outcome. Musicians do not have the equipment or knowledge to prevent ingress of water or water pump.

This little story came to mind while sitting in a conference room listening to the management team of an organization with which I am. I do not know yet whether this discussion will lead to me asking for help. Sometimes, no matter how logical way to communicate issues, people will not or can not act. Time will tell.

The scenario of this organization is that it has increased the number of physical assets and complexity over the past 30 years. The management team has traditionally considered maintenance activities a cost of doing business. business school taught senior leaders that profit is the difference between revenue and expenditure. The way to increase profits is to increase revenue, reduce costs, or both. Because it is more difficult to increase revenue (sales) that by ordering a reduction of 5% of costs, the choice was obvious to professionals nonmaintenance. Reduce costs by doing a lot of maintenance. The Band Played ...

In the last five years, this organization has been in operation for three heads of maintenance - three! There were also three systems computer maintenance management (CMMS) changes during the period attended. Senior leaders have informed the Board of Directors, acting to solve problems unreliable assets. The maintenance department has been shaken try to adapt to multiple changes in assets, managers and software. The Band Played ...

The Ministry of Finance was responsible for research on outsourcing of maintenance, but little has been done to understand the operation and maintenance of effective and efficient physical plant. With the latest version of CMMS, CFO understands how to get the reports, but there is little in them. The current CMMS was held for eight months, so the CFO thinks. "The maintenance team not long ago"

Many assets are not entered into the database. There is no hierarchy or criticality. There are no documented procedures on how to enter work orders, prioritize, plan, schedule, assign, execute, or document completed work. No measures, and no one is responsible for managing work in the CMMS. The Band Played ...

Income Maintenance managers was mainly due to the low pay of the position, lack of support, and the constant pressure to reduce costs. Each maintainer is trying to make progress, but is frustrated and went to a higher salary and less stress. This feeds the perception among executives and finance staff that maintenance is not a professional vocation. After all, executives and people in finance have MBAs and must keep abreast of professional development hours. The maintenance manager does not speak the language of business. The Band Played ...

My prediction is that the assessment will be required. He recalled that the maintenance has been clearly insufficient regarding the asset base. It will be noted that, without control and maintenance management process stability, the Ministry of Finance can not get a clear picture of the actual results. Without a clear idea of ​​the actual costs, opportunities for improvement can not be known.

For control and stability, executives must support the maintenance manager. The maintenance manager must update the database asset and guide design and implementation - policies, processes, procedures and measures.

The members of the band, of course, are the senior executives and decision makers that do not add value by identifying and solving problems. They have the power to address the root causes and enable solutions but lack the initiative to really understand the issues. They must learn to plug the holes and run the pumps. If they can do it, the organization of steam at full speed. If they do not, the organization will slide below the surface of profitability.

If you are a musician at a time when your organization needs a leader, ask the violin.