With the launch of our Preventative Maintenance (PM) program at the end of Part 3 of this series, we have sorted out how to clear the two biggest hurdles associated with starting a comprehensive PM program for your portfolio.  However, before we wrap up, I wanted to take one more post to talk about how you can take the momentum you build in getting the program off the ground and evolve and improve it over time.  

The beauty of PM is that the more of it you do, the less Reactive Maintenance (RM) should be required.  As a result, over time you should have more time available to do PM tasks with the same resources that you started the program with.  This will require “going back to the sandbox” to allocate the additional time to new PMs so you can continue the “upward spiral” that the program has created.

In demonstrating the benefits of your Version 1.0 PM program, you also have the opportunity to make the business case for getting additional resources to do more PMs, whether that be internal hires or additional third party contracts.  Using your task list, you can build out a comprehensive task list for the new role(s) and demonstrate to your decision makers exactly what the new staff will be doing.  

In my experience, your request is more likely to get approved with the more detail you have about what the new hire will be doing. Instead of just saying “We need another Electrician”, it makes a stronger case to say “We need an Electrician that is going to do all of these things, on these specific pieces of equipment, and based on the data we have from our current program, we expect this work will result in a savings of X, or a reduction in RM of Y”.  Which request would you be more open to approving?

We started by talking about the equipment inventory, and I want to return there to end this miniseries.  

As you continue to evolve your PM program in parallel with your capital renewal program, it is critical that you keep your equipment inventory dataset up-to-date.  You need a process to ensure that every time a piece of equipment is replaced or a new piece of equipment is added to buildings that your inventory is updated and a new tag is applied.  Otherwise the value of your PM program will slowly degrade over time. 

Having a process is not the only requirement, you also have to have a mechanism for measuring the compliance with the process.  We recommend at least annually spot checking newly installed equipment to make sure that the inventory dataset is updated.

In addition to evolving your program based on changes in available resources, you also need to go back to the sandbox based on changes to your inventory.  New types of equipment installed may require new task lists.  Replacement equipment may also have different recommended tasks if you did an upgrade or installed a different type of equipment.  

We recommend that customers have a real-time process for updating their inventory. Doing it “forensically” at the end of a year can be a daunting task and take more time than just doing it step-by-step throughout the year.

If you bring on a new resource mid-year, you should use the sandbox to build out the tasks and subsequent work orders as part of on-boarding so the individual can get to work as part of your PM program.  In the absence of new resources or a major shift in priorities, we recommend that you return to the sandbox annually to review the options for your PM program.

It took four posts to go over the two biggest hurdles associated with starting a PM program, but I hope that it was worth it.  Operational Excellence is an important part of an Integrated Asset Management Strategy.  We are excited to see more and more facility professionals clearing the hurdles and achieving the benefits of a comprehensive PM program.  

Thanks for reading this miniseries and see you back here next week