Two philosophies in maintenance improvement

Maintenance managers improve performance in two ways, described roughly as:

1. technology centric, and
2. people centric.

Technology

The technology centric approach relies on two main types of information systems:

1. automated testing and diagnostics, and
2. work management systems

Automated diagnostic systems provide infrastructure and contain logic to interpret equipment and process data correctly. Built-in logic and associated corrective procedures should allow maintainers and managers to make the right decisions, thereby controlling the maintenance process effectively.Work management systems aim, in their turn, to simplify maintenance by organizing maintenance tasks.

Managers shift their attention periodically between these two technology approaches. Technology projects of both types tend to be large. They extend over substantial time periods, often exceeding their budget and schedule. The organization usually must defer tangible expectations from these projects until after their completion, and sometimes indefinitely.

People

Human oriented improvement philosophies, by contrast, seek more immediate, measurable benefits. They encourage small pilot projects in which a team takes on the task of proving or disproving a hypothesis. A successful pilot reveals the risks in scaling the new methodology to wider use within the organization. People centric changes are more immediately effective, gain more internal momentum, and are less expensive. Moreover, they enhance the effectiveness of adjacent technology projects. Living RCM (LRCM) is primarily a people oriented initiative.

Most maintenance improvement projects conducted over the last four decades were of the large technology centric type. A new, more balanced, attitude towards maintenance improvement has taken hold in some vanguard organizations. These companies include in their plans, projects that rely on the collaboration of people, placing less emphasis on technology. The next few years will tell the success of such initiatives.

© 2011, Murray Wiseman. All rights reserved.