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Articles: Planning and Scheduling

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The Missing Link in Reliability

Many Equipment Failures Could Be Linked To Materials Management

by Art Posey and Phillip Slater

Oh no, not again! Is this the perennial cry of the maintenance and reliability professional? We all know this situation: a recent failure was repaired and has now failed again shortly after.

The Planner: The Heart of the Maintenance Process

By Tarek Atout

Imagine your body without a heart

The planner is proven to be the heart of the planning and scheduling process and one of the arms that supports the whole maintenance process. As in a human being, a strong heart is an indication of good general health; a good planner is an indication of a streamlined planning process. The heart is responsible for blood circulation within the body, while a planner is responsible for smooth workflow within the maintenance body. Have you imagined your body without a heart?

There Is No Tradeoff Between Empowering And Scheduling

R. D. (Doc) Palmer, PE, MBA, CMRP

Empowering maintenance crews and personnel means allowing them to make decisions within their areas of responsibility. This greatly increases the quality of maintenance work. However, empowering does not mean turning each of the specialized areas of maintenance loose on its own. The maintenance process takes a coordinated team effort to master and an explicit scheduling process is necessary to advance productivity. Superior maintenance requires both empowerment and scheduling. This paper explains where and how high performing maintenance organizations utilize and leverage each concept.

Using Cause & Effect Diagrams for Proactive Effect - Turn It Around with Maintenance Planning

By Jeff Shiver

In Root Cause Analysis, one of the tools frequently utilized is the Cause and Effect Diagram to show how specific actions combine to define a particular result. Typically, the categories of Man, Materials, Methods, and Machine are illustrated in the diagram below. As opposed to using it as a reactive tool after the fact, we can turn it around for purposes such as diagramming effective maintenance planning in a proactive manner. To accomplish this approach, we can provide specific actions in each of the categories above to realize the desired outcome.

What Should A Maintenance Planner Do - 3 Minute Audio Maintenance Tip

by Ricky Smith

Join Maintenance and Reliability Expert and Author Ricky Smith for a 3 minute discussion about the role of the maintenance planner.

Work Flow Concepts

Fundamentals of Maintenance Planning Series

By: Daryl Mather, Maintenance Consultant

As economic demands have increased and technology for maintenance has moved forward there has been an increasing demand on the time of the maintenance-planning department.

Work Order Execution and Data Capture

Fundamentals of Maintenance Planning Series

By Daryl Mather

All of the work of backlog management, planning and priority targeted capacity scheduling are focused on efficient execution. To ensure that the tasks that need to be done, as per the true requirements of the plant, are done in a timely manner with as little waste of human and material resources as is possible.

Work Order Prioritization

Fundamentals of Maintenance Planning Series

By Daryl Mather

Too many organizations neglect the benefits of a clearly defined prioritization system. Even when they realize the importance the focus is invariably at a department or functional level. I have seen organizations where there are up to three or more prioritization systems. None of which are inter-related.