By Daryl Mather
Few tools are as useful to managing the maintenance workload and effectiveness as the Maintenance Backlog. In many companies today management of the maintenance backlog has been neglected. As a result they are generally drowning in their own data. A poorly managed system has a dramatic effect on the entire delivery of maintenance services.
Although the situation may appear random and chaotic, there are several common symptoms of poor backlog management. From my observations of various maintenance demanding industries, these may include:
As well as all of these issues, an accurately managed backlog is the precursor to effective planning and scheduling systems, which is a key driver of labor productivity.
Gaining control of the maintenance backlog is initially a difficult task. Requiring a great deal of effort and process development. Keeping it under control is the product of correctly targeted systems applied in a disciplined manner by skilled planners, supervisors and all involved in the work order process.
A correctly maintained backlog system will provide many benefits to the organisation. The system has control over the quality of tasks to be performed, quality of data used in this execution and the quality of data returning to the system or files for future analysis or improvement. Maintenance cannot move past the reactive stage without a firm control over this area.
A clear-cut work order life cycle needs firstly to be developed. This needs to cover the full life of a works order from its inception to its later roles in analysis. Points for quality reviews need to be established for both data integrity control, as well as suitability for execution.
Once the system for this has been established, the process needs to be clearly communicated to all involved in it. Particular emphasis is needed on the role that the individual holds and any relationships to others in the process.
The following example of a work order life cycle is a process I have seen used or adapted many times, each with an almost immediate effect. However this system needs to be developed with the goals of each specific corporation in mind. Differences in creation criteria, forward activity forecasting, and standardization levels for free text as well as methods for controlling work orders are common areas of difference.
As the foundation of all the system, specific focus can assist greatly here. Setting of criteria for what constitutes a works order.
Daily reviews by authorizer / planner for conformance to business standards and rules. E.g. Classification, Priority, clarity of text, sufficiency of detail for further works. This can best be accomplished by a request system, using the planner to code and manage the work order details. The request system does need to contain a strong measure of specific data however.
Integration of the daily work request / work order reports into the morning operations meetings.
It is advisable to always have at least one weeks planned works ahead. Although the PM schedules can generally be planned/scheduled out way in advance there is generally not enough for 100% capacity scheduling of labor hours for more than three - five weeks And with weekly scheduling regimes, and opportune windows, this is a good minimum level.
During this life the work order needs to pass through various controls and processes:
All of these are vital steps that need to be explored and organized to create an efficient system. Planning needs to be to a certain level of information, parts to be within a certain period, documentation prepared, the work executed in a safe and timely fashion and the data needs to be of high quality for reviewing the system.
By applying controls, accurate processes and of course role-specific training in these areas the backlog becomes a more efficient tools for use reducing waste of labor hours, parts resources and planning time. Other areas of course need to be focused on but this will provide the base for later improvements.