Planning and scheduling is the most common set of metrics within the maintenance department, yet like many other we find ourselves stuck in the same cycle of measuring things that either provide us low value, or are easily manipulated.
As with every other type of indicator, the goal is not to produce outstanding measures every time. This is how scheduling metrics generally end up figuring in company dashboards.
The real goal is to be able to highlight areas of poor performance that we can improve, or to measure parts of our process to see how we are managing our workload. Unfortunately, nobody has informed the army of SAP consultants circling the globe forcing un-workable systems on companies... but that's another story.
The metrics included in this post are not the run of the mill, and are designed to produce a specific result.
Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Work order backlog analysis
A lot has been said about the work order backlog, including a range of key performance indicators for drawing all sorts of information out of it.
So what can it really tell us?
If work is being recorded correctly the maintenance backlog should consist of three separate work order categories.
So what can it really tell us?
If work is being recorded correctly the maintenance backlog should consist of three separate work order categories.
- Work arising from inspections and other corrective work orders.
- Schedules that have been converted into work orders but have not yet been done, and
- Schedules that were supposed to be done but have been deferred or rescheduled for some reason.
There are other areas also. Things like capital maintenance work, replacements and refurbishments, off site planned work and so on... but when you get down to it they all fall under one of the three main categories listed above.
If your company also uses work orders for non maintenance or operations related tasks ... then good luck with that. This post has nothing to do with that.
So what can these three major categories, and their sub categories, of work tell us?
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Some quick pointers to a maintenance organization in crisis
Have you ever noticed how companies with a very reactive maintenance environment tend to have very little, or no backlog of corrective work orders?
This is one of the "tells"companies have that can help you to make a quick assessment of their situation, and what you need to do about it.
Here are some others I use regularly.
Have a quick look over the maintenance practices in place for their hidden failures. protective devices ranging from stand by assets through to circuit breakers and PSV valves.
The sorts of things you are looking for here are: tasks more suited to operating assets, 50/50 rotations with no known justification for it, unexplainable frequencies for function tests, missing functional tests, and protective devices with no maintenance strategies at all.
Have a look at the weekly plan. Does it exist? Is it capacity scheduled? Is it in their system or in excel? (Shudder)
Look at their backlog. (Aside from the planned work order thing) Aside from a low level of corrective maintenance work orders you are also looking to find lists of routine work orders that were either not done or not closed off. (Nobody remembers anymore)
Before you got there they already knew they were reactive, but within two hours you now know:
a) They have no control at all over their short term maintenance planning. They can therefore have no good level of data flowing back for analysis, no real understanding of costs, and no way of driving continuous improvement aside from the old way of squeaky wheel maintenance.
b) Their maintenance strategies are at best causing them to have a high level of asset risk, potentially with safety and environmental consequences of failure. At worst their existing maintenance is actively contributing to the reactive state of affairs.
c) Their entire approach is not based on solving problems but on fixing them. Whether by design or by default, this is where they are.
Have a look around your own operations. You probably already know the answers to the questions here. I would be curious what you think...
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Prioritizing work in progress
A decade on it surprises the life out of me that there are still so many companies where the concept of setting work order priorities still seems to create so much confusion.
The process I described in that article was a bit intense, and took a bit to set up and run correctly. But it really did cut the emotion out of the entire process and changed systems from squeaky wheel scheduling to risk based scheduling.
Not only that but once you look at it - it is pretty straight forward and simple. Yet many companies still seem to get confused over what "priority" means when talking about a work order.
Confusion sets in around he curse of criticality, a common affliction for maintenance professionals.
"But it is a critical asset!!" Sure, but that doesn't mean the work on it is "critical/die for it/must happen yesterday" important.
Then you see complications over what to do with PM's, Standing work orders, modifications and additions.. etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Priority (not criticality) of works in progress is there for one reason above all others. To help you (somebody) make decisions about the allocation of scarce resources.
That's it. Period. The more you dig into it, the more you come to this point.
So for my money, priority needs to represent the time window in which the work order should be scheduled. The underlying thought is - if it isn't done by this time, then there could be even more trouble.
Working through it may be different for your company, but generally the outcome revolves around some sort of answer like the following.
Priority Meaning
1. Immediate
2. 24 hrs 48 hrs (RM's belong here)
3. 48hrs < 1w
4. 1w - 2w (Modifications start here.)
5. 2w - 1m
6. > 1m (Standing work orders if you must)
it also gives you the ability to do cool stuff like reporting on the age versus priority of the work orders in progress to give you an idea of how well, or not, your planners are dealing with the task of backlog management.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Quick 5 tips for backlog management
Backlog management is one of the most simple and powerful techniques in a planners arsenal. Unfortunately it is also one of the most overlooked.
Backlog management is the art of sifting through, acting upon and reporting upon the work orders and work requests within the backlog.
It starts at the point of work order creation and ends when work orders head into the analysis archives. The goal of backlog management is to help work be completed in an efficient and time saving process.
If the short term planner is doing their job correctly then they should be spending the vast majority of their time in managing the work order backlog. Reviewing statuses, parts ordering, preparing for execution and so on.
The Quick 5
1) Make sure that the role of work order creation and completion has nothing to do with the planning office.
2) Develop guidelines for work order status, and define the criteria a work order must meet before it can be considered as planned.
This is a key issue and is related to work order life cycle planning. it is striking how many work order backlog systems I look through where work orders are nowhere near planned, yet they have been given out for execution.
3) Force yourself to schedule via capacity scheduling.
Capacity scheduling is a great technique. Start with the routine maintenance, then add in only the "planned" work orders from the corrective work order backlog. In this way you MUST have a planned backlog available. A good way to force yourself into the discipline of managing the backlog.
4) Develop and implement a prioritization process for works in progress. (Including reports for age versus time work orders and so on)
The core of backlog management is this concept. Work needs to be planned from highest priority items first, and this is only going to be effective if the prioritization process is robust and accurate. (As opposed to the system of "he who shouts loudest")
5) Report, review and repair.
Age versus priority, exception reports on codes entered, Number of weeks planned work ahead of the team, schedule compliance and so on. A scorecard of metrics aimed at driving efficiency and accuracy in the work order backlog.
6) Fix the underlying strategies.
Backlog management, capacity scheduling and prioritization of work will never fix poor strategies. Never.
Cutting down break in work requires a detailed approach involving correcting the underlying asset strategies. Without this your potential impact from backlog management is limited.
The maintenance work order backlog is a source of advantage - but only if the time is taken to manage it in a disciplined fashion.
It starts at the point of work order creation and ends when work orders head into the analysis archives. The goal of backlog management is to help work be completed in an efficient and time saving process.
If the short term planner is doing their job correctly then they should be spending the vast majority of their time in managing the work order backlog. Reviewing statuses, parts ordering, preparing for execution and so on.
The Quick 5
1) Make sure that the role of work order creation and completion has nothing to do with the planning office.
This is the most dangerous area. Planners are all too often used as clerks because they take on work order opening and closing in order to get good data into the system. In doing so they train everyone else to avoid the CMMS, and they sow the seeds of their own failure.
2) Develop guidelines for work order status, and define the criteria a work order must meet before it can be considered as planned.
This is a key issue and is related to work order life cycle planning. it is striking how many work order backlog systems I look through where work orders are nowhere near planned, yet they have been given out for execution.
3) Force yourself to schedule via capacity scheduling.
Capacity scheduling is a great technique. Start with the routine maintenance, then add in only the "planned" work orders from the corrective work order backlog. In this way you MUST have a planned backlog available. A good way to force yourself into the discipline of managing the backlog.
4) Develop and implement a prioritization process for works in progress. (Including reports for age versus time work orders and so on)
The core of backlog management is this concept. Work needs to be planned from highest priority items first, and this is only going to be effective if the prioritization process is robust and accurate. (As opposed to the system of "he who shouts loudest")
5) Report, review and repair.
Age versus priority, exception reports on codes entered, Number of weeks planned work ahead of the team, schedule compliance and so on. A scorecard of metrics aimed at driving efficiency and accuracy in the work order backlog.
6) Fix the underlying strategies.
Backlog management, capacity scheduling and prioritization of work will never fix poor strategies. Never.
Cutting down break in work requires a detailed approach involving correcting the underlying asset strategies. Without this your potential impact from backlog management is limited.
The maintenance work order backlog is a source of advantage - but only if the time is taken to manage it in a disciplined fashion.
Wednesday, 9 August 2006
Planning and scheduling basics...
Planning and scheduling functions are the key deliverables of the planning role. This is where the most gains in execution have the potential to be made and acted upon. In some larger organisations these are split, allowing more adequate resources for each role.
The role of the planner needs to cover the full range of the work order system, from input into coding, prioritisation and a degree of autonomy in execution. As such these roles, more and more, need to be staffed by skilled and versatile people.
The difference between planning and scheduling needs to be clear within each company. These are differing areas worthy of differing measurement and improvement initiatives.
The role of the planner needs to cover the full range of the work order system, from input into coding, prioritisation and a degree of autonomy in execution. As such these roles, more and more, need to be staffed by skilled and versatile people.
The difference between planning and scheduling needs to be clear within each company. These are differing areas worthy of differing measurement and improvement initiatives.
Planning
Planning can occur at any stage during the life of a works order. An electronic indicator in the work-order systems needs to be able to identify the work-order by status of planning. In this manner works orders requiring parts, procedures, documents, skills or equipment can easily be focussed upon. A work order cannot be considered planned until all of these have been considered. As well exception reporting needs to highlight:
Planning can occur at any stage during the life of a works order. An electronic indicator in the work-order systems needs to be able to identify the work-order by status of planning. In this manner works orders requiring parts, procedures, documents, skills or equipment can easily be focussed upon. A work order cannot be considered planned until all of these have been considered. As well exception reporting needs to highlight:
- No resources
- No $ estimates
- Incorrect coding
Scheduling
Scheduling is the function of coordinating all of the logistical issues around the issues regarding the execution phase of the work. This can also uncover some areas of planning deficiency, which needs to be captured.
Scheduling is the function of coordinating all of the logistical issues around the issues regarding the execution phase of the work. This can also uncover some areas of planning deficiency, which needs to be captured.
Scheduling is best performed in a capacity-scheduling manner, whereby the following takes place. Most modern systems have the capacity to output data to spreadsheets or similar. This is where the majority of scheduling work needs to occur.
Overhead labour hours such as safety and toolbox meetings, break times and training times are to be gathered, along with holidays and scheduled as standing works orders for future analysis of these.
Overhead labour hours such as safety and toolbox meetings, break times and training times are to be gathered, along with holidays and scheduled as standing works orders for future analysis of these.
Hours for PM completion to be deduced form data in the CMMS. This focuses on ensuring the equipment is maintained to its best levels.
Addition of corrective and approved improvement actions as dictated by the prioritisation system and operations plan. These are to be Planned works orders only. A guide could be: Age of works orders against priority (As a measure of the priority systems effectiveness)
Addition of corrective and approved improvement actions as dictated by the prioritisation system and operations plan. These are to be Planned works orders only. A guide could be: Age of works orders against priority (As a measure of the priority systems effectiveness)
The combination of corrective, preventative and improvement work needs to total the levels set for planned / scheduled work. Although this does constitute the most effective use of labour and resources, there are advantages to planned/unscheduled works. A workable level is 70%- 80% in the initial stages.
For example a planned works order may be used during opportune maintenance periods due to major failure or operations reasons. In this instance the benefits of pre-planning become clear.
However there does not need to be a rush to repair equipment in an opportune manner simply because it has become available. If there have been higher priority work planned then this needs to retain that focus.
Review of this by week needs to focus on executed works. In this manner re-scheduled works, while important though difficult to fully quantify, can be captured in hour’s terms by omission. By setting a level of 70%, for example, you know that the schedule was forecast to that level. Planned / Scheduled work orders are to equal this.
Unplanned and unscheduled work makes up the majority of breakdown works orders generally.
However modern systems do contain template work orders. Focusing of these on corrective actions can produce a “planned” breakdown work order.
Works order templates containing all planned information including parts and resources requirements. These can take a lot of the work out of the planning function so that it can be focussed more on improvement. Estimation variances, additional tips or instructions, improving the safe working practices and reviewing the stores re-credits can offer areas of improving work order templates. All delivering a more efficient and accurate tool for scheduling and execution.
For example a planned works order may be used during opportune maintenance periods due to major failure or operations reasons. In this instance the benefits of pre-planning become clear.
However there does not need to be a rush to repair equipment in an opportune manner simply because it has become available. If there have been higher priority work planned then this needs to retain that focus.
Review of this by week needs to focus on executed works. In this manner re-scheduled works, while important though difficult to fully quantify, can be captured in hour’s terms by omission. By setting a level of 70%, for example, you know that the schedule was forecast to that level. Planned / Scheduled work orders are to equal this.
Unplanned and unscheduled work makes up the majority of breakdown works orders generally.
However modern systems do contain template work orders. Focusing of these on corrective actions can produce a “planned” breakdown work order.
Works order templates containing all planned information including parts and resources requirements. These can take a lot of the work out of the planning function so that it can be focussed more on improvement. Estimation variances, additional tips or instructions, improving the safe working practices and reviewing the stores re-credits can offer areas of improving work order templates. All delivering a more efficient and accurate tool for scheduling and execution.
Templates can also be used to store trouble shooting guides for specific symptoms / fault modes. OEM data and strategy review information is best for providing the detail for these.
Like all changes to maintenance processes this needs to be embedded via a range of initiatives. These include role-specific training, targeted reports for functional purposes and integration of KPI measurement with daily routines. This can happen as part of meeting structures, signs and symbols as well as integration with the salary expectations. (Usually via bonus schemes)
Although effective, the behaviours being driven need to be carefully considered. This is by no means a total explanation of the planning and scheduling function, reporting tools and or processes. It seeks to highlight areas most neglected where immediate improvements, through application, can be easily implemented.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)