Transforming Operational Performance

• Enhancing Performance Management:
  Shifting from crude “hours run” metrics to precise “process quality” indicators transforms engineer mindsets from reactive problem-solving to proactive improvement. This change is evident in improved lead times, responsiveness to customer demand shifts, and lower cost per unit—all while extending component life and nurturing in-house engineering expertise.

In addition to the impact on Maintenance outlook, the ripple effect drives cultural development across the organisation relating to:

• Use of Data:
  Captured data is used by those who collect it to improve decision making resulting in improved insight around causal factors and increased problem ownership

• Planning:
  With improved reliability, planners can focus on better asset utilisation, reduced inventories, and faster responsiveness to market demand.

• Frontline Team Development:
  Enhanced problem ownership and team based resolution drives on the job learning providing a vehicle to develop team capabilities and reinforce best practice.

Laying the Foundation for Change

Before you embark on changes to current practices, it’s crucial to Identify what is already working well and pinpoint where improvements will have the greatest impact. Aim to build on your current good practices rather than reinvent the wheel. Start is with an assessment of key areas that impact on Maintenance performance and cultural drivers. These are:

Leadership Agenda

1. Asset Optimisation:
   How effectively do you identify and resolve operational challenges to ensure each asset is delivering its full potential?

2. Problem Prevention:
   How proactive and effective is your approach in addressing the root causes of failures and reducing problem hot spots?

Execution Model

3. Breakdown Response
   How well-defined are the roles and responsibilities for initiating corrective actions and preventing future incidents?

4. Skill Development & Teamwork:
   How structured and comprehensive is your program for developing technical skills and enhancing teamwork within the operations team?

Improvement Processes

5. Process Standardisation:
   How effective is the standardisation of your key maintenance processes, including asset inspections, servicing, technical data management, work planning, daily operations, cost control, and the management of spares and lubrication?

6. Strategic Vision & Planning:
   How clearly defined is your long-term vision, and how well do your 12-month and 90-day action plans align to support that vision?

Next Steps

Following the assessment of strengths and weaknesses Identify cost and performance drivers to understand the causal links between total manufacturing costs and the performance drivers for people, processes, and procedures.

That provides an agenda for Plan the Plan working sessions to raise awareness of potential gains, agree priorities and craft an improvement roadmap tailored to your organisation’s unique challenges and opportunities.

Ready to transform your maintenance strategy into a powerhouse of operational excellence?

We have developed a Free Online Maintenance Management Diagnostic to help you to benchmark and refine your improvement processes—leveraging the insights from over 300 successful organisations.

Fill out the diagnostic here and we will send you a no obligation report setting out your assessment against best in class benchmarks together with a recommended programme of next steps.

Alternatively contact us and we will arrange for an online session to complete this and together we can develop the agenda for the plan the plan working session with your team to develop practical action plans that put Maintenance at the Heart of Operational Excellence.

Contact us now for more details and take the first step towards a more efficient, proactive, and profitable operation.

This is the second of two articles to illustrate the benefits of Integrating maintenance into operational excellence. This article covers how putting Maintenance at the heart of Operational Excellence directly influences cultural drivers by:

• Fostering Collaboration:
  Establishing formal collaboration with production teams to refine work methods and lock in improvement gains as part of the weekly routine.

• Supporting Continuous Skill Development:
  Enabling operators and maintainers to sustain optimal conditions and drive operations improvements with minimal managerial intervention.