How do I improve schedule compliance for my preventive maintenance?

The key to improving schedule compliance for your preventive maintenance is to analyze your data. This starts with tracking your PM work orders.

Track PM work orders

By far the easiest way to track PMs is through a CMMS, though work order management systems work too. If you’re still using paper or a spreadsheet, you’ll probably have a really hard time analyzing how many PMs were completed on schedule.

As you log PM work orders, the main metric you’ll want to look for is how many are completed by their due date. If you have a significant number (above 20%) that are completed late, you likely have room for improvement. On the other hand, any number above 90% may mean your team doesn’t have enough to do.

Find root causes

In order to make improvements, you’ll have to find the root causes of poor compliance. Often, these take the form of administrative practices, such as:

• Measuring productivity with unimportant metrics
• Inefficient scheduling practices
• Inaccessible resources
• Tendency to prioritize less important tasks

You might have some issues among your personnel as well, such as:

• Preferences for certain types of tasks
• Skill or training gaps
• Lack of understanding on the importance of preventive maintenance

Still other factors may involve a high incidence of asset failure in your facility. In that case, you may want to revise the types of PM tasks you’re performing.

Your data can help you find where your schedule compliance is failing. For example, if you find that certain types of PM tasks tend to be put off, you might have a skills gap somewhere. If you have a large number of emergency work orders, you may have a tendency to prioritize tasks that aren’t actually emergencies.

Train your people

Once you know the root cause of your schedule compliance issues, you’ll be able to train your personnel and leadership in ways that will improve it. For example, if you have a skill gap, you might train your maintenance planners to take outside resources into consideration for each work request.

If your scheduling practices are causing issues with productivity, you’ll want to train your maintenance planners and supervisors in best scheduling practices. Through it all, make sure you keep discussions respectful in order to get everyone on board.