What is maintenance scheduling?

Maintenance scheduling is the process of making sure planned work is carried out. It involves bringing all the necessary resources together to make sure tasks are completed correctly and on time.

Tip: Maintenance scheduling is often confused with maintenance planning. However, the two are different processes. Planning deals with what needs to be done and how, while scheduling handles who does it and when.

The maintenance scheduling process

Typically, maintenance scheduling may be completed by:

Tip: Dedicated schedulers are often necessary in large operations with complex maintenance needs. In smaller operations, individual supervisors or even the planner may perform this role.

Maintenance teams need to take multiple factors into account when scheduling maintenance work. Following the steps listed below will make certain nothing is left out.

Read the work order and clarify details with the maintenance planner.
Secure necessary resources, such as tools, people, supplies, spare parts, safety equipment.
Make sure the asset is available and ready for work.
Assign the task to a technician for completion.
Follow up and make improvements as needed.

Some tasks may be scheduled on a recurring basis, in which case the scheduler needs to make sure each work order is completed on time every time.

Common scheduling challenges

While the scheduling process seems fairly cut and dry, it’s often riddled with challenges that can disrupt workflows and decrease schedule compliance. Some of these challenges include:

Lack of communication with operations crews
Inefficient MRO inventory management
Challenges with suppliers
Lack of proper in-house training for specialized tasks
Misunderstandings with contractors

These challenges often stem from the difficulty of working with multiple parties at once. Because of this, schedulers need strong communication skills—and in some cases a will of iron—to make sure tasks happen on time.

Improving maintenance scheduling

In order to improve your maintenance scheduling practices, consider the following pointers:

Use a CMMS to log data from work orders and assets.
Don’t account for potential emergency work—load schedules to 100%.
Perform RCA on your workflows to find inefficiencies.

The ultimate goal is to make sure equipment is properly maintained, so keep that in mind when scheduling maintenance work.

Tip: Typically, your scheduling practices need improvement if over 20% of work orders are completed late.

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