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How do I get Operations on board with preventive maintenance tasks?
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Since Operations often focuses on production uptime while maintenance focuses on improving reliability and minimizing costs, the two are often at odds. For example, it might be difficult for a Maintenance Planner to schedule a planned plant-wide shutdown, while an Operations Manager wants the plant to be running for as long as possible. As such, the key to getting Operations on board with preventive maintenance tasks is to show them how they support production uptime.
Collect the data
This all starts with collecting data. It’s not enough to tell your Operations department that a little bit of planned downtime now will be beneficial overall. You need to show how it will maximize uptime in the long run.
To do that, you’ll need to look at the following metrics:
On top of that, you can use root cause analysis to show how certain preventive maintenance tasks can prevent costly failures.
Use these metrics to demonstrate the time lost on unplanned maintenance and compare that to the time it takes to complete PMs. Doing so should help you make your case for how a little planned downtime can support equipment uptime. In the end, the cost savings on PM tend to come out to between 12% to 18% over reactive maintenance, so the numbers should work out in favor of PM.
Communicate and collaborate
These statistics can ultimately help you align your purposes. After all, the end goal of both maintenance and operations is to support production and profitability. Maintenance and Operations leadership should be working together to that end. As such, communication and collaboration are key.
For instance, maintenance planners should maintain consistent communication with your Operations department. As they plan work, they should collaborate with them to make sure the equipment is clean and ready for planned tasks.
Scheduling regular meetings between the two departments can also help. The focus of these meetings should be on determining the root causes and solving them (and not on pointing fingers).
Include operators in equipment care
A final way to get your operators on board with PM is to have them participate in basic inspections and maintenance tasks. This not only helps you keep an eye on your equipment, it also fosters communication and helps your operators see the need for preventive maintenance work more clearly. In the end, you should have less resistance when scheduling PM tasks and see better equipment reliability.