December 16, 2024

The Five Cs of Maintenance Management: How Maintenance Software Enhances Efficiency

What factors comprise a successful maintenance management program? Specifics vary from industry to industry and company to company. However, you see commonalities running throughout. In this article, we'll discuss the five Cs of maintenance.

Note how the following factors interrelate. For companies to achieve effective maintenance, they have to mesh many skills. They have to support each other.

If one aspect weakens, you still might achieve your goals. However, pay attention to those weak areas. They show where you can make improvements.

Communication: The Foundation of Maintenance Management

This skill runs throughout all the rest and so many more. It's the foundation for all relationships, both personal and business.

Remember that communication means more than speaking. It may be chief among the ways, but even here, look at the various subcategories of speaking.

One-on-one. Public speaking. Phone etiquette. Personal. Business. Company to customer. I was chatting with friends. Within each of these, you pay attention to the words used, tone, speed, and more.

Communication also involves non-verbal aspects. Body language. Facial expressions.

The written word includes email, texts, and letter correspondence.

For more information about developing better communication skills, visit an article at ManpowerGroup.

Collaboration in Maintenance Management Teams

If you're not a one-man operation, then you work with a team. Maybe a partner, maybe as part of a larger group. Even if you have a solo business, you may work with suppliers and/or distributors.

Team members need to work together for the success of the company. They understand goals and share information. They know the steps to reach the first short-term goal. With each job, they reaffirm skills or learn new ones.

With complex jobs, team members discuss methodology and responsibilities. You see support, camaraderie, and improved morale.

There should be collaboration between maintenance and production. Between maintenance and purchasing. Between maintenance, production, and management.

Read HubSpot for more information on this topic.

Clarity in Maintenance Management: Setting Clear Goals and Expectations

Right away, you see how this works well with communications. All your ways of sending messages or information to people need to have clarity.

For this point, let's focus on expressing the goals of the maintenance department. You want each team member to understand procedures and safety measures. Of course, each technician should possess certain skills. That was why you hired them.

As a supervisor, you want clarity in your work orders.

• What the problem is.
• Clear instructions on resolving the issue. This may involve a checklist to either follow the job in a certain order and/or to obtain specific information during the job.
• The location of the job. What room or location on the property will the technician visit? For instance, a utility company worker may spend most of the time off property tending to matters.
• The priority. Of course, emergencies come first, but you may have several important or urgent jobs to finish. Maybe you have a deadline. Determine the criticality of the equipment. Prioritizing means you have to pay close attention to scheduling the available resources.
• Attaching associated inventory. Here, we bring in inventory management skills. Much of the clarity in this area will focus on quantities needed and on hand and the location of each part.
• Attaching safety protocols.

You should have clarity in workplace roles. This is the topic of an article at The Predictive Index.

Confusion leads to mistakes and inefficiency. Ask questions. Ask the right questions to elicit the right information. Read more at To The Point At Work.

Critique

This comes in various forms, too. Annual reviews. Quality reviews on jobs. Feedback give and take on jobs. You could formalize the process or keep it casual.

Remember that critique differs from criticism. The first evaluates and looks for improvement. Proper ways to critique include the sandwich method. Praise-improvement tips-praise.

Be sure that both sides of the sandwich have genuineness. Don't hurry through the praise to get to the points where things didn't quite work. Don't forget the final honest support or reiteration of the good points.

Criticism focuses on only the negative. You have no support or acknowledgment of effort.

How to Use Feedback to Improve Maintenance Management

When conducting a maintenance quality review at work, consider:

• The skill level of the technician. Each person has different skills. You might get a "jack of all trades; master of one."
• The complexity of the job. Maybe in the future, you'll assign more people or allow more time for that job.
• The deadline. Was the technician hurrying? Maybe he worked on an emergency job and needs a second eye on the effectiveness of the work.
• Working conditions. Was the technician under stress from the environment or coworker demands? Did he need more safety measures in place?
• Resources available. Did he have the inventory necessary to complete the job? Did he have to "jury rig" the repair until the proper parts arrived?

Of course, the final test of quality will be the effectiveness of the job and whether it resolved the problem.

For more on performance reviews, read this article.

How Computerized Maintenance Software (CMMS) Improves Maintenance Management

For dedicated maintenance teams, a computerized maintenance management system adds measurable value to operations.

What does a CMMS do?

• Organization. Within the system, you create lists of assets, inventory, and preventive maintenance tasks. You have that clarity in work orders.
• Tracking. Equipment readings. Inventory quantities. Reports on work orders (backlogged, open, closed, etc.).
• Scheduling. Invest in a CMMS with a scheduling calendar. You want to drag and drop work orders and have them dispatched to the assigned technician.
• Reports. Generate evaluation, information, and key performance indicator (KPI) reports. A variety of reports helps you chart progress and efficiency. They'll show you weak areas to strengthen.

For more information regarding a superior CMMS, call 800-922-4336 and visit MAPCON.

Strengthening Maintenance Management with the Five Cs

While you could list several more Cs of maintenance, the above five will help you on the right path to reaching your goals. I suggest not trying to tackle them all at once. Start with communications and work down from there. You'll find that the more you grow in the first "C", the better the others will come.