Maintenance – it’s a necessary evil that always seems to find new ways to give you gray hairs. But what if you could tame its costs without compromising operational reliability or production? In this article, you’ll learn how to measure the impact of unnecessary cost drivers and implement strategies to keep them in check.
How do you measure maintenance costs?
To reduce costs, you first need to know how and what to measure. With the right tools, metrics, and techniques, you can get a clear picture of where your resources are going. Here are the methods you need to effectively track, measure, and analyze maintenance costs:
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OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)
OEE is a central part of maintenance theory and sometimes it can seem like the only key metric you need to manage operations. However, it’s crucial to understand how these metrics influence your day-to-day priorities and decisions.
Sure, the numbers may feel abstract and seem most useful at a high management level, but they are essential for monitoring the overall health of your maintenance strategy. Remember, everything starts with availability – are the machines in the facility available for production when production needs them? If not, the other metrics don’t matter.
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Daily planning for on-time delivery
Planning for the upcoming days is a practical way to get a handle on maintenance work. By reviewing and prioritizing incoming work orders together with production, you can create what’s known as a 'daily plan.' Follow up the next day to see how many of the planned hours were actually completed and understand why certain parts of the plan couldn’t be followed. When you measure planned time against actual time on a daily basis, you lay the foundation for well-oiled, predictable, and efficient maintenance.
It’s also important to understand what kinds of tasks were requested and completed. Ask yourself: how much of yesterday’s work was planned? How much was urgent? What was the split between corrective and preventive maintenance?
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Preventive maintenance (PM) and inspections
If you want to avoid costly and stressful emergency repairs, preventive maintenance is key. It starts with setting a clear plan for when and how parts should be replaced before they actually fail. Schedule regular inspections and establish a routine for checking your machines for early signs of wear or other issues.
To measure the success of your preventive maintenance efforts, track the number of emergency hours per day and compare that to how much scheduled maintenance you’re actually completing. The more you stick to the plan, the better your PM program is working.
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Planned time vs. actual time
Have you noticed that a job scheduled for two hours sometimes takes four? Something’s wrong. It could be poor planning or lack of skills. As a maintenance manager, you need to understand what conditions and resources are available to improve the accuracy of your planning.
But be careful not to plan too much ‘slack’ into the schedule, as this leads to inefficiencies and inaccurate data in the future. Instead, use a timer in your maintenance system to measure exactly how long the work actually takes. This will give you reliable data for comparing actual time against planned time.
How to reduce maintenance costs
Now you know where the cost drivers are and how to measure them. But that’s only half the battle. The next step is figuring out how to actually reduce costs without compromising reliability or production. Here are the strategies that will make a real difference:
1. Prepare your maintenance
To truly cut maintenance costs, you need to improve how you manage maintenance work. First and foremost: planning and preparation are everything.
Imagine you have an expensive night time window for preventive maintenance. Do you have all the materials and spare parts ready so your technicians can start work immediately? If not, they’ll waste time running back and forth to the workshop – time that could be used more effectively. Efficient preparation is like gearing up for a marathon, not a sprint.
2. Create ownership and improve the order process
A common problem is the lack of ownership on the ordering side. The person responsible for the facility needs to feel a strong sense of responsibility and be skilled at placing orders. This means being able to prioritize correctly and understand how each decision affects production.
Perhaps this means shutting down production two hours earlier to create a longer maintenance window. With better ownership, you can ensure that daily plans are followed and that the maintenance organization doesn’t just act as a fire brigade.
3. Improve maintenance management
It’s time to take the plunge and get a maintenance program that actually works in practice. At the same time, you need to implement effective working methods, such as daily coordination between operations and maintenance – where you sit down together to review all issues, priorities, and upcoming jobs.
This "plant pulse" gives you complete control over what’s happening and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks. It’s not about running X% faster, but about smarter planning, delegation, and follow-up. Make sure your team has a clear path to follow and that everyone knows what’s expected of them.
4. Implement and practice operator maintenance
Operator maintenance is a game-changer when it comes to reducing maintenance costs. Think of it like owning a car: you don’t need to be a mechanic to handle basic maintenance yourself – you can refuel, top up the washer fluid, and replace the wiper blades without any trouble. Similarly, your operators can take responsibility for simpler preventive tasks like cleaning, lubrication, and topping off fluids.
This frees up the maintenance organization to focus on more complex tasks that require specialized knowledge, such as electrical or mechanical work. You get more done with the same staff, and the operators gain more knowledge about their machines, making them even more valuable assets.
5. Invest in training and skill development
Training and skill development for your operators are essential. When they learn to handle basic maintenance tasks, they gain a deeper understanding of the machines they work with.
This means that over time, they can take on more advanced maintenance tasks. More operators who can handle simple maintenance mean that you can get more done without expanding your maintenance team. It’s a win-win.
Now that you’ve learned how to measure and tackle the biggest cost drivers in maintenance, it’s time to take the next step. To truly optimize your maintenance strategy and ensure reliability, you need a reliable maintenance system that supports your goals. Read on to discover how Mainter’s solution can help you reduce costs, improve efficiency, and keep your equipment in top condition.
