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Mm nt gememana maintenance management Proactive? Are You A Day in the Life of a Maintenance Technician Ricky Smith What is a Proactive Maintenance Additionally, a proactive maintenance techni- At this time, the maintenance technician per- Technician? cian makes sure the work site is clean and safe forms the particular work to specification. Fol- when completing work. Work safety is always a lowing all procedures, the maintenance techni- A proactive maintenance technician is a high- priority. cian cleans the area and releases the equipment ly-trained professional who is an expert in his back to production in a “like new” status accord- or her skills area, has knowledge of other skills ing to the definition of maintenance: areas, including safety and production, and has a desire to learn more. This professional knows and can implement a failure modes driven maintenance strategy for any piece of equip- ment. A proactive maintenance technician uses knowledge and experience to ensure the main- tenance process is optimized by making con- structive recommendations to management concerning improvement areas. Once production operates the equipment To ensure success, a proactive maintenance to standard, the maintenance technician clos- technician is proactive in everything he or she Figure 1: Sample Wrench Time Study Results es out the work order with the proper failure does. This person constantly reviews informa- codes, failure causes, time taken to complete tion to ensure procedures are accurate and is- Perhaps most importantly, a proactive mainte- the job and any other information required in sues are resolved quickly and does what is re- nance technician is always proud of the work he the synopsis. quired to ensure the work is repeatable. Such or she conducts or influences. No pat on the back a professional leads by example and takes re- is required, just the personal satisfaction in know- Before Shift Ends sponsibility for training new employees on how Prior to leaving for the day, the maintenance to be a proactive and effective maintenance ing that the job was completed successfully. technician reviews the work scheduled for the technician. What Does a Typical Day Look Like for next day from the job plan package left by the A successful proactive maintenance techni- a Proactive Maintenance Technician? planner/scheduler. This ensures that the proac- cian follows known best repair practices in all tive maintenance technician knows the job and A proactive maintenance technician be- tasks and has a suitable reference book as part validates that the parts are in the kitted area. gins the day by pulling a job package from the of his or her tool set, such as Industrial Machinery The maintenance technician also participates in scheduled work box, goes to where the parts Repair: Best Maintenance Practices Pocket Guide a tool box training session (Figure 2) concerning from MRO-Zone. A proactive maintenance tech- are kitted, pulls the required parts and tools, safety, new work instructions, or technical train- nician is certified as a lubrication specialist and and leaves for the job site. Because the planner ing ideas to increase his or her knowledge base knows and follows best lubrication practices. has made sure that all special tools, parts and and help teammates by sharing this knowledge. procedures are at the job location, the main- On a daily basis, a proactive maintenance technician begins work on time, ends work on tenance technician can begin on time since all What Value Does a Proactive time, takes the allotted break(s) without taking the equipment, parts, tools and procedures are Maintenance Technician Provide additional time and always makes the best use ready to execute. to a Proactive Organization? of time. He or she knows the applicable planned The maintenance technician arrives at the job As previously discussed, a proactive mainte- and scheduled work for the week and inspects site and is greeted by a production worker, who nance technician is always on time, performs the next day’s tools and parts for the sched- has cleaned and cooled down the equipment work to standard, makes recommendations to uled work. Wrench time is high (55 percent and per the maintenance schedule so the mainte- improve work for the next time it is executed, greater), as shown in Figure 1, because the main- nance technician has the optimum amount of ensures tools are operational, verifies produc- tenance technician identifies scheduling delays time to perform preventive maintenance, cor- tion has started up the equipment to standard and makes recommendations for improvement. rective maintenance, etc. and on time, and performs all work in a safe en-50 dec/jan12

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vironment. In addition to all of this, a proactivemaintenance technician adds value by workingwith production and operations as a team toresolve equipment problems, whether mainte-nance or production related, to optimize assetreliability and increase capacity. The effect of a proactive maintenance tech-nician’s ability to conduct preventive mainte-nance as a “controlled experiment.” Because theproactive maintenance technician always takesthe time to make repairs accurately, they aremore often than not sustainable with no reworkrequired. A proactive maintenance technician is capableof correcting defects and making repairs using re-peatable, effective procedures that reduce rework.A maintenance technician also has the ability towrite effective, repeatable procedures followingcompany guidelines to ensure other technicianshave the tools to perform quality work. With a focus on safety, the proactive main-tenance technician ensures all work places arefree of hazards and is skilled at using the toolsrequired to reduce potential hazards. In-depthtraining in the identification of failure modesand their causes for all equipment in the main-tenance technician’s area and vast knowledge onhow to prevent or identify failures early are keycomponents for preventing a failure. Further-more, the proactive maintenance technician istrained and can execute specific advanced main-tenance tools, such as ultrasound, infrared and la-ser alignment tools, with precision when needed,thus reducing the need for additional personnel. A proactive maintenance technician is con-fident in providing management with metricsthat show asset reliability is improving. Further,he or she has the ability to make recommenda- Figure 2: Tool Box Training Exampletions for equipment improvement based on fail-ure reports and metrics (Figure 3).Measuring the Effectiveness of aProactive Maintenance Technician The metrics listed in Table 1 should be usedby the maintenance technician solely to expandknowledge and improve skill sets in a certainarea. If a metric is going in the wrong direction,the maintenance technician should go to themaintenance supervisor for guidance. Manage- Figure 3: Mean Time Between Failure of Different Pumps in a Specific Plantment must ensure that all areas listed in Table 1 Table 1: Technician Balanced Scorecardare fully supported by the maintenance supervi-sor, production supervisor, storeroom manager Metric Indicatorand planner/scheduler, as well as reliability andmaintenance engineering. Percent of rework Lack of effective planning and scheduling Schedule compliance Lack of effective scheduling Ricky Smith, CMRP, CPMM, is Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) for area of responsibility Lack of effective procedures; operator error the Senior Technical Advisor for GPAllied. Ricky has over 30 years Safety occurrences Lack of safety awareness or compliance experience in maintenance as a maintenance manager, mainte- Mean Time Between Repairs on assigned equipment Lack of effective procedures nance supervisor, maintenance engineer, maintenance training Number of times in storeroom by month Lack of effective planning specialist and maintenance consultant, and is a well- known published author. www.gpallied.com Reduction in energy in area of responsibility Lack of an effective maintenance strategy dec/jan12 51