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To minimize costly downtime, maintenance teams first treat the symptoms of failure in order to return assets to service quickly. While corrective actions may provide relief, they do not address the failure’s true underlying cause. Root cause analysis (RCA) allows organizations to uncover the origin of equipment failures.
First, let’s address what is meant by a “root cause”. According to the American Society of Quality (ASQ), a root cause is “the core issue […] that sets in motion the entire cause-and-effect reaction that ultimately leads to the problem(s).” It is the main contributor to an asset failure.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a systematic process for investigating why a specific incident occurred. Using various approaches, tools, and problem-solving techniques, RCA provides a structured way for organizations to fully understand the circumstances surrounding a failure, identify its root cause(s), and determine an approach for responding to and resolving it.
Compared to troubleshooting, which is a process of trial and error, root cause analysis is a formal, in-depth examination of physical, human, or organizational factors that may contribute to equipment failure.
Without determining a failure’s root cause(s), you cannot make the changes necessary to prevent it from recurring. You may simply perform corrective maintenance (CM) and consider the problem solved, only for it to happen again. Addressing the “symptoms” of a problem does not solve the root cause, even though a repair may provide temporary relief.
RCA provides guidance for determining why an incident occurred by exploring what happened and how. Based on your investigation, you can implement controls that prevent the incident, or similar incidents, from recurring. As a result, you organization can avoid unnecessary costs due to downtime, audits and regulations, and subpar asset reliability.
What failure events prompt the need for a root cause analysis is ultimately your choice. However, you don’t need to perform RCA for every single failure, nor should you. Many problems are relatively minor, happen infrequently, or you already know their cause (e.g., a part that fails because it has reached the end of its useful life). The best candidates for root cause analysis are:
Also consider that proper root cause analysis requires a significant amount of time, manpower, money, and knowledge to complete. Important information is often missing because it is generally not possible (or practical) to monitor everything needed for RCA. When data is available, it can be onerous to construct a timeline of events and identify a root cause, of which there may be more than one. Further, it is simply not practical or cost effective to thoroughly investigate every failure, no matter how small.
Root cause analysis uses various approaches, tools, and techniques to determine the causes of asset failure. The International Organization for Standards (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) list multiple analysis tools and techniques in their risk management standard, ISO.IEC 31010:2019. For your convenience, the most common RCA tools are described below.
Keep in mind that no RCA tool or technique is foolproof – each has its own pros and cons. Also, some methods may be more applicable to certain industries or types of problems. Your organization should develop its own approach to root cause analysis.
“The Five Whys” (5 Whys) is a popular problem-solving technique that originates from Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota Industries, in the 1930s.It is considered one of the easiest RCA tools. The main idea behind the Five Whys method is “by repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.” However, five whys is simply a guideline – some problems can be solved using more or less why questions.
Below is an example of the 5 Whys method:
Problem: A blower motor is vibrating excessively
Possible Solution: Schedule a preventive maintenance task to clean the grease inlet.
Five Whys can also be applied to your maintenance process:
Problem: A preventive maintenance (PM) work order is overdue
Possible Solution: Configure the CMMS to require users to enter quantities of used parts.
An Ishikawa diagram, better known as the fishbone diagram due to its resemblance of a fish skeleton, helps organizations identify many possible causes of a problem. The problem or adverse effect is displayed at the “head” while causes categories are shown as “bones” feeding into the spine. Commonly used categories include:
Each possible cause makes up smaller “bones” that branch off of their applicable category. After all possible causes are identified, analyze each cause (possibly by using the Five Whys Method) and brainstorm solutions.
Image derived from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_tree_analysis
Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a top-down approach to problem solving that uses a graphical tree diagram to map the relationships between a fault and its related events using Boolean logic. The undesirable event is shown at the top of the diagram, and lower level events are connected through “logic gates” representing AND or OR operators.
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is one of the most complex methods of root cause analysis. At the start of the process, a cross-functional team identifies all the ways in which an asset might fail, known as “failure modes”. Typical types of failure modes include:
Next, the team conducts an “effect analysis” to systematically assess the risk each failure modes poses. Risk is quantified by generating a risk priority number (RPN), which represents a failure mode’s severity, probability of occurrence, and likelihood to be detected. Based on the RPN, the organization identifies failure modes that pose the highest risk to the organization and create a plan to prevent them or mitigate their risk. The ASQ provides an example of an FMEA procedure on their website.
Pareto analysis is a decision-making tool that helps organizations identify which failure causes are the most significant. It is based on the Pareto principle, better known as the “80/20 rule”, which states that 80% of failures come from 20% of causes.
Using Pareto analysis, a Pareto chart is created to plot the frequency of causes and their cumulative effects. The Pareto chart is a combination of a bar chart and line chart. The bars represent the frequency of causes, with the most frequent on the left and least frequent on the right. The line chart shows the cumulative sum of each cause’s percentage.
The specific steps taken when performing root cause analysis differ based on the tools and techniques used. In general, the RCA process is as follows:
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is an invaluable tool for performing root cause analysis. It provides a way for maintenance teams to document and track critical asset and maintenance data that can be used when analyzing asset failures.
Work orders track what problems your assets have experienced and what resolved them. Organizations can quickly access important asset information, meter readings, and preventive maintenance schedules to provide context to the events surrounding failures. Some CMMS systems offer failure tracking and analysis through failure cause tracking. Read our series of articles about failure codes for more information.
When a root cause is identified, the CMMS can be used to easily create or modify preventive maintenance schedules, update PM task lists, attach supplementary maintenance documentation, and document new maintenance procedures. Maintenance reports help you monitor and track the results of any new or changed maintenance activities introduced to address the root cause.
The maintenance team is a key source of information for teams performing root cause analysis. Organizations must have a solution in place to store critical data about assets, work orders, and maintenance schedules.
FTMaintenance Select provides a centralized platform for documenting, managing, and tracking maintenance activities and creating a repository of information about asset maintenance and performance. Request a demo today to learn more about how to create a proactive maintenance plan and prevent critical failures with FTMaintenance Select.
As consumers, we pay close attention to the products that we put into (or on) our own bodies or the bodies of animals. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ensures the quality of food, drug, and cosmetic products by regulating how such products are manufactured. This article provides an overview of the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations and their relation to maintenance.
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are FDA regulations that set minimum quality requirements for the manufacture, processing, packaging, labeling, and storage of food, drugs, cosmetics, and other products. Adherence to such regulations minimizes or eliminates the risk of contamination, mix ups, defects, and errors that could be harmful to humans or animals.
You may also see Good Manufacturing Practices referred to as Current Good Manufacturing Practices or CGMPs. “Current” mandates that regulated industries use up-to-date technologies or processes that comply with Good Manufacturing Practice regulations.
The GMP’s are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 21, which includes Good Manufacturing Practice regulations as well as other statues related to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Title 21 FDA regulations apply to the following industries:
Good Manufacturing Practices exist because consumers cannot fully detect whether products are safe, will work, or are truthfully labeled. Take a classic example from American history: A traveling salesmen, posing as a doctor, attempts to sell his “miracle cures” and elixirs to an unsuspecting public, who later find out that all claims were pure fiction.
The public puts its faith in manufacturers to proactively ensure product quality and safety, especially for products that affect our well-being. GMPs, by force of law, instill public trust in the food and drug manufacturing process. Instead of focusing on end products, GMP regulations focus on the processes used to make the goods. By controlling quality at different points of the manufacturing process, the FDA aims to greatly reduce the possibility that unsafe products are produced.
It is critical that maintenance teams in FDA-regulated industries understand Good Manufacturing Practice regulations because asset performance directly impacts process and product quality. Poorly maintained equipment and facilities increase the likelihood of defects or contamination. Therefore, maintenance processes and activities must maintain or improve quality.
GMP maintenance requirements vary based on industry, though there is much overlap. In the United States, the FDA defines distinct GMP standards for food and drug manufacturers. The sections below summarize key maintenance information contained within the Good Manufacturing Practices for each industry. Be aware that these regulations are subject to change without warning. Always refer to the official FDA documentation for your needs.
Food GMPs are covered in Title 21 CFR, Part 110. It describes the methods, equipment, facilities, and controls required for producing food for human consumption. GMPs for dietary supplements and animal food are covered in parts 111 and 507, respectively. Those GMPs are not covered in this article.
Personnel regulations address employee health, hygiene, and habits. These regulations affect maintenance employees because they come into contact with food contact surfaces in order to perform maintenance.
Guidelines described in food GMPs include removing sick employees from the manufacturing process, maintaining personal hygiene, following food safety practices, and protecting food from contamination caused by perspiration, tobacco, cosmetics, and other sources. Personal protective equipment (PPE) should also be worn as necessary.
These GMPs are related to the buildings and facilities in which food is produced, and are subdivided into multiple sections.
Many regulations relate to keeping potential contamination sources out of or away from buildings. Facilities should be kept in good condition so as to not attract pests or allow filth to affect food production. Maintenance activities may include waste removal, regular grounds keeping, and ensuring adequate water drainage.
Sanitation is an essential component of any food safety program. Under GMPs, sanitary operation regulations include:
Sanitary facility regulations have to do with major facility systems, such as water, plumbing, and waste removal. Food GMPs mandate that water is supplied throughout the plant, plumbing allows for adequate drainage and waste disposal, and toilet facilities are readily accessible.
GMPs for food processing equipment relate to how equipment is maintained, cleaned, and controlled. Part 110.40 (a) states that equipment and utensils should prevent “adulteration of food with lubricants, fuel, metal fragments, contaminated water, or any other contaminants.”
This statement is especially important for maintenance teams, as it requires additional tasks to protect equipment and extra care to be taken by technicians when preparing for, or cleaning up after, maintenance activities. Food safety tasks can be entered on work orders using computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.
Read Also: Why Food and Beverage Manufacturers Need to Invest in a CMMS
GMPs also require equipment to be installed in such a way that equipment and adjacent spaces can be cleaned. Maintenance teams must be aware of these requirements, as they may help plan, install, and clean equipment.
Production and process control regulations for food cover numerous aspects of raw materials handling and manufacturing operations. As you may have assumed, they all have to do with preventing food contamination in one form or another. Below are some general guidelines:
Pharmaceutical GMPs are covered in Title 21 CFR, Parts 210, 211, 212, 225, and 226. Only Current Good Manufacturing Practices for Finished Pharmaceuticals (Part 211) is covered below. You will find some regulations to be similar to the food GMPs, described above. However, given the precise requirements of pharmaceuticals, drug production environments are even more tightly controlled.
Similar to food GMPs, pharmaceutical GMPs for personnel are meant to protect the integrity of drug products. Because maintenance people regularly interact with equipment used to manufacture drugs, they must adhere to these regulations as well. Personnel regulations including wearing protective apparel and PPE, practicing good sanitation and health habits, and preventing sick workers from participating in the production or maintenance process.
Pharmaceutical buildings and facilities are tightly regulated because any variance in temperature, humidity, light exposure, or other conditions can adversely affect drug products. Facilities must be aseptic and free of contamination from bacteria and other microorganisms. Pharmaceutical GMPs for facilities are largely related to major buildings systems or the equipment used to control them including:
Maintenance teams in the pharmaceutical industry must go to great lengths to ensure that maintenance activities do not inadvertently alter the safety, identity, strength, quality, or purity of drug products. This level of care requires additional preparation and completion tasks, special knowledge of products used for cleaning and sanitation, and strict documentation of any equipment intervention.
Below are some pharmaceutical GMPs related to equipment:
Pay attention to pharmaceutical GMPs documentation requirements. Maintenance organizations in other industries vary in their level of maintenance documentation, with some having no documentation at all. However, keeping records of maintenance procedures and activities is a requirement in the drug manufacturing industry.
That’s why many companies implement CMMS software for pharmaceutical manufacturing. A CMMS provides a single platform for creating, maintaining, and storing documentation required by the FDA. When it comes time for maintenance audits, a CMMS provides a single system for accessing the documentation requested by auditors.
Read Also: Why You Shouldn’t Fear Maintenance Audits
Among the production and process controls outlined in 21 CRF Part 211 is the equipment identification requirement. It states that “major equipment shall be identified by a distinctive identification number or code […].” Organizations typically follow an asset naming convention to identify equipment in a logical way.
A second notable requirement has to do with warehousing. While many of the GMP regulations have to do with the production of drug products, they also cover other aspects of the process such as storage and quality assurance testing. The warehousing requirements simply describe that drug products must be stored under appropriate temperature, humidity, and light conditions. Therefore, facility maintenance should be a focus of maintenance teams.
Comprehensive use of CMMS software helps organizations adhere to the FDA’s GMPs. A CMMS provides numerous benefits to organizations in industries that are required to follow Good Manufacturing Practices.
A key feature of CMMS is creating and maintaining computerized documentation. Organizations can use the software to create GMP-compliant tasks and standard maintenance procedures (SMPs) for maintenance work.
Maintenance managers can include step-by-step instructions and attachments that help standardize the performance of maintenance activities. Checklists ensure tasks are done, and work order approvals provide verification that work is completed to standard. When work orders are closed, the CMMS automatically creates a chronological maintenance history to prove that work has been completed. This record helps satisfy auditor requirements.
Mobile CMMS software provides an efficient way for maintenance technicians to access work orders from out in the field. By enabling technicians to access CMMS data from their mobile devices, they can create, edit, check the status of, and close work orders from wherever they are. Keeping the maintenance team out in the field – instead of forcing them to return to a stationary computer – allows them to stay productive and reclaim lost wrench time.
CMMS software optimizes maintenance planning tasks for FDA-regulated organizations. It provides maintenance planners with all the information needed to create fully detailed, compliant preventive maintenance work orders from one place. Features such as reusable task lists, real-time inventory keeping, labor scheduling, and maintenance history allow planners to determine the best course of action – or determine what activities must be performed in order to complete maintenance work.
Storing critical maintenance information in CMMS software streamlines data management. Having digital records accessible from a single source saves time in searching for printed paperwork and ensures the information is stored securely as a backup for physical documents.
Further, a CMMS enables organizations to create reports using stored data. For example, reports can reveal whether preventive maintenance is being completed on time, average work order response and completion times, and mean time to repair (MTTR). Use these and other reports to your current analyze maintenance operations and find opportunities to become more efficient and effective.
FDA regulations are strict and constantly changing. You don’t want to be caught out of compliance with GMP maintenance regulations. FTMaintenance Select CMMS software aids maintenance teams in meeting the FDA’s GMP requirements by providing a single platform for documenting, managing, and tracking maintenance activities. It can be used to demonstrate compliance by creating a record of maintenance procedures and completed maintenance tasks. Request a demo today to learn more about how FTMaintenance Select can help you meet GMP regulations.
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A preventive maintenance (PM) program is powerful tool that helps organizations monitor equipment performance, prolong asset life, and reduce unplanned downtime. Despite its benefits, many organizations struggle to develop and maintain effective PM plans while balancing other maintenance management responsibilities. This article discusses multiple preventive maintenance best practices that will help you improve your PM program.
| This article is part of a series of articles related to maintenance management best practices. Read our other best practice articles: |
While PM benefits organizations of all sizes in every industry, the most applicable preventive maintenance best practices should be determined by your organization. The goal of this article is to present multiple preventive maintenance best practices for your organization to consider. The results from implementing best practices will vary and selected maintenance practices may need to be changed, adjusted, or eliminated over time after trial and error.
While this article focuses on preventive maintenance best practices related to planning, scheduling, executing, and tracking, know that other aspects of maintenance management can affect preventive maintenance. For example, poor work order management or MRO inventory management practices make it more difficult to improve preventive maintenance.
The planning and scheduling of preventive maintenance sets it apart from other types of maintenance, like corrective maintenance (CM). The following best practices focus on optimizing planning and scheduling.
Asset service manuals include comprehensive information about preventive maintenance tasks, including the task name, frequency, required parts, and even time estimates. Having hard copy versions of maintenance documentation is useful, but technicians waste valuable time searching through the maintenance library or tracking down manuals when they cannot be readily found.
Instead, collect PM task information and enter it into a preventive maintenance tracking system, such as computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software. A CMMS provides technicians with a single place for accessing preventive maintenance information such as a task’s title, frequency, required parts, and estimated completion time.
A CMMS also allows you to upload digitized maintenance documentation, providing quick access to service manuals, schematics, and diagrams. Leveraging this digital maintenance library saves a lot of time during the maintenance process.
Further Reading: Pros and Cons of Different Work Order Management Systems
Not all preventive maintenance tasks are created equally. Failing to properly prioritize preventive maintenance work often leads to wasted time, missed critical tasks, and unnecessary downtime. When scheduling preventive maintenance work, consider the following:
Preventive maintenance for critical assets must be carefully prioritized with other tasks. However, you should have a system for determining the order in which other tasks are completed.
Many maintenance organizations use bulletin boards, white boards, and spreadsheets to plan preventive maintenance work. A major drawback of these manual systems is they don’t communicate upcoming work in a meaningful way. That’s why many organizations prefer to use the preventive maintenance scheduling functionality of CMMS software.
Visualizing the preventive maintenance schedule in a calendar view is more effective and easily understood. Using a maintenance calendar, maintenance managers can assess monthly activity level and appropriately assign employees, better balance the work load, and identify opportunities for additional PMs or other tasks.
Owner’s manuals often include generalized time-based maintenance (TbM) schedules. While this approach may be useful in some situations, it does not always reflect actual equipment usage. As a result, seldom-used machines are often over maintained while heavily used equipment doesn’t get the attention it needs.
Usage-based maintenance solves these issues by prioritizing preventive maintenance towards machines that are more heavily used. It also eliminates unnecessary maintenance activities and frees up resources to complete other important maintenance work.
Another focus of preventive maintenance best practices is improving the quality of maintenance activities. Maintenance teams must ensure that their performance is meeting the standards and expectations of the organization and any regulatory parties.
Inconsistent maintenance work can be counter-productive to improving asset reliability. Standardized PM checklists ensure that preventive maintenance work is performed the same way each and every time, no matter who is doing the work.
PM checklists communicate the exact steps that need to be followed and ensure that critical steps, such as lockout/tagout procedures, are not ignored or forgotten. Later, checklists can be used to audit whether the quality of maintenance meets set standards and hold technicians accountable for performing quality work.
The level of detail in checklists varies by organization. Tasks written clearly and unambiguously leave little room for misinterpretation. Also consider the skill level of your maintenance team. Trusted, veteran technicians may not require the same level of detail as a team made up of mostly novice mechanics.
Manually tracking when preventive maintenance tasks are due is nearly impossible for teams that maintain more than a dozen or so assets. CMMS software automatically reminds maintenance teams when preventive maintenance is coming due. This advanced noticed ensures that required maintenance is not missed and gives maintenance managers time to schedule maintenance when equipment is available.
Meeting your preventive maintenance goals requires accountability. When team members are aware of what is expected of them and to what standards their work is held, they are more likely to perform quality maintenance work.
Maintenance managers are responsible for setting expectations and monitoring employee performance. First, they must develop and document the responsibilities of each role within the maintenance team and clearly communicate them. Putting these expectations in writing is important for future reference or tracking when responsibilities change.
For example, PM tasks that include a time estimate hold technicians accountable for completing work in a timely manner. If completion times fall too far outside this estimate, investigate what caused the delay. When tasks are fully defined, assign follow-up responsibilities to an approver who can verify that work has been completed correctly and to defined standards.
Further Reading: Creating a Culture of Accountability with CMMS
Preventive maintenance best practices extend into how you define, measure, and maintain success.
In order to know whether changes to your maintenance operations are making a difference, you have to know where you are starting and where you want to be. Set specific and measurable goals to keep you and your team accountable for following your preventive maintenance plan. Then, determine and communicate the processes and procedures needed to reach those goals.
What metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) you track is up to your organization’s leadership. Our article How to Measure Preventive Maintenance Effectiveness discusses common preventive maintenance KPIs and how to use them.
Preventive maintenance success requires a skilled and experienced maintenance workforce. Ongoing training results in more well-rounded labor resources that can perform a wider range of tasks. What this leads to is more productivity, flexibility in scheduling labor, and accuracy of maintenance work.
Preventive maintenance is the core of an effective maintenance program. Given its importance to asset reliability, organizations are constantly looking for ways to improve their PM processes. FTMaintenance Select provides a centralized platform for developing, managing, and tracking your preventive maintenance plan. Request a demo to learn more.
Key Takeaways
Two meaningful metrics used to evaluate asset performance are availability and reliability. Though often used interchangeably, both terms have specific meaning in a manufacturing maintenance context. For the maintenance team, understanding the difference between availability and reliability ensures that maintenance activities effectively target issues affecting plant performance.
This article discusses the differences between availability and reliability, their relationship to one another, and how maintenance can address each.
We acknowledge that organizations define and calculate availability in various ways, depending on their process and performance goals. This discussion focuses on availability as it relates to production and examines equipment-related factors that impact availability, such as malfunctions and repairs.
According to The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), asset availability is “the percentage of potential production time during which equipment is operable, that is, operation is not prevented by equipment malfunction.” Put another way, asset availability measures the amount of time equipment was running and producing goods compared to the time production was stopped due to repairs.
Refer to the chart in the previous section. As shown, asset availability considers three factors:
To calculate asset availability, divide production time by the potential production time, then multiply the result by 100 to express the value as a percentage.
Let’s look at an example: A production asset ran for 150 hours in a month, but experienced 20 hours of downtime due to a breakdown and waiting for parts. Therefore, out of 170 hours of potential production, actual production time was 150 hours.
Availability = (150 hours ÷ 170 hours) × 100
Availability = 0.88 × 100
Availability = 88%
Another way to think of asset availability is in terms of uptime and downtime. Uptime is generally defined as the time equipment is running; downtime is time equipment is broken down and/or being repaired. Potential production time, then, is considered the sum of uptime and downtime. The asset availability formula using uptime and downtime then becomes:
Further, uptime can be measured using the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) metric, which calculates the average amount of time equipment runs before failing. Downtime can be measured using the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) metric, which calculates the average amount of time it takes to make a repair. Therefore, a third way to calculate asset availability is to use the following formula:
However, since MTBF and MTTR are averages, calculating availability using this formula may be less precise than others. Read more about MTBF and MTTR in our article, 3 Important Asset Management KPIs and How to Use Them.
Availability is a performance metric traditionally tracked by production, not maintenance. However, maintenance teams impact availability because they are responsible for finding ways to minimize unplanned downtime and increase the speed of equipment repairs when failures occur.
To do so, organizations can equip maintenance technicians with the information and tools needed for effective troubleshooting. For example, work order history, failure tracking data, and owner’s manuals help technicians to quickly diagnose failures and develop solutions. In addition, indirect factors such as organized stockrooms, appropriate inventory levels, and effective labor utilization indirectly leads to more efficient maintenance.
Advanced organizations may also perform root cause analysis (RCA) and leverage failure codes to track equipment failures. RCA helps identify probable causes of breakdowns and provides data from which to build or tweak preventive maintenance strategies. Comprehensive failure tracking allows maintenance technicians to quickly troubleshoot issues, thereby reducing repair time.
Asset availability can also be improved by implementing a proactive maintenance strategy. Proactive, as opposed to reactive, maintenance lessens the likelihood of unplanned downtime events all together, thereby improving asset availability.
Asset reliability, according to AMT, is “the probability that machinery and equipment can perform continuously for a specified interval of time without failure, when operating under stated conditions.” While availability measures whether equipment was operable or not, reliability measures the frequency of failures.
Reliability can be calculated in multiple ways, using either Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) or failure rate.
The Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) metric is the most often used measure of asset reliability. It measures how long assets run, on average, before experiencing a malfunction.
To calculate MTBF, divide the total time the asset was running by the number of failures it experienced during that time period. For example, a machine that ran for 3000 hours and experienced 5 failures has a MTBF of 600 hours.
MTBF = 3000 hours ÷ 5 failures = 600 hours/failure
Stated another way, the maintenance team can expect an equipment failure approximately every 600 hours.
Another way to calculate reliability is to use the failure rate, which is the frequency at which an asset fails. To calculate failure rate, divide the number of failures by the total run time. Note that failure rate is the inverse of Mean Time Between Failure, and can be calculated by dividing 1 by the MTBF.
Let’s calculate failure rate using the same values as before:
Method 1: Using Run Time
Failure Rate = 5 failures ÷ 3000 hours = 0.0016 failures/hour
Method 2: Using MTBF
Failure Rate = 1 ÷ MTBF
Failure Rate = 1 ÷ 600 hours/failure = 0.0016 failures/hour
Because this value is so small, it is easier to think of reliability in more useful measures of time, such as years. Translate the hourly failure rate into a yearly rate by multiplying the failure rate by 8,760, the number of hours in a year. Therefore:
Failure Rate (per year) = 0.0016 failures/hour × 8,760 hours/year = 14 failures/year
Improving reliability boils down to minimizing the frequency of unplanned downtime events. Organizations use a range of maintenance techniques to reduce the frequency of unplanned downtime including:
The goal of these types of maintenance is to lessen the likelihood of failure by proactively servicing equipment. However, each asset has different needs depending on its age, condition, usage, and known failure conditions.
Maintenance teams must use an appropriate combination of maintenance activities to optimize the asset’s performance. Establishing this maintenance mix is one of the foundations of a higher-level maintenance strategy called reliability-centered maintenance (RCM).
To briefly recap:
So what is the relationship between the two metrics? Generally speaking, assets that are more reliable are also more available. Intuitively, it makes sense – the less equipment breaks down, the longer it can be used for production. However, this is not always the case.
Equipment has high reliability and low availability when repair times are long. For example, a machine component fails, causing a major breakdown. There is no obvious cause of the malfunction and it has not happened in the past. The maintenance team must investigate the problem, determine and test a solution, and possibly wait for parts to arrive. Though only one failure occurred within the time period (high reliability), it takes a long time to repair the asset due to its complexity (low availability).
Now let’s look at the opposite scenario. Equipment has high availability but low reliability when there are multiple failures, but each can be resolved quickly. For example, a machine is stopped multiple times for minor corrective maintenance that takes a few minutes to complete in each instance. While, the total repair time is low (high availability) failures are high (low reliability), which is undesirable.
One of the most effective ways to improve asset availability and reliability is to implement a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). CMMS software centralizes critical asset data, helping maintenance teams quickly identify common maintenance issues, troubleshoot failures, and access important maintenance documentation. The system also allows managers to create customized maintenance plans for each asset.
As a data analysis tool, CMMS maintenance management reports help organizations gain valuable insights into asset performance and maintenance operations. In terms of availability, a CMMS can be used to provide accurate repair time data to the production team, helping them identify other causes of stopped or slowed production. For reliability calculations, a CMMS helps organizations track important asset management KPIs including MTBF.
In addition, CMMS reports can be used to better understand equipment life expectancy, assess the effectiveness of maintenance activities, and set improvement goals.
Asset management is a key component of maintenance management. FTMaintenance Select is CMMS software that can be used to measure and track data used to calculate asset availability and reliability. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how FTMaintenance Select makes maintenance management easy.
Maintenance departments frequently purchase maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) inventory to complete maintenance work. Doing so without documentation reduces administrative work, but creates problems when there are discrepancies with payment, delivery, or order accuracy.
Purchase orders formalize purchasing requirements and make it easy for maintenance teams to track what was ordered, when it will be delivered, and how much it will cost. In this article, we explain what purchase orders are and how they are used by maintenance teams.
A purchase order (PO) is a document created by a buyer (your organization) and issued to a seller (a vendor) that indicates the buyer’s intention to purchase goods. It is a legally binding document that specifies what items are to be purchased, and provides details such as item quantities, pricing, delivery timeframe, and payment terms.
Purchase orders, at times, are used to purchase services, though the variability of project deliverables and timelines may prompt the need for additional service contracts and agreements.
There are multiple types of purchase orders, suitable for different scenarios:
| Purchase Order | Invoice | |
| Created By | Buyer | Seller |
| Issued to | Seller | Buyer |
| Purpose | To document an intention to purchase goods or services from the seller | To document the delivery of goods or services to the buyer and request payment |
| When Issued | Before delivery | After delivery (unless otherwise specified in payment terms) |
Purchase orders are often confused with other types of documentation used in the purchasing process, one of which is an invoice. An invoice is a document created by a seller (a vendor) and issued to a buyer (your organization) that requests payment for delivered goods (or services). Like a purchase order, it is a legally binding document that specifies what items were provided, the total cost, and the payment terms. Invoices typically reference the purchase order number.
For busy maintenance professionals, paperwork simply slows them down. Often times, goods and services are purchased without formal documentation other than a vendor invoice. While convenient, vendor invoices only tell one side of the story. What happens when there’s a dispute about payment, delivery, or accuracy?
That’s where purchase orders come in. Purchase orders provide many benefits to maintenance organizations:
The purchasing process at a given organization consists of multiple steps, and varies based on their organizational structure, workflows, and requirements. An example of a “typical” purchase process is shown below. Note that the “buyer” is the organization; the vendor providing goods and services is the “seller”.
While the process above is “typical” for non-maintenance purchases, it is not conducive to efficient maintenance operations. For example, when an asset experiences downtime, money is lost with each passing second. The maintenance team simply cannot wait for a formal purchasing process to complete while production is stopped.
Instead, the purchase order process in a maintenance environment may look closer to the steps below. In this example, the “buyer” is someone designated to make purchases on behalf of the maintenance team; the “seller” is the vendor.
Due to the unexpected nature of maintenance needs, some organizations bypass purchase orders all together. Instead, the organization may provide the maintenance department with a credit card and communicate any restrictions for what can be purchased, credit limits, and so on.
As shown above, maintenance purchases have unique requirements that are not typical of other types of purchases. Therefore, maintenance departments do not require the robust purchasing capability of other systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting software.
In fact, most maintenance organizations don’t even use the built-in purchasing functionality of their computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Often times, the purchasing process typically takes place outside of the CMMS. Maintenance teams are afforded the flexibility to make whatever purchases are required to keep assets in service.
Organizations that do use the purchasing capability of CMMS traditionally fall into one of two categories: 1) they seek a simplified way to keep record of repair part purchases, and 2) they plan to integrate the CMMS with other purchasing systems.
CMMS software makes purchase order creation easy for organizations seeking simple maintenance purchase tracking. The CMMS has direct access to vendor and inventory information, making it easy to identify what goods are being purchased, and from whom. Some systems allow you to generate purchase orders based on inventory items that have reached their set reorder point. Historical purchase order records and purchasing reports track past purchases for review or auditing purposes.
FTMaintenance Select helps maintenance teams effectively manage their spare parts inventory from start to finish, including the ability to generate purchase orders. Robust inventory management features allow you to organize your inventory catalog and access key information related to costs, quantity, location, and more. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.
FasTrak SoftWorks, Inc. is pleased to announce the release FTMaintenance Select v.2.6.3.2, which incorporates the following:
Solutions
FasTrak SoftWorks, Inc. is pleased to announce the release FTMaintenance Select v.2.6.2.0, which incorporates the following:
Solutions
Budgeting is a critical management activity that ensures organizations have the resources needed to do business. Unlike other departments whose expenses are fairly predictable, the variability of maintenance needs make it difficult to determine how much to budget for maintenance – that is, without the right system in place. Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software not only tracks maintenance activities, but maintenance expenses as well.
Listed below are multiple ways in which a CMMS helps you improve maintenance budgeting.
The unplanned nature of asset failure makes corrective maintenance (CM) part costs difficult to predict from year to year. Tracking corrective maintenance in a CMMS provides you with a basis of historical data from which to estimate future part costs.
Maintenance organizations incur part costs whenever repair parts are not in stock and must be purchased, or when replenishing stocked parts. However, it is not necessarily appropriate to “add a little” to the previous year’s budget, as many organizations do. Critical failures with especially large part expenses should be evaluated on a case by case basis to determine the root cause of the failure, whether the failure can be prevented or mitigated, and the likelihood of recurrence.
Further reading: What is a Failure Code?
Analyzing corrective maintenance work order history in a CMMS provides context to why part costs were high or low in a given timeframe. If enough historical data is available, you may average multiple years-worth of data in order to come up with a baseline CM part cost estimate. Then, adjust the maintenance budget accordingly.
Costs related to preventive maintenance (PM) are easier to predict because they are planned. CMMS software stores cost data related to what tasks need to be done, what parts are required, and who will perform the work. Scheduling maintenance activities in a CMMS, whether based on runtime or date-based frequencies, helps organizations forecast the costs of future planned maintenance. Some CMMS solutions also track contracted preventive maintenance services like HVAC maintenance.
CMMS software can also be used to anticipate future preventive maintenance demands. For example, if your organization plans to purchase and install new assets, you can set up PM schedules ahead of time and factor their costs into the maintenance budget. Additionally, maintenance management reports can identify assets that are under or over maintained and adjust the preventive maintenance budget forecast accordingly.
The number of employees needed to carry out high-quality maintenance depends on the workload. CMMS software provides insights into your maintenance history, including the amount of corrective maintenance vs. preventive maintenance, the amount of labor hours spent on maintenance, whether work is being completed on time, and the size of the work order backlog. You can then use this data to justify staffing levels.
Changes to the maintenance strategy may also prompt a need for additional staff. If your organization seeks to improve asset reliability, preventive maintenance work may need to increase, possibly requiring additional staff. Organizations getting started with failure analysis, such as Root Cause Analysis (RCA), need to dedicate resources to investigating asset failures.
Maintenance teams use many assets to execute maintenance work including vehicles, dedicated tools, or specialized equipment. At some point, these assets reach a point where they become too costly to repair. Tracking maintenance assets in a CMMS enables you to compare the cost of repair versus replacement.
CMMS software not only provides that data from which to build a maintenance budget, it also helps you track your performance against budget goals throughout the year. As you complete work orders, maintenance costs are automatically attributed to cost centers, ensuring that costs are attributed to the correct budget account.
Depending on the system, you can set budget goals by month, fiscal year, or other accounting period. Maintenance reports, dashboards, and data views help you visualize how closely you are meeting your budget goals and allow you to adjust accordingly.
FTMaintenance Select provides a single platform for tracking maintenance activities and costs, allowing you to make better decisions about your maintenance budget and resources. Request a demo today to learn more.
Key Takeaways
Labor performance tracking keeps employees accountable for completing assigned maintenance work in an efficient way. Organizations must have methods to measure the productivity and efficiency of their staff. This article discusses several labor performance metrics that you can use to track your maintenance team’s performance.
| This article is part of a maintenance management metrics KPIs series. Read our other KPI articles: |
Every maintenance team is comprised of a unique set of individuals, with varying levels of experience and skill. The employee performance metrics you track depends on the business goals of your organization.
The following productivity metrics represent common key performance indicators (KPIs) tracked by maintenance departments. Note that many of these KPIs rely on the availability of accurate time tracking data, such as that stored in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).
Average Service Request Response Time is the average amount of time it takes to respond to work requested via a service request. This metric measures how quickly the maintenance team responds to service requests, starting when the request is submitted up until work towards solving the issue begins.
To calculate the average service request response time, take the sum of the response time—the total elapsed time between service request submission times and their related work order start times and divide it by the number of service requests submitted in the reporting timeframe.
Keep in mind what unit of time is used for the response time. Converting the output of this calculation from hours to minutes or minutes to hours requires an additional step. Convert values in hours to minutes by multiplying by 60; divide values in minutes by 60 to express in hours.
A low (short) response time means the maintenance team responds to requests quickly. However, shorter response times should be viewed in context of the types of repairs requested. Employees are more likely to contact maintenance personnel directly for urgent issues, rather than submitting service requests.
A high (long) service request response time can mean there is a backlog of requests that are getting pushed to the backburner. However, a backlog may not be unusual because requests have to be balanced with other important maintenance work. Long response times may also indicate that requests are submitted with incomplete information. Work request management software, like a CMMS, standardizes the information required to submit requests.
Note that multiple factors come into play when analyzing average service request response time. Some organizations immediately turn all service requests into work orders. Others assign personnel to review incoming requests and prioritize them accordingly. At times, more information must be gathered before work can begin.
These factors greatly impact how quickly the maintenance team responds, thereby affecting the average response time. When analyzing response time, you may wish to select a subset of service requests that are similar in priority or complexity.
Average Task Completion Time measures the average amount of time it takes to complete a maintenance task. It estimates how long it takes to complete a specific maintenance and is used by maintenance managers to improve resource planning and maintenance scheduling.
To calculate the average task completion time, divide the total time required to complete the task by the number of times the task was performed during the reporting timeframe.
The average task completion time primarily applies to planned maintenance activities, where a baseline completion time is known. Owner’s manuals typically include these time estimates. Therefore, a good starting point is to compare your measured task completion time to the values provided by the asset’s manufacturer.
High or rising average task completion times mean tasks take longer to complete than expected. A logical next step is to compare task completion times between employees to determine whether the issue lies with a particular person or team. It could be possible that task instructions are not clear and misunderstood, or that additional training is needed.
Average task completion times that are close to the benchmark value provided in maintenance documentation are ideal. It means technicians are skilled and informed enough to complete maintenance work in a timely manner. Still, expect some variance in completion time, within reason.
Low or falling task completion times mean that tasks are completed quickly. Though preventive maintenance work tends to be less complex and, therefore takes less time, it is normal to scrutinize suspiciously low values. It may be an indication that technicians are rushing through work, skipping steps, cutting corners, or underreporting their work time in an attempt to look more productive.
Work Order Activity tracks how many work orders are completed compared to past performance. This metric helps determines the maintenance team’s productivity.
To calculate work order activity, divide the number of work orders completed within a given time period by the number of completed work orders within an equal previous time period, and then multiply by 100 to express the value as a percentage.
The Work Order Activity metric compares performance between two time periods:
Tracking this KPI over time allows you to analyze trends. Consistently increase values indicate higher, more efficient performance, while consistently decreasing values indicate that performance may be declining. However, employees are not always at fault for decreasing values.
The Work Order Activity metric does not account expose the reasons why productivity increased or decreased, however. For example, imagine that in the previous reporting period the maintenance team completed a large number of low priority inspections, part replacements, and work requests. This period, a high priority, relatively complex annual preventive maintenance job was completed over multiple days. In this scenario, work order performance may appear low, even though the annual work order held greater importance to the organizations.
Other possible causes of decreasing performance include:
The reporting period may also be to blame. The shorter the reporting timeframe, the more variability there will be in the result. For instance, comparing values week-to-week will show greater fluctuations than when comparing month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, or year-to-year. Longer time frames account for more natural variance in maintenance needs, and give a more accurate picture of work order activity.
Wrench Time measures the percentage of time a maintenance technician spends manually performing maintenance work. It does not include time spent traveling to the asset, retrieving inventory parts from the stock room, reviewing maintenance history, and other tasks that don’t involve physically repairing an asset.
To calculate wrench time, divide wrench hours by total working hours, then multiply by 100 to find the value as a percentage.
| Be aware that tracking true wrench hours requires granular, consistent, and accurate time tracking. We also recognize that there are many methods of measuring wrench hours, each with varying amounts of accuracy. Therefore, wrench time remains a controversial metric in the maintenance industry. The decision whether to use wrench time as a KPI is up to your organization. |
Wrench time can be tricky to interpret, even deceiving. Remember that the time physically performing work represents a small portion of someone’s day. To add a bit of context, experts estimate that world class wrench time is 55%. In reality, the average wrench time for most organizations is between 25%-35%. For the purposes of this discussion, high or low wrench time means that wrench times are outside of this range.
Low wrench time means that technicians are spending too much time doing something besides performing maintenance. However, low wrench time does not necessarily mean that time is being wasted. As mentioned earlier, retrieving items from a stockroom or troubleshooting a breakdown is within the scope of a technician’s work but doesn’t involve physically repairing an asset. Other causes of low wrench time include:
If a technician’s wrench time is consistently low, review the jobs that have the lowest scores and try to identify the underlying problems.
High wrench time is generally positive. However, wrench time that seems too good to be true can be cause for concern as well. Depending on how wrench hours are recorded, numbers can easily be inflated so as to make an employee appear more productive than they actually are.
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is the average time it takes to repair an asset. Unlike wrench time, MTTR accounts for the total time a technician is actively working on solving the issue, including travel time to the asset, troubleshooting, performing the repair, and testing the solution. Though MTTR is typically used as an asset management KPI, it is impacted by the efficiency and effectiveness of labor resources.
To calculate MTTR, divide the sum of repair time (usually in hours) by the number of repairs in the reporting timeframe. Note that MTTR is calculated per asset or asset class.
Interpreting MTTR can be tricky because the number will rise and fall based on the types of repairs that were done during the time period. Therefore, it is best practice to calculate MTTR by the type of repair performed on an asset or asset class.
An MTTR value that trends higher over time means that assets are taking longer to repair. One possible cause for this trend is labor performance. Start by identifying who performs repairs on the asset and, using other maintenance productivity KPIs, determine if the cause is employee related. For example, a particular technician may not have the correct skills for making the repair.
It is important to look at low MTTR in context with other information about your assets and maintenance process. For example, aging assets are more difficult to repair than new ones. Unavailable parts cause long delays in maintenance work. Previously neglected preventive maintenance work leads to more critical, complex, and lengthy repairs.
MTTR values that trend lower over time mean that your maintenance process is optimized for speedy repairs. In terms of labor, low MTTR means that technicians are quick to respond to maintenance issues, well-trained, able to troubleshoot efficiently, and are not wasting time.
FTMaintenance Select is a powerful CMMS platform that empowers your team to stay productive by providing them with access to critical asset and maintenance information. Maintenance reports provide insight into your day-to-day maintenance operations and allow you to keep technicians accountable for how their time is spent. Request a demo today to learn more.
FasTrak SoftWorks, Inc. is pleased to announce the release FTMaintenance Select v.2.6.0.2, which incorporates the following:
Features
Solutions
FasTrak SoftWorks, Inc. is pleased to announce the release FTMaintenance Select v.2.5.0.2, which incorporates the following:
Features
Solutions
| This article is part of a series of articles on the topic of equipment failure tracking. Read our other articles on this topic: |
The first two articles in this series, focusing on failure codes and cause codes, established the following:
Together, these codes help tell the story of what failure occurred and why it happened. A third piece of information that is of interest to the maintenance team is how to fix the problem. That’s where remedy codes come in.
A remedy code, sometimes called an action code, is a value used to uniquely identify a type of maintenance action taken in response to a failure, and is often found in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Like failure codes and cause codes, remedy codes are a combination of an alphanumeric code and a description. Remedy codes represent the action a maintenance technician took to correct the issue identified by the failure and cause codes.
Remedy codes are used in CMMS software on work orders to identify what type of work was performed to return an asset to working order. Over the course of a repair, technicians may take multiple actions to repair an asset that has failed, some of which may not solve the problem. Technicians test their handiwork to ensure that the asset’s condition has returned to normal. Only then can technicians apply remedy codes – after they implement an acceptable fix and work is considered complete.
There are many reasons organizations use CMMS remedy codes. Note that, while remedy codes can be useful for any organization, they are most commonly used in organizations or industries that have rigorous failure tracking requirements, such as oil and gas.
The details of maintenance work are contained in many places on a work order or in a CMMS. When it comes time to perform maintenance, technicians must sift through many historical work order records to find previous solutions.
Remedy codes sharpen troubleshooting and issue resolution skills by providing technicians with a well-defined list of maintenance tasks that solved the problem in the past. Ultimately, this allows technicians to return assets to service more quickly. Over time, technicians will become better at thinking about which remedies are most appropriate for a given failure cause.
Tracking asset failures through failure codes, cause codes, and remedy codes sets the stage for implementing proactive maintenance strategies, such as reliability-centered maintenance (RCM). Upon completion of corrective maintenance work, the failure, its cause, and its solution are known. This allows maintenance management to plan for future occurrences of the failure and schedule maintenance tasks to prevent them.
Further Reading: How to Implement a Proactive Maintenance Strategy
Remedy codes can be used as a way to estimate and track how long it takes technicians to perform maintenance tasks. As each remedy becomes known, maintenance managers can assign labor time estimates to each maintenance task, improving maintenance planning.
Remedy codes with associated time estimates also help maintenance managers track labor performance. For example, a CMMS report that compares the estimated labor time to actual labor time spent on a remedy may reveal who performs tasks well and who might need additional training.
Maintenance managers are responsible for making sure their team has the correct skills required to perform maintenance work. Tracking maintenance work through remedy codes helps identify what types of tasks are performed most often and helps prioritize training, especially for new hires.
As mentioned previously, CMMS reports filtered by remedy code can also reveal underperforming employees who might require refresher training. At the same time, reports may reveal high performers who can help train others on certain tasks or repairs on specific assets.
The information needed to create meaningful remedy codes comes from team experience and asset maintenance history. As technicians document their work in the CMMS over time, maintenance managers can identify trends in the types of tasks being performed – and how long they take.
Like failure codes and cause codes, remedy codes are typically unique to each organization and their assets. Because remedy codes are used for rigorous asset failure tracking, they are more comprehensive and asset-specific. Even though the maintenance task may be the same, it will take a different amount of time to complete depending on the asset, easy of performing maintenance, etc.
Below is an example of a remedy code list for a CNC machine. Note that this list is not exhaustive of all maintenance actions.
| Remedy Code | Remedy Code Description |
| BLOCK-NOZZ | Remove blockage from coolant nozzle |
| CHIP | Empty chip box |
| CLEAN-CHK | Clean chuck |
| CLEAN-CF | Clean cooling fan |
| CHECK-HO | Check flow of hydraulic oil |
| CHECK-COOL | Check flow of coolant; fill coolant tank |
| PRES-HU | Check pressure of hydraulic unit |
| REPLACE-FLT | Replace filter |
| REPPLACE-MTR-BRNG | Replace motor bearing |
The goal of developing remedy codes is for CMMS users to be able to track maintenance actions in response to failures. Keep the following best practices in mind when constructing remedy codes:
Remedy codes make it easy for maintenance workers to identify corrective maintenance actions. When failures occur, technicians are able to drill in to historical CMMS data to quickly find solutions and return assets back to service faster. FTMaintenance Select is a centralized platform that provides maintenance organizations with a single source for documenting and tracking asset maintenance. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.
| This article is part of a series of articles on the topic of equipment failure tracking. Read our other articles on this topic: |
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