A key area of concern consistently identified by maintenance and reliability leaders is the effectiveness of maintenance planning. Feedback from Maintenance Execution teams—comprising both supervisors and technicians—frequently highlights concerns regarding the quality of job plans and, by extension, planner proficiency. These concerns are understandable, given the expectation of job plans is perfection. Any deficiencies, such as missing components, omitted steps, or inaccurate work scope, invariably result in job delays and the need for on-the-spot improvisation, ultimately impacting costs, reliability, and safety.
While the pursuit of the “perfect plan” is an admirable goal, the reality is that absolute perfection is unattainable. Every job plan offers opportunities for refinement—sometimes minor, sometimes substantial. Moreover, a job plan deemed optimal today may become insufficient tomorrow due to evolving conditions, necessitating ongoing adaptation.
An effective strategy for enhancing job plan quality is the establishment of a continuous planning improvement process. One of the primary objectives of planning is to optimize execution tool time, which is accomplished by eliminating all potential delays through a quality plan. Planners should cultivate a mindset focused on continuous enhancement and proactively identify opportunities for improvement:
- Planner Feedback: Develop a formalized process enabling technicians and supervisors to provide direct feedback to planners. This process should incorporate a follow-up mechanism to ensure that feedback providers receive timely updates on the status and implementation of their input.
- Job Walkdowns: For critical work, planners should routinely visit job sites to identify potential improvements through direct observation and engagement with execution personnel.
- Work Order Review: Planners should systematically analyze planned versus actual performance metrics to identify further improvement opportunities, such as recalibrating resource estimates or addressing material-related issues.
By embedding these continuous improvement practices into the planner’s standard workflow, the quality of the job plan library will progressively and consistently improve. There is usually resistance to this type of change and successfully implementing a continuous improvement cycle requires structure and focused effort. This approach ultimately aligns with the overarching objective of maximizing productive execution tool time and unlocks the value of planning.
Stay tuned for additional tips on improving maintenance planning!
