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Maintenance, Repair & Operations

Assessing Repair Quality

May 1, 2018

Use a grading system that relies on craft judgment to flag failing equipment for engineering review.

If your facility has many repairs, then you could be wasting repair resources. A repair assessment policy prevents such waste.

Not all repairs restore equipment to “like new” condition. Have you ever felt uncomfortable with a “highly customized” repair, noting “This thing will run, but it’s held together with spit and baling wire”? That’s different from replacing a failed sensor and restarting the machine.

A grading system that relies on craft judgment can let you flag failing equipment for engineering review. The solution might be a component upgrade, system redesign, or total replacement.

Consider this reliability confidence scoring system:

5 ― Fully confident about reliability. Operator error, replace indicating lamp, replace small fuses solve minor cosmetic issues, perform minor adjustments

4 ― Mostly confident about reliability. Replace major components.

3 ― Not confident about reliability. Root causes not solved or repair is “get by”.

2 ― Confident in future failure. Age-related breakage, replacement parts must be fabricated, time-consuming to repair, equipment misapplied.

1 ― Replacement needed. Equipment obsolete, outdated design, inherent safety defects.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.