Ecmweb 17162 Electrical Preventive Maintenance Pr

Maintenance, Repair & Operations

Activity vs. Productivity

April 16, 2019

Constantly using resources is not the same as optimally using them.

If your maintenance people are busy performing predictive and preventive maintenance plus fixing things that break, it’s all good. Right? Maybe not.

Constantly using resources is not the same as optimally using them. How many of those PMs are actually effective? How much of the PdM work translates into reducing downtime through early intervention?

Take an extreme example using thermography. If your thermographer performs an infrared inspection on the same few breakers every day, your thermographer is certainly busy doing PdM work. But over the course of 90 days, at least 89 of those inspections are pointless. Don’t have your people doing pointless work. It’s mind-numbing and demotivating.

Through experience, maintenance people develop an amazing yet underutilized level of expertise. Instead of just keeping them busy, tap that expertise to improve plant hygiene, safety, reliability, and equipment performance. Free up time for this by removing from your PM and PdM systems any tasks that have little or no appreciable effect on those goals.

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.