One way that some maintenance departments are directed to reduce costs is by skipping some of the recommended maintenance. While this does reduce the maintenance charge each department sees on its financials, it is an exercise in false economics. Yes, one cost is not incurred now, but a much larger cost is incurred later and instead of being coded as “maintenance charge” this later cost is coded as “unplanned downtime” or perhaps “the plant blew up.”

So, you want to do as much of the recommended maintenance as possible. Preferably all of it. But if you can’t hire more people, how do you get there from here? The key is to make better use of the people you have. That doesn’t mean you make them work faster, it means you find ways to reduce wasted effort. The more you do this, the more it adds up. In a typical maintenance operation, it can add up to having the same effect as a 25% increase in staff.

Here are seven tips:

1. Reduce shop round trips. Start this effort by having a space in each maintenance report to record how many trips the maintenance person made to and from the work location and why. Then update the work procedures to solve for these. For example, if Jim had to go to the shop to get a 15/16 wrench, then list this wrench in the procedure. The next time someone uses that procedure, a trip to go get the wrench and walk all the way back will be eliminated. Did Jim have to go find the operator to conduct functional testing? Then the procedure should direct Jim to have the operator standing by when needed. And he should be trained on how to do that.
2. Create maintenance kits. This can be done as an alternative to or supplement to the previous tip. If a particular piece of equipment requires particular (and unusual) tools, PPE, test fixtures, test equipment, etc., create a kit that is stored at that equipment.
3. Reduce walking between PMs. If Rebecca is assigned three PMs that are at different far-flung locations in the plant, you are paying her to walk between those locations. Whoever is assigning PMs needs to keep geography in mind. If Rebecca has all three PMs on Line C, she may save half an hour that morning just on walking. If lockout/tagout is also required, she can probably do one LOTO instead of three and save even more time.
4. Automate wherever possible. This effort often runs into capital request glitches and short-sighted penny pinching. But let’s say you have twenty critical motors in your plant and there’s a weekly PM to check them for vibration. Someone has to walk to each of those motors, perform the test, and enter the data into your system. If those same motors had vibration sensors feeding a monitoring system, that person would be freed up to perform other maintenance that is needed but not done due to insufficient maintenance resources.
5. Wherever practical, make voltage and current measurements remote. If people must work at elevation or in open enclosures to take voltage or current measurements, they must spend considerable time on the safety requirements to make that work possible. The solution can range from local gauges that can be read without opening a cabinet to voltage and current sensors that send readings over a network.
6. Specialize your thermography in key locations. A great way to save money is to spend a bit more upfront and order that new switchgear with a thermographic window. Retrofits are also good for this purpose. Then determine exactly what the camera needs to look at and set up a dedicated camera for that window. Nobody will have to adjust it, except for that first time. Typically, you can use a lower-end camera for this and not need a certified thermographer just to capture the images. This method reduces PPE requirements (no open enclosure to deal with) and eliminates the NFPA 70 Article 130 work (hot work permit).
7. Replace fixed length step ladders with multi-position ladders. You might be surprised at how much time your skilled maintenance people spend walking around looking for a ladder that is long enough for the intended job. The multi-step ladders are heavier, but still manageable. You can have a smaller ladder inventory but effectively have more ladders covering the needs of those using ladders.