Maintenance, Repair & Operations

How Do You Measure PM Completion?

Oct. 1, 2018

Make sure you're looking at the right question when solving for high downtime.

A plant manager fired his plant engineer and hired a replacement. On that new hire’s first day, the plant manager complained about the downtime being too high and said he knew why. Then he shared several maintenance reports that showed PM completion rates consistently below 50%. “That’s why I fired your predecessor.”

Before his 90-day evaluation, the new plant engineer got PM completion rates up to 85%. Yet, downtime did not improve. Why?

Both people were looking at the wrong question. Two problems lay at the root of the high downtime:

The causes were not being solved, so maintenance just kept repairing the same breakdowns time and again.
All the repair work used up maintenance labor resources needed to complete the PMs.

Instead of solving for the downtime causes, the new plant engineer removed most assets from the PM system. Now instead of counting PM completion on all assets, he was counting PM completion on only some of the assets. The plant manager got the metrics he was looking for, but not the results he needed.

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.