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By Michael A. Crowley

January 2018

Recommended metrics

Managers will need to look at several different metrics to get a good feel for the overall performance. Here are the top measurements managers can use to create an accurate handle on the performance of an MPS program:

Percent of reactive or emergency work compared to total hours available. This is a great performance or scorecard to indicate whether your organization is reactive or proactive. Manufacturing organizations should be 10 percent or less. Facility departments should be around 20-30 percent, depending whether you have a campus layout or if you deal with the public.

Percent of planned and scheduled work compared to total hours available. This scorecard should be the opposite of the one above. You can use either one, depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.

Actual work hours completed, compared to planned hours the planning function placed on the work order before the work was scheduled. This scorecard measures the accuracy of the planned work compared to the way the technicians perceive the plan and follow its guidelines. If these numbers are way off, it could mean you have a planner problem, or it could lead to technicians who refuse to follow the plan. Either one can destroy the process.

Weekly written work schedule compliance. Everyone should have a written and documented weekly work schedule before work is assigned. If your compliance with the schedule is below 95 percent, you have a problem.

Management audits while work is in process. Managers and supervisors should be in the field daily, reviewing work and finding unplanned work.

Unplanned trips to local supply houses to retrieve parts and supplies omitted from the original plan. Document each time a technician makes such a trip. Unless it is an emergency, you should be asking why it is necessary.

Customer satisfaction surveys after the work is coded as completed. Ask customers how they think the recently completed job went. They will willingly tell you how the MPS process looked to them. Many organizations regularly send out e-mail satisfaction surveys.

One key component of a world-class maintenance department is implementing elements of work-order planning for 80 percent of all departments’ weekly work. This task can seem daunting, especially if you are doing none at all. But MPS is critical for managers who have aspirations of reaching the 80 percent level for planned work, which ultimately will lead to achieving a world-class level of asset performance and reliability.

If you can find the time and hopefully the manpower to establish the MPS function, you can easily do more with less or accomplish much more with the same manpower. If you have hopes of improving your organization’s performance, lowering costs, and improving quality, you must add MPS to your organization.

Michael Cowley, CPMM, is president of CE Maintenance Solutions — www.cemaintenancesolutions.com. Cowley provides maintenance training, coaching and consulting services to facility and manufacturing organizations nationwide. He is a frequent speaker at national facilities management conferences.