A Maintenance Diagnostic helps you assess and, where required, improve their maintenance business process. The maintenance diagnostic provides a formal, documented assessment of maintenance and reliability practices and includes recommendations on ways to move to a more proactive approach to maintenance. Performing a diagnostic at the beginning of a reliability improvement project provides a baseline measurement of effectiveness and establishes areas to target for reliability improvements.
The maintenance diagnostic evaluates the maintenance function by looking at two specific dimensions. Firstly, we look at “the way” the maintenance function conduct the business of maintenance, which is referred to as the “elements” of the reliability process. We will focus on the following elements:
- Business Focus
- Work Identification
- Performance Analysis
- Planning
- Scheduling
- Execution
- Follow-up
Secondly, we evaluate the degree to which certain requirements are in place to support an effective maintenance business process. These requirements are grouped within “criteria”. The results of the assessment show how the maintenance function is operating relative to leading practices. We will evaluate based on the following criteria:
- Current Practices (observable duties, tasks and behavior)
- Roles and Responsibilities (job descriptions are defined, understood & accepted)
- Information (information is available, communicated and acted on)
- Resources (people, tools, materials and facilities)
- Training (training needs are evaluated and core skills are maintained)
- Performance Assurance (the quality of work within each element is monitored)
Each requirement is compared to four stages of adherence, which correlate with the degree of urgency to adopt new technologies and practices.