WORLD-CLASS maintenance, the imaginary guide

By Joel Levitt
The trade press has lots of articles with world-class in the title. It is also a go-to phrase
with us consultants to promote our opinions about what is a great maintenance program
and how we can provide it.
World-class maintenance is an important concept, not for what it is, but for what it can
do. This phrase might sound like a funny thing to say, but some of the most critical
concepts in our entire lives are concepts that call us to be better people. Think about the
ideas of patriotism, Judeo-Christian values, even Motherhood! So, the ideas about
world-class maintenance are:
• Amorphous
• Not real, but it can have real benefits
• Can create an opening for action
• Can cause people and their organizations to stretch themselves and develop
• Ultimately it is aspirational
• By the way, if someone claims they can get you there, it is guaranteed they will
take you for a ride!

World-class maintenance asks us to answer the question,” how can we support the
mission, vision, and values of our organization” the best way possible? At its most
powerful this is a cultural conversation, not an operational conversation.
My take on the attributes of what I think a world-class maintenance environment would
include
 Do No Harm to employees, communities, and the environment
 Actively Manage Risk
 Manage assets only if they continue to provide value
 Waste nothing
The best companies today are dedicating themselves to the triple bottom line of profit,
people and planet. They are taking a hard look at their processes and procedures to
deliver the mission with fewer inputs of material, energy, and people.

• A new view of Maintenance activity

• Maintenance is a part of Asset Management
• Asset Management is managing assets from Lust to Dust

©2019 Joel Levitt, JDL@Maintrainer.com

 • When you do work on or use an asset use precision technique
• Reduce all cost inputs- the less resource used, the better
• The ongoing need to improve output, yield, and quality
• All activity is accurately accounted for in work orders with enough detail

Maintenance is part of a larger conversation. This conversation starts with the need for
some value that the asset provides and ends with the asset’s disposal and dealing with
any residual liability. Maintenance activity is something to be thought about and
planned, but it is not the goal. The goal is getting to the value the asset provides.

 New ways to view problems

• Solve your problems permanently
• Willingness to run controlled experiments
• Spend 1% of your effort improving and not just fixing!
•
Getting better, improving, evolving is the name of the game in life. In business, either
develop or die!

• Bad News Good News Other news

No rules No rules You get to try out new rules

There are lots of ways to take care of assets. Find the ones that work for your
organization, given the operating needs and develop it. Someone else’s solution might
be actually dangerous for you.

• Hard numbers will be king: Benchmarking

• Why? To measure continuous improvement
• Willingness to use sophisticated tools of statistics, finance, accounting in
maintenance analysis.
• Willing to try AI and advanced analytics in maintenance analysis.
• Another way to say this: goodbye seat of the pants, hello- analysis driven
maintenance
We must use all the tools we can adapt to achieve our mission. I never met a tradesperson who
wouldn’t try a new tool. In management we must lay down our fear of new tools (especially ones
we don’t completely understand) and embrace our ignorance and learn.

• Always: Focus on service to the customer or focus on adding value to the

customer. Encourage the customer to participate in the maintenance

There is one reason to have an asset to maintain. That is to provide some value to the
organization. Our customer generally actually provides the mission, and we provide our
customer with the means whereby they can provide that mission. There is nothing else!

 People are the key: Right people in the right jobs with the right competence
• Teams have different points of view can see defects and solutions from

©2019 Joel Levitt, JDL@Maintrainer.com

 different angles
• Fade traditional barriers to information
• Continual and cross-training
• Attachment to people rather than technology
• Every other option is looked at before layoff

This is a people business. As you rise in the hierarchy you are dealing with fewer
technical issues and more people problems. The right people with the right competence
in the right roles is all you can do to get the job done.

The Goal: Organization’s AIM is achieved. Powerfully self-motivated workforce

and excellent execution of maintenance, well-supported customers.
Essential Question: Is your company ready? If not, your organization will be eaten by
one who is!

©2019 Joel Levitt, JDL@Maintrainer.com