Focus on: CMMS Maintenance Matters April/May 2024 www.pwemag.co.uk Plant & Works Engineering | 19 Exploring the role of standardised workflows in maintenance management Navin Kulkarni, Director of Product Management, Fluke Reliability takes a look at implementing standardised workflows for maximum efficiency. Most maintenance managers today are under intense pressure. They’re dealing with a shrinking workforce, supply chain issues, and budget constraints – all of which make it hard to deliver on maintenance goals. To overcome these challenges, the standardisation of workflows becomes the key. That means shifting to a process-driven, systematic maintenance approach, one that stays the same across all the sites. When implemented correctly, standardisation results in less waste, shorter waiting times, and greater return on investment. It’s a game changer for highly regulated industries, especially when it comes to auditing and compliance. It’s also great for anyone managing multiple work sites. However, all too often, managers don’t have the right tools for the job. When working with legacy software systems, it’s a huge challenge to introduce a standardised maintenance approach. And when using manual processes – or a mixture of the above – it’s going to be challenging too. Shifting to standardised workflows is achievable, though. How can you implement standardised workflows? Most maintenance work is highly repeatable. Maintenance teams shouldn’t be expected to reinvent the wheel every time an issue comes up. Instead, they need to leverage institutional knowledge to create step-by-step practices for every maintenance task. Standardisation starts with an internal assessment where key questions are asked: What are the maintenance tasks that keep coming up at each facility? How are teams currently addressing those issues? What does the notification process look like? What percentage of workflows are reaching completion and reported on? Once that information is confirmed, teams can perform an analysis of existing workflows. A good CMMS can simplify the process. At the analysis stage, common maintenance tasks should be overhauled to find the most efficient ways to carry them out. That means getting rid of unnecessary processes, eliminating long waiting periods, and updating inventory systems so that parts and tools are available quickly. Workflow notifications and triggers Every workflow starts with a trigger. Whether that’s a technician who notices a problem while performing route-based monitoring, or a condition monitoring which sensor picks up on a change in vibration patterns, or even an asset breaking down, there is always a trigger. Standardising workflows starts with a standardised notification process. A good CMMS uses failure codes, so that anyone logging an issue automatically has to define it from a list of pre-set options. That means no more guesswork or trying to figure out what your colleagues are talking about when they call to complain about a machine. Using failure codes means that maintenance managers know exactly what the issue is, and can assign it a priority level, which makes scheduling easy. (A good CMMS can also handle scheduling and work orders instead of workers) Standardising work processes Managers can create step-by-step instructions for all the typical maintenance tasks in their plants. This set of instructions can include a checklist, along with built-in benchmarks, timelines, and quality checks. It should list the materials needed to do the job, along with any special tools. A CMMS can include checklists that workers can access on their mobile devices, so that it’s easy to track progress. Standardising reporting A maintenance job isn’t over when the technician makes the repair. Reporting is a key part of the workflow. That’s what allows managers to analyse the process for cost, time efficiency, and effectiveness. Reporting allows for continuous improvement. Obstacles to standardised workflows Lack of data – or lack of data analytics – creates major obstacles to standardising workflows. The bigger the operation, the more it stands to gain from standardising workflows. But standardising processes across a large operation is also tough. Managers need data to create effective workflows. That means precise data for each asset’s maintenance needs, the more granular the better. It means insights into how often a part typically needs to be changed, or how long a machine can run before it develops a new fault. These kinds of insights drive decisions about inventory, staffing, and scheduling. They also inform decisions about asset criticality. Legacy systems get in the way Many operations are still using a mixture of old manual data collection practices, and legacy systems like SAPs. This means that data Navin Kulkarni, Director of Product Management, Fluke Reliability
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