Great planning programs do not produce “one and done” job plans. Proper programs continually improve job plans over the years to enhance the quality of maintenance job execution. They institutionalize the lessons learned and other knowledge in the form of “living plans” for nearly all jobs. They fully utilize the enterprise asset management (EAM) system module designed for these living plans. This effort gives them a competitive advantage because most companies terribly underutilize this module. Properly run programs have an almost overwhelming abundance of job plans in the module because of both the uniqueness of different assets and the value of continuous improvement. In fact, simply seeing the sheer growth in number of plans over time helps management gauge the proper use of the living plan module. The great number of living plans makes having a good job plan naming system essential for planners in finding and using the job plans.

Use EAM systems to maintain living job plans

The genius of these living plans is that they allow each craftsperson to benefit from their own, as well as other craftspersons, continual learning all in one place. Companies have thousands of assets and hundreds of craftspersons. Assets each have unique characteristics and failure modes. For example, this pump is the same model as that pump and although each one is used in a similar service, each pump seems to have different issues for maintenance. Craftspersons also each have their own different experiences with particular maintenance jobs. The little tips and tricks of the trade must not be simply left in the minds or locker notes of plant personnel. Planners must continually institutionalize all of this learning into the living plans for the benefit of the next craftsperson.

Build a searchable job plan naming convention

With a library of thousands of plans, the planner must be able to find the appropriate job plan to apply to the work order being planned. Each job plan must be “findable.” EAMs usually link specific job plans to specific assets, but even so, job plan naming conventions help the planner easily find a similar job plans to help create a new job plan for a similar asset. Consider a naming convention such as (worktype) (asset number) (common name)-(action verb statement).

Example:
CM N01-QB01-001 Boiler Feed Pump-Replace Impeller

This job plan title would be for corrective maintenance to replace the impeller on the North Unit 1 boiler feed pump. This naming format ensures all the job plans for that asset or similar ones for other boiler feed pumps, other pumps, or other impellers can be found to help create a new starter job plan. Additional prefixes other than CM could be PDM, PROJ, OP or PM.

Apply naming rules to preventive maintenance plans

PM job plan titles cause problems because a single simple PM job plan could apply to another asset, and also, PMs are frequently used on routes for multiple assets. Follow these practices for PMs:

• Consider more generic titles, but be as specific as possible.
• Consider having the frequency in the title. Use 1MO  2 MO  3MO  6MO  1YR  2YR  2WKS.
• Do not use terms like “semi-annual” or “bi-weekly” because many people confuse their meaning.)
• Add (DURING OUTAGE) in the title of an outage PM which helps to scan outage and PM lists of work.

Examples:

PM N01-WW Waste Sewage Treatment-Grease all motors (1MO)
PM N01-QB01-001 Boiler Feed Pump-Change Oil (3MO)
(DURING OUTAGE) PM N01-QB01-001 Boiler Feed Pump-Replace all gaskets (5YR) 

Most companies underutilize the job plan module by using it almost exclusively for PM job plans. They mistake “jobs that are done repeatedly” with PMs exclusively. Yet the company’s opportunity for great competitive advantage comes from recognizing that almost every maintenance job repeats over time, even if not every month or even every year. In fact, a great many jobs do see repetition after only six months. Planning every job as repeatable provides the essential framework for continuous improvement of job execution quality.

Measure job plan growth to track continuous improvement

Management can easily create a KPI to govern this aspect of planning by measuring the sheer quantity of plans in the job plan module over time. Companies that errantly use the module for only PMs see no growth because their PMs stay roughly constant in number. However, a company properly using the job plan module sees an initial rapid growth in the sheer number of plans in the library as planners create initial job plans for every job. Then, it will show a slowdown after about six months as the planners start reusing many of the job plans.

The continuous improvement of plans promotes superior quality of maintenance execution. Companies should properly use their EAM job planning module to run a continuous improvement cycle for nearly all of their work, not just PMs. Job plan naming conventions help planners further leverage this module making it easy to find existing plans for similar assets or tasks. Growth in the quantity of job plans in the job plan library shows that a company has managed to go beyond using job plans simply for PM. Don’t settle for good. Be great!