Maintenance Strategies: Scheduling of the Maintenance Activity - Coursework Example

Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Introduction Facility maintenance is an approach directed towards adapting, improving and operating the infrastructure and building of an organization in order to have an environment that is in line with the organization objective (Shah, 2007). According to Shah, 2007, facility management aims at: Effective delivery of services Makes the organization assets highly cost effective Facilitates changes in an organization in future, especially the use of space in an organization Improves an organization image and culture This maintenance plan is based on five building assets namely, school auditorium, gymnasium, library, classrooms and dining and kitchen areas in The Armidale School. Concepts and Techniques of Maintenance Plan Best Practice Best practice is a technique or method that provides a more superior results compared to results achieved by other means available. Best practice involves following or developing a standard way of performing tasks that an organization applies (Booty, 2006). It aims at achieving a preferred standard quality or maintaining a given quality. Based practice can be based on benchmarking or self-assessment. It is a characteristic of accredited management practice for instance ISO 14001 and ISO 9000. Risk Assessment Risk assessment involves determining the qualitative and quantitative value of risk associated with a particular hazard or threat. Risk assessment must be taken into consideration while making the financial decisions in order to ensure effective service delivery (Booty, 2006). Performance Analysis Performance analysis entails collection of informal and formal information, doing analysis to ensure achievement of the goals of the performers (Booty, 2006). Performance analysis involves analyzing the financial and human resource performance. Maintenance Strategies Maintenance strategy combines the available maintenance operations and practices with the available industry operations and practices to avail a coherent and strategic guideline for the engineers in order to achieve various goals, for instance: Regulate the engineering expenditure and ensure operations within the budget Enhance productivity and ensure reduction in the machine breakdown Ensure engineering provide direction and be in front in terms of the business development Enhance focus on the business development Enhance communication between the various business functions and the engineering Maintenance strategy process Maintenance Audit Completion This involves analyzing the function of the maintenance within the organization and considering other different functions in the organization as a whole (Booty, 2006). Maintenance audit helps in the derivation of the maintenance strategy whose aim is to facilitate improvements to the function of the maintenance, provide an effective communication and help in the development of best practices in the maintenance function and the general organization. Review of the Maintenance Audit At this stage, the review of the maintenance audit previously developed takes place. Here the views of the individuals in an organization concerning the maintenance strategy are taken into consideration (Booty, 2006). The aim of considering the views of those involved in the company operation includes: To provide more information concerning the maintenance strategy development To enable identification of the areas with various functional weakness and ensure improvement of the planned strategies To allow for assessment of a different company view of the maintenance strategy and engineering performance To facilitate benchmarking of the current maintenance strategy and engineering function To ensure achievement of wide range and balanced results, the audit process is done by the department functions not within the engineering function. The information from the audit process is then organized in a particular document that entails the thought and perception of individuals regarding the maintenance strategy. Benchmarking Benchmarking aim is to help collect enough information on the development of a maintenance strategy and engineering perception (Booty, 2006). Benchmarking process is complete when the organization structure, human resources, processes, and system issues within the engineering are compared with the individuals experience in the organization as a whole. Maintenance strategy Development of the maintenance strategy takes place after the benchmarking process (Booty, 2006). The strategy comprises: Information on how the maintenance strategy implementation integrates with the goals and plans of the organization business Current best practices details and provision for the working methods development The overall maintenance strategy Maintenance strategies in an organization may include: Preventive maintenance Run- to- failure maintenance Condition- based maintenance Condition Audit Condition audit involves assessing the physical condition of an asset or property to ensure it is fit for the intended purpose. Condition audit entails the following items: Mechanical systems Electrical systems Roof Stairwells and hallways Plumbing system Foundation condition and structural survey of the elements exposed Site components Exterior walls The conditions of assets in an organization are supposed to be measured against Australian standards and regulations. Assets should comply with the set standards and regulations. Activities are scheduled Conducting of the maintenance activities requires coming up with a schedules stating when maintenance is conducted and those responsible for the whole process. Having a maintenance plan in an organization helps in scheduling various maintenance activities improve asset life and reduce chances of asset breakdown. Asset maintenance activities can be scheduled on daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis and annual basis. Cost Benefit Analysis Cost benefit analysis involves evaluating whether the chosen course of action provides the best option in terms of cost saving, time and labor. It is a systematic way to estimate the weaknesses and strengths of a chosen course of action by a business. An organization should choose an effective maintenance strategy especially one that is cost effective. The cost of the chosen strategy should not be higher than benefits to be derived from the strategy itself. Work Order A work order is an order organization receives from a client or customer. A work order can also arise internally in an organization. It may be for services or products. Work order can be repair or maintenance request on an organization assets. They may be for preventive maintenance. A work order may state the following: The quantity of the asset to be maintained or repaired Total amount of materials to be used in the maintenance process and the cost of the material Labor required in the maintenance process and its cost. Date, location and time maintenance is carried out on an organization asset Any staff member within the organization can submit a work order for the maintenance of an organization asset. Compliance Compliance is about adherence to the laid down regulations, standards and any other requirements in relation to asset maintenance. Asset maintenance strategies must comply with the set standards and regulations to ensure safety for their intended purpose. The asset quality must comply with the ISO 9000, ISO 14001 and any other government regulations to ensure they are fit for use. Assets are Disposed Disposal of assets involves getting rid of unneeded assets in the organization especially through trading them in partial payments of the newly purchased assets, selling and throwing of the worn out assets away (Alexander, 1996). Examples of: Best Practices Asset maintenance helps in prolonging the asset life and ensuring quality service delivery. Best practices are therefore important in ensuring proper maintenance. Some of the best practices in asset maintenance include; Preparation of asset inventory plan Development of a rating system and a condition assessment Assessment of the asset remaining useful life by looking at the decay curves and the projected-useful-life tables, for example, heat pumps, boilers, generators Determination of replacement costs and asset values Maintenance strategies Maintaining of asset requires a strategy. An organization therefore needs to choose an appropriate strategy that would help improve the life of its assets and reduces chances of breakdown. The chosen strategy must be in line with the organization objectives and be cost effective (Atkin, & Brooks, 2000). Some of the asset maintenance strategies include preventive maintenance, condition-based maintenance and run-to-failure maintenance. Preventive maintenance Preventive maintenance comprises of asset maintenance requirements which states how planning, scheduling and execution of the scheduled maintenance will be done. Preventive maintenance helps in improving an asset life and minimization of breakdowns of asset during use. Having a maintenance plan can help an organization define its preventive maintenance strategy (Atkin, & Brooks, 2000). Preventive maintenance plan involves cleaning, adjusting, lubrication, replacing and painting of the assets parts or components. Preventive maintenance strategies for the assets include; Support of the structural integrity for the deficiencies for instance potential failure, moisture stains and cracks Correcting deficient conditions for instance, excessive stretching, tearing, displacement, water penetration and delamination Checking roof conditions Checking chimney conditions Checking conditions of roof edging for any deficiency for example loose fasteners and deterioration Checking of the asset structural conditions for any deficiency, for instance cracks in the walls, membrane split and settlement of the deck Checking overall condition of the asset Performance Analysis Performance analysis involves assessing the whether an asset in an organization is performing in accordance to the expected level. To analyze asset performance it is important an organization establish the performance indicators. The indicators should be directed towards service delivery. Analyzing asset performance requires comparison between the current asset performances with the required standards of performance. Performance analysis in the organization entails the following process: Determination of problems Determination of opportunities Determination of barriers to effective performance Proposal of an effective solution to the identified performance problem Evaluation of the maintenance proposal Performance does not only entail analysis of the organization assets but also the quality of the service delivery (Atkin, & Brooks, 2000). It also aims at evaluating whether organization services and projects are properly managed in accordance to the allocated funds. In an organization, performance analysis may be based on the; Manufacturer’s specifications Stability of the equipment Equipment durability and integrity Level of fault reporting Compliance with the standards and regulations Overall asset appearance Scheduling of the maintenance activity Asset maintenance activities need to be scheduled in order to ensure proper maintenance. Scheduling helps in allocation of the maintenance resource and completion of the maintenance task on time. Since the focus of the maintenance program in the organization is on the preventive maintenance, every asset part will be inspected in accordance with the schedule. Maintenance of the assets will be done in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Various parts proposed for changes by the technician will be changed in accordance to the maintenance and operations instructions (Atkin, & Brooks, 2000). Maintenance supervisor will be reviewing the organization assets by looking the work order log to identify the conditions of the various assets. This will be done after a period of 5 to 6 months. Adjustments of the assets will be done after any staff member has requested for the maintenance. Inspection period for the assets will depend on the nature of the assets and the frequency of its use, for example, some assets such as the library, classrooms and gymnasium will be inspected after every four weeks Assets Disposal Organizations have various ways of doing away with obsolete assets. These are assets that organizations no longer require due to for example, their high maintenance costs or poor service delivery. To qualify for disposal the maintenance supervisor reviews the assets conditions and the costs required for servicing the assets (Atkin, & Brooks, 2000). The maintenance supervisor goes through the work order to determine the previous cost that has been incurred for the maintenance of the asset throughout its life span. The organization has various ways of disposing its assets, for instance, selling of the asset, trading it during the purchase of anew asset and throwing it away. The method chosen for disposal for a particular asset depends on gain or losses associated with the disposal process for example disposal of generators, sport equipment. Risk Assessment Risk assessment strategy is important in ensuring the financial expenditure is maintained within the maintenance budget and enhance continuous service delivery. The maintenance process helps in identifying the threat of risk on the maintenance budget and the threat the risk possess on the level of service delivery. Risk must be analyzed to ensure they are minimized (Barrett, & Baldry, 2003). Expenditure to minimize the risks associated with various assets need to be included on the maintenance budget. Asset maintenance risks can be expressed in terms of financial impact and service delivery. The process of risk management involves: Establishment of the context Risk identification Risk analysis Risk evaluation Treatment of the risk Monitoring and reviewing Some of the risks associated with asset management include: Under or over maintenance Improper maintenance strategies Managing risks improperly Sub optimized asset management systems and operations Failure to know what an organization has Some of the measures that could help reduce risk occurrence includes: Installation of alarm systems Installation of communication or speaker systems Video or camera systems Placing flammable materials away from the sources of heat Lubrication of materials capable of rusting Having functioning light system where necessary Having fire extinguishers within the premises Condition Audit Maintenance of various assets requires understanding of the current asset conditions and their nature. Maintenance of the assets must focus on the service delivery and organization objectives (Barrett, & Baldry, 2003). Maintenance supervisor should for example study the physical conditions of the laboratory equipment, laboratory books and even the classrooms to ensure they are up to the standards. The maintenance supervisor should use the work order and the manufacturer manual to assess the asset condition in order to ensure they operate within the set conditions. Some of the conditions that can be assessed include: Wall conditions Pain condition Equipment positioning/condition Door conditions Roof conditions Condition of chairs and benches Cost Benefit Analysis Maintenance of assets entails various costs and benefits. The maintenance department should analyze the costs and benefits associated with maintenance process of a particular asset. The costs associated with the maintenance of a particular asset should not outweigh the benefits derived from that asset at a given period (Barrett, & Baldry, 2003). The process involved in determination of the maintenance cost benefit includes; Identification of the problem Determination of the cost of the problem Determination of the maintenance budget Evaluation of the maintenance benefits Approval of the maintenance budget Costs that are associated with asset maintenance include: Cost of equipment transfer Cost of over maintenance Labor costs Costs of disruption Costs of failure Benefits associated with asset maintenance include: Optimal maintenance Automated spare parts fulfillment Automated services and supplies through the inter organization networking Optimal equipment operations Work Order Any staff member in the organization can submit work order on asset maintenance using the maintenance forms. The staff member that request for the maintenance of a specific asset must complete a particular form and then submit it to the maintenance department. In case there is an emergency, the staff member must inform the maintenance with immediate effect. The maintenance department will then conduct work orders for preventive maintenance in line with the asset maintenance schedule. The administrative assistant in the maintenance department shall then review all the form submitted. The review will be done to ensure the forms are complete, work order numbers are assigned on the forms and forms are entered on the work order log. The maintenance administrative assistant then hands the form over to the maintenance supervisor. The supervisor will then review the maintenance requests and determine whether they are urgent, immediate, routine or deferred. Routine – the maintenance should be done as soon as possible, however the breakdown is not expected to affect the operations of the organization. Urgent – the maintenance should be completed within the shortest time possible, for instance 48hrs, to ensure the organizations operations are not affected. Deferred – the maintenance will be done at a future date when the organization receives the necessary resources Immediate – the maintenance should be done immediately to prevent further damage or risk, for example within 5 hours. After assigning the priorities of the asset maintenance, the supervisor then assigns the task to the technician and then schedule completion of the task. The technician will then handle the task or identify various parts that require ordering. If the technician identifies parts that require ordering, he will fill the work order and then return it to the maintenance supervisor for verification. If there are no parts that require ordering, the technician will go ahead and complete the task. After completing the task, the technician will indicate on the work order then return it to the maintenance administrative assistant. In case there are parts to be ordered, the maintenance supervisor will analyze the part request and then hand over the work order to the administrative assistant of the maintenance responsible for ordering the requested parts. On receiving the parts, the administrative assistant will inform the supervisor who will then schedule and assign the maintenance task for completion. On completion, the administrative assistant will make necessary entries on the work order form and then notify the staff who requested for the maintenance that the task have been completed. SCHOOL FACILITY WORK ORDER SECTION ONE: completion to be done by the person requesting maintenance work Requested by: Date SECTION TWO: Maintenance activity requested for: completion to be done by the department of maintenance Date received: Work No: Maintenance priority: Deferred Urgent Routine Immediate Task assigned to: Task approved by: Date Requested Parts Date Approved Parts Date Ordered Parts Date Completed work Date Performed work Date Signed by: References Alexander, K 1996, Facilities management theory and practice, Spon Press Atkin, B & Brooks, A 2000, Total facilities management, Blackwell Science. Barrett, P & Baldry, D 2003, Facilities management towards best practice, 2nd Edition, Blackwell Publishing Booty, F 2006, Facilities management handbook, 3rd Edition, Elsevier Ltd Facility Management Association of Australia Ltd 2004, Facility management guidelines to managing risk, FMA. Rondeau, E P Brown, R K & Lapides, P D 2006, Facility management, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc Shah, S 2007, Sustainable practice for the facilities manager, Blackwell Publishing Read More