TABLE OF CONTENTS Perhaps more properly the listing that follows might be referred to as principles for the Planner to strive for in his or her day-to-day planning activities:
understand the department's mission in relation to the objectives of the company;
always be aware of the magnitude and trend of backlog;
quantify the magnitude of the resources effectively available to apply toward relief of the backlog;
establish a plan for the allocation of available resources to a balanced workweek, considering both long-range importance and short-range necessity;
categorize work consistent with planned resource allocation categories;
assign a planning priority (within job priority and category) to each job;
break each job into logically sequenced tasks/activities;
prepare a "Planning Week" schedule by phases of work planning and by task to determine progress toward completion of each week's work planning;
work to meet this schedule. Protect it. Do not superimpose new work unless that new work represents an overriding course of action for work planning (long and short range);
measure progress and contribution. Don't spin your wheels on efforts that don't move toward completing the week's work planning.
Maintenance is managed by managing the backlog. It is impossible for a facility to be proactive if resources are not kept in balance with the workload. If the overwhelming majority of jobs are not planned, there is no effective way to know what the magnitude of the backlog is and therefore it cannot be managed. Backlog is also an indicator of...
