Overview

Plan the work, work the plan.
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In his book The Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook, Doc Palmer provides a wealth of information and knowledge regarding planning and scheduling.1 Much of this approach to planning is summarized in the following te xt and unless otherwise noted is based on a conference presentation by Palmer.2

Excellence in planning and scheduling must be linked to knowledge of equipment condition, to excellence in Preventive Maintenance (PM) and basic care, and then integrated with production planning:

• Establish a policy for planning and scheduling and the related criteria. For example, what types of jobs will be planned? Those where two or more trades are involved? Involving contractors? Where work permits or vessel entry permits are required? And so on. The more complex the job in terms of trades involved, complexity of equipment, safety issues, and so on, the greater the need for planning. Guidelines should be established for which jobs need planning.

• Assure planning and scheduling competency through training and practice.

• Approximately one planner is needed for every 20 maintenance technicians, considering trade skills, equipment complexity, reliability and productivity goals, and so on. Some "best practice" plants have one planner for every 12 technicians.

• The primary goal is to improve labor productivity. For example, a typical "wrench time" is 35% spent on the job/tools. This contrasts to a "best in class" of 55%. Caution: wrench time must be balanced with other issues such as safety, complexity, commissioning, and so on.

There is extraordinary...