Understanding the Need for Problem Elimination Logic (PEL)

Throughout this book there has been a deliberate emphasis on acting in a proactive manner, using techniques, analysis, and planning techniques to adequately plan for what could happen, and for what we want to happen. This proactive state is an ideal situation and one that should be aspired to if the company s physical asset base is to be managed in a responsible and focused manner.

However, on commencement of a comprehensive improvement program, such as the one the MSC embodies, there is often a need for immediate action. The majority of maintenance organizations have to deal with an element of reactive work. Many of these reactive events, when taken in isolation, often have small or even negligible consequences. Examples include the replacing of a drive belt on a small pump drive, a continuous stream of nuisance trips from protective devices or the frequent need to change the indication lights in a piece of machinery.

All of these events are examples of the types of unexpected events that occur in many workplaces throughout industry. Due to their low consequences, these incidents are often overlooked. They take a short period of time to repair, they often have low economic consequences, and they are frequent enough to have been accepted as a part of the way that business is done.

However in some instances the...