Benefits- This indicator is intended as a guide to measuring the ratio of labor hours spent on maintenance tasks to the time spent operating equipment. When it is viewed in a trended manner it enables managers to understand improvements in the application of maintenance resources over time. It is useful for measuring the impact of other reliability initiatives where relevant. These measures, and others like it, are often used as benchmarks.

Limitations- As with any benchmark there are some immediate dangers presented by the use of this measure. If it is used as a means of measuring the performance of the department against itself over time, then it has advantages. In this instance, it is a good measure of the varying workload on the maintenance function by the organization as a whole.

If it is used to compare with other organizations, then there is first a need to ensure that both companies operate in a similar operating environment and that the measure is taken in exactly the same manner. The immediate danger is that this indicator will be used as a means of driving down maintenance time in a way that will prevent adequate management of the physical asset base.

Producing This Measure- As with all indicators, the data collection activities for this measure are of paramount importance. In this particular instance it is important to be able to differentiate between hours spent on maintenance activities and hours spent on other activities...