TABLE OF CONTENTS Although it may sound unusual to think of maintenance in business terms, it truly is a big business. If you consider the impact that maintenance has on a company's ability to produce a consistent profit from quarter to quarter, it is tremendous. If a maintenance manager makes one or two wrong decisions in any given business quarter, the profitability of an entire plant can be in jeopardy. Therefore, it is important to consider maintenance as a business.
Figure 1-1 highlights a business control system, which may seem like a Management 101 slide for many readers. However, most companies do not think of the maintenance and reliability function in these terms. For example, to truly have a business, it is important to establish the goals, objectives, policies, and procedures for the business. Although this process will be considered in more detail later, what are the goals and objectives for a maintenance organization? In a recently-conducted survey, companies were asked to furnish their mission and vision statement for maintenance and reliability. It was startling to see the number of plants with maintenance and reliability organizations that had no mission and vision statements. The question would have to be asked, "Why does the maintenance and reliability department exist?" It is important to establish the business goals and objectives, policies, and procedures for the maintenance and reliability department if we are truly to establish a business.
Once the business objectives are set, it is important to...
