Machinery Lubrication

36 Reliable Plant | www . reliableplant.com Machinery Lubrication | www . machinerylubrication.com 2025 Annual KPIs Grumpy: Minimum Unplanned Backlog To have enough work to fill our schedule, we must efficiently plan incoming work while avoiding the idea of perfection. Perfection doesn't exist, and ten less-detailed plans are better than three perfect and seven incomplete plans, which lower productivity. By following the Deming Cycle of continuous improvement, we produce the best plans that help efficiently attain our 50% productivity boost. e Deming Cycle, similar to the PDCA cycle, teaches skills that help improve processes and plans. e four steps of the cycle are plan, do, study and act. Be aware that planners may get Grumpy (our fourth dwarf ) when managers insist on sacrificing perfection to effectively run the Deming Cycle for plan improvement. Remember, what doesn't get scheduled doesn't get completed, further encouraging a reactive mindset. Take note of how long planners are leaving new work orders in an "unplanned" status and whether the schedules are underloaded. It's important to correct these practices as soon as possible; when this is accomplished, our backlogs will diminish, and jobs will be completed at a more productive rate. Sleepy: Planned Coverage Work orders are more likely to be efficiently and successfully completed when planned. is means that the planner has not only anticipated the team member's needs, such as required parts and tools, but has clarified the scope of the project, all before the team member ever receives the assignment. To measure planned coverage, we must first define what a planned job is. e standard industry definition is "having all the steps identi- fied and parts kitted," but this can be counterproductive to our overall mission. "All" implies perfection, and that is not our goal. Our goal is to make plans better over time through the Deming Cycle and careful KPI measurement. By forcing planners to include all the steps, we slow down their Deming Cycle process, and fewer jobs get planned. In addition, we don't always need to kit parts, only where it makes sense. Otherwise, we run the risk of disorganizing our storeroom or losing parts before the job starts. Instead, we need to define planned jobs as "jobs that have a reusable plan, run through the Deming Cycle and have the estimated hours needed to support scheduling." Be careful to not have a soft, or Sleepy (our fifth dwarf ) target. e more you utilize planning work, the lower your reactive work numbers will be and the more productive work you'll be able to accomplish. Sneezy: Creation of New Jobs Plans It's not enough that planners are quick and efficient when planning work. ey must also make their plans reusable. Nearly every computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) has a place to make reusable plans. Unfortunately, most companies only use them for preventative maintenance. By not making the plans reusable, we fail to successfully run the Deming Cycle. It's a Sneezy (our sixth dwarf ) nuisance at first to make a reusable plan for every job, but about six months after starting this strategy, most planners find that nearly every other new job that comes through already has a reusable plan that fits their needs. is saves them time and helps create a more proactive system. Bashful: Helpful Feedback Finally, to complete our journey of continuous improvement, we must receive team member feedback to improve our plans for the next time. Having no feedback is not the sign of a great planner; it's a sign that we've stopped learning. Giving and receiving feedback is one of the most difficult skills a maintenance group can master. Many team members are Bashful (our seventh dwarf ) about critiquing plans, or they simply want to finish a job and move on to the next. It is the responsibility of management to seek out and cultivate these opinions and insights. Prince: Conclusion If we schedule with a clear goal in mind, we can achieve the 50% increase in proactive work order completion. e number of reactive work will drop, and this extra proactive work being done will effec- tively prevent an influx of reactive work from happening. In the end, we will find facilities and critical assets dealing with fewer and fewer defects, allowing us to not simply repair them, but maintain them. In this way, just like the Prince, we apply the winning strategy to awaken us to the possibilities of our facility, helping us transform it into a world-class facility. Doc Palmer's article was based on his Reliable Plant 2022 conference presentation.

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