Justifying the amount spent on maintaining your company’s physical assets has always been an uphill struggle which is even more difficult in times of economic slowdown. Requests for capital, for example; a new computer system, more technicians, predictive maintenance technology tools, all cost thousands of pounds but don’t actually produce anything which generates sales revenue are even harder to justify.
Senior management rarely appreciate the contribution of the maintenance department to the business, and often see it as a drain on valuable resources. As a maintenance professional you should ask yourself the following questions:
- How can we demonstrate we are providing value for money
- How can we improve what we do
- How can we give a better service to production
- How can we demonstrate a return on investment in new technology and CMMS systems
- What are they key issues within maintenance in my company
- How do we compare to other companies in terms of performance and efficiency
- How much better could we be
- What is the scope for delivering greater benefits to the business
All of these questions can be answered by assessing, revieiwing and benchmarking your maintenance. (MCP’s AMIS – Asset Management Improvement Service is one example.) AMIS has been revised and upgraded to provide a comprehensive review of maintenance within any organisation.)