In this presentation, we will analyze the resource part, namely human resources, which can come from inside the company's payroll or from outsourcing (third-party contracts). First, we must define the strategies, 'what to do', then the systems, 'how to do it', and, last, analyze human and material resources, 'with whom and with what to do it'.
The modern approach to maintenance involves three levels. To fulfill the abovementioned concept, the quality system must include procedures for Competence Certification of the workers in all trades. Only when these aspects are present can we speak of quality assurance. Quality is no doubt an important transformational vehicle, but a vehicle that transports people, so it is paramount to have quality plans involve factors such as people awareness and commitment, motivation, responsibility and pride of being part of a team. Placing man at the center of the issue, we must now proceed to outline his relationship to the quality factor.įor this purpose, we believe it is enough to present a well-known statement that reveals the exact concept: 'Quality is not in the things people do, but in the people that do things'. It will also be important to take this action on the basis of the so called 'Maintenance Common Sense', i.e., 'do the right things, and do these things right', and finally, 'do things right the first time'. Factories can be fully automated to the point of having no workers at all, but at some point, a maintenance person shall have to act upon a robot or automated system in order to prevent downtime or to rapidly correct it, if it has actually occurred. This is paramount, since we must bear in mind that maintenance is essentially a human task. Optimal system quality is no good unless they are accepted by those who must implement them. Talking results is talking systems, and thinking of systems leads us to consider their quality. We have analyzed the results of maintenance from an overall standpoint and we shall now proceed to a more specific outlook in order to understand how the problem is viewed from the inside which fundamentals should be made clear so as to understand the organization and the management model needed and, then move ahead to our target: the maintenance man. Good maintenance ensures availability today and on a long-term basis, and this is what constitutes reliability. On a more concrete realm, the results of a company in terms of production are a function of installed capacity, operating rhythm, product quality and installation availability.Īlthough maintenance has influence on all of them, the effects are more noticeable upon the availability factor, and thus its incidence on overall results. To say it in other words, 'maintenance action ensures reliability'.
It is in reliability assurance that maintenance shows its true importance. If we are not reliable, we will not be able to sustain our achievements on a day-to-day basis. In order to ensure this on a long-term basis, there is need of a third key factor: reliability. Strategic Importance Nobody argues upon the significance that two key factors such as quality and productivity have on companies' competitiveness. We will state that objective as follows: 'Ensuring company's competitiveness by means of: assuring planned availability and reliability of the desired function, complying with all requirements of company's quality system, and with all safety and environmental regulations, at the least overall cost or at maximum overall benefits.'ģ.
Given this definition, we must pose the maintenance objective as measurable, quantifiable and expressing what has been said in it. In order to summarize and simplify the issue, we could say that today's maintenance means 'ensuring that all the assets, be they physical or not, continue to perform the desired functions'. Nowadays, maintenance is defined as 'the management function that ensures regular operation and good condition of installations'. In this analysis, we shall proceed from general to particular aspects we will review the definition and objectives of the maintenance function we will study the organizational and managerial aspects, in order to finally arrive at the required profile and the role to be fulfilled by the maintenance professional. It is in this context that we intend to analyze the profile and the role of the maintenance man within this new setting. The world has turned global and competition is everywhere these new challenges have led to deep transformations in companies, affecting maintenance as well.Īs a result of this transformation, maintenance has come to a position of enhanced and well-deserved importance, due to its incidence on overall company competitiveness. The world, the economy and companies have undergone significant changes in the last few years.