How many tradespeople do you really need?

Several years ago, when I was trying to get approval to hire an additional machinist, my boss, who was a very smart mill manager, said “Don, I do believe that if you had twice

Why bother to measure Maintenance costs?

The obvious answer, of course, is because you have to. Maintenance is a cost of doing business and is required to be reported as such in your financial statements. But there is more behind

What is “Maintenance” and how much does it cost?

“Maintenance” means different things to different people. Ask anyone without industrial experience what first comes to mind when they hear “maintenance” and most will tell you that they think of janitors working in schools

The Maintenance cost-reduction conundrum

  Here’s a situation that’s not uncommon. You, as Maintenance Manager or Plant Manager know there’s something wrong with maintenance. You see two or three tradespeople doing work that needs only one, people are

The (very) high cost of restrictive practices

  What Are Restrictive Practices? Restrictive practices of various kinds are often found in Maintenance organizations. Their cost is much higher than is generally recognized, as explained here, and too often they are accepted

The danger of ignoring hidden costs

Some costs in Maintenance are easy to measure, but some of the most important results of changes, such as the impact on “maintenance effectiveness” or productivity are notoriously difficult to quantify. When making maintenance

Optimum maintenance

  Its obvious that too much money can be spent on maintenance, and it is also obvious that no maintenance at all is not enough, so it stands to reason that somewhere in between

How much does a tradesperson really cost?

  Hiring a tradesperson is something that should not be taken lightly. As with any other employee, the value that the new person will add to the organization needs to exceed the cost of

Maintenance budgets and cost reporting

One of the more important Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in Maintenance is how much it costs. While many would argue that this is the most important measure of Maintenance, I would suggest that in

Approving Maintenance expenditures

  A fundamental management principle is that any function that is a part of a business process should add value, and this includes the function of approving expenditures. Of course, all major capital expenditures