Ken Bannister, Contributing Editor

Many maintenance and reliability professionals will remember the old song "the thigh bone's connected to the knee bone, the knee bone's connected to the…" It was all about being connected with one's self. Within today's streamlined maintenance department, being connected and communicating valuable information between departmental peers has never been more important for task accomplishment.

In reality, maintenance connects on many different levels, influencing the decisional outcomes of the entire department—and organization—on a daily basis through both action and non-action. On any given day, many thousands of decisions are made throughout the corporation. Leading up to any decision is a series of connective events, linked via pre-established business processes determining at which point a decision is required to make the next connection.

For example, in a simple PM event in which a piece of equipment must receive a basic oil and filter change, events and connections required to set up and execute the PM are broken down into three stages. They are as follows:

Stage 1 – Set-Up
Setting up an oil change event requires the maintenance planner to develop a work plan. To do so, he/she must first connect with the engineering department, connect with the machine manufacturer and connect with the lubricant supplier to determine the required lubricant, filter, recommended change-out procedure and initial change-out interval.

With the work plan established, all materials must be purchased and added to the storeroom. Depending on the business process, this will require the maintenance planner to now connect with the maintenance inventory control person, who in turn connects with the purchasing agent, who in turn connects with the material supplier. Of course, if this is a new supplier, the purchasing agent also must connect with accounting department personnel to set invoicing

Once materials are shipped and received, the receiver connects with the inventory control person, who in turn reconnects with the maintenance planner to advise that the oil change materials are now in stock, allowing the department to move to Stage 2, in which the event can finally take place.

Stage 2 – The Event
At this point, the maintenance planner now connects with the maintenance scheduler, who in turn connects with the applicable trades foreman, who then connects with the trades person or lubrication specialist to pass on the work order to perform the oil and filter change.

The...(Read whole article)