The ADAMANT Maintenance Management Audit

Introduction

The purpose of a maintenance management audit review is to establish the extent to which an organisation is using those principles and practices which are recognised as contributing to the effective and efficient operation of a maintenance organisation which. is:

  1. responsive to operating needs;
  2. cost effective;
  3. able to meet plant availability, reliability and performance objectives consistently.
1. Overview

The Management Maintenance Audit uses a questionnaire to collect data on various factors. The extent is not to judge how good or bad the management system and strategy is, but to establish how widespread its use is.

The specific areas the audit looks at are:

I. Initiation and Authorisation of Work VIII. Safety and Training
II. Work Planning and Scheduling IX. Maintenance Level
III. Preventative Maintenance and Reliability Improvement X. Engineering Projects
IV. Performance Measurement and Management XI. Outage and Shutdown Management
V. Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials Management XII. Organisation Culture
VI Maintenance cost Management XIII. Team Based Maintenance Management
VII. Maintenance Organisation and Administration

Respondents are asked to indicate the extent to which something is done or exists by giving it a rating from 0 to 100%. The responses are entered on a questionnaire where they are scored against values based on surveys of several hundred plants, predominantly US based, but includes some Australian sites.

There is no such thing as a perfect score. In fact, some of the questions are contradictory, hence a high answer on one question will by definition give a low answer on another question.

In addition, the questionnaire on its own can only provide a limited snapshot of what is and what isn’t. This must then be assessed within the overall context of the organisation, its strategies, objectives, people and overall philosophy which is assessed as part of a formal consultant led review, done in parallel with the use of the questionnaire.

The questionnaire will ask a question or make a statement about some aspect related to maintenance management. For example, section I question 1, reproduced below, asks “Do you have … A recording system for defects/problems reported by operations, requiring maintenance attention?”

  • If you do not have any recording system for reported by operations, click in the “No” column.
  • If you have a recording system for defects reported by operations, but much of the work actually done by the maintenance department by-passes the formal system, you will need to make an estimate of how much of the work is reported through the reporting system. If you think over 40% of the work goes through the system, click in the column headed “Over 40%, as shown below.
  • If you have a recording system for defects reported by operations and all of the work goes through the system, click in the 100% column as shown below.
  • Where the questionnaire asks you a question which requires you to agree or disagree, use the “No to 100%” scale to indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the statement.

Keep in mind as you are answering the questions that it is a maintenance audit and that unless otherwise clearly stated, the statements will be referring to maintenance and maintenance management issues.

Should you have any questions, or you are not too sure how to answer any question, feel free to ask the consultant conducting the review when they are on site.

Many organisations have their own language to describe different functions or actions in their industry. To ensure the risk of confusion some of the less common or frequently abused terms are defined below for your assistance.

Work Request. Is a form or document submitted to the maintenance department usually by operations personnel, identifying some problem they believe needs maintenance attention.

Work Order. A document or package which clearly defines the work to be done. A work order is issued to a tradesperson when they are asked to do a job which may have been initially identified on a work request.

Preventative Maintenance (PM). Is a regular scheduled maintenance task, designed to achieve one or more of the following;

  • ensure the equipment operates at designed rating;
  • evaluate mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic and electrical systems to identify potential problems;
  • provide data which can be used to predict failure
  • identify components or operating modes likely to initiate failure;
  • satisfy statutory requirements.

Backlog, is a register of all work known about by maintenance, but which still remains to be actioned.

Planning, is the act of determining or estimating what resources are required to do a job. This usually entails estimating the labour content by trade (in work hours), materials, parts and other requirements to do the job. A job that has been estimated in this way, at least one working day before it is released to be done is said to have been planned.

Scheduling. The act of determining when a job will be done (what week, day, what time) and who specifically will do it.

Personal Details