Proposals for the organization of a maintenance and repair management system

Key requirements for the target model of the maintenance and repair management system:

• The purpose of the system is to fulfill the production plan within the allocated maintenance and repair budget.
• Responsibility for the technical condition of the equipment should be transferred to the line management level, while at the same time the formation of effective tools to control the expenditure of funds.
• A differentiated approach to equipment maintenance and repair should be used, taking into account its condition and impact on the company’s financial results.
• Maintenance and repair costs should be allocated and presented in such a way that the company’s management can make management decisions based on them.
• A differentiated approach should be applied to the procurement of spare parts and the formation of the inventory policy.
• Effective interaction should be organized between specialists in the field of different disciplines.
• Planning the timing and cost of work should be carried out using real and measurable indicators.
• Working with contractors should be based on both the cost of their services and an assessment of the risks associated with their involvement.

Basic elements of the MRO management system model:

Equipment differentiation

The basic element of the maintenance and repair management system is the differentiation of equipment according to its technical condition and impact on the financial result. Differentiation of equipment is necessary for the formalized prioritization of spending areas, the development of various approaches to the repair and maintenance of equipment by equipment category. The prioritization system can only be effective when the pieces of equipment are correctly compared in terms of value to the company. When assessing and classifying equipment, the problem is to form a general picture for the enterprise: equipment that is critical for a particular site may turn out to be uncritical for the plant as a whole.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to use the method of sequential comparison, carrying out a number of actions from analyzing equipment at the level of individual sections to analyzing the impact of production lines on the company’s financial performance. It is also necessary to take into account the risks and requirements for industrial safety and environmental protection.

The category of equipment is the basis for both the implementation of work by the repair personnel and for making decisions on the allocation of funds at the level of the company management.

Organizational structure

The centralization of authority at the level of shop managers and above leads to the impossibility of making operational decisions, as well as to the active involvement of a significant circle of “experts” in the process. The maintenance and repair management system involves the delegation of rights and responsibilities to the level of line managers (foremen / heads of sections).

Another problematic issue is the interaction of technological and maintenance personnel. This problem is especially acute when repair shops are allocated, but one should not assume that a single shop for technological and repair personnel will solve this problem. In a single shop, problems are hushed up and solved individually by the head of the shop.

To solve these problems, a solution is required that is similar to that used in Western service companies: separation of employees responsible for interaction with technological units – customers of repair work, and employees responsible for performing repairs. In this case, the employee responsible for interaction with production must have authority in the field of budget allocation and work planning. And the contractor is responsible for the quality execution of the work order in accordance with the task received.

Auxiliary elements of the maintenance management system model:

Regulation of processes in the field of maintenance and repair management

A common problem in MRO management is the lack of standardized processes. As part of the reorganization of the maintenance and repair management system, it is necessary to work out the following main processes: annual planning and budgeting for maintenance, intra-annual and monthly planning of work, assignment of work tasks and control over their implementation, purchase of spare parts and contractor services.

The processes are based on the new organizational structure and the differentiation (categorization) of the equipment. The purpose of introducing new processes is to optimize the activities of the repair service employees and work out the details when introducing a new work organization scheme.

Spare parts management

Inventory optimization is an important part of a company’s working capital management and often has the potential for improvement. On the other hand, the no-stock policy carries significant risks of stopping production for a long period. To determine the optimal level of stocks for items, it is necessary to implement a differentiated approach to the management of spare parts. Spare parts should be differentiated based on their impact on the company’s production process. This categorization is based on the differentiation of equipment carried out in the framework of the implementation of the basic elements of the model.

For each spare part, depending on its criticality and delivery time, it is necessary to define an appropriate procurement and inventory management strategy. For example, for critical spare parts for equipment that is critical to the manufacturing process and is in poor condition, the warehouse should have a constant supply of sufficient quantity to minimize unplanned production downtime.

Contractor management

The choice between outsourcing and maintaining internal personnel is a decision that can predetermine the further development of the repair service for several years ahead. When making a decision on the full or partial withdrawal of the repair service for outsourcing, one cannot proceed only from the results of financial analysis due to its limited application to assess the risks of making this decision.

Within the framework of maintenance and repair management, it is necessary to take into account both the differentiation of equipment and a comparative analysis of the advantages of the contractor and internal personnel. For key equipment, it is extremely important to maintain the competence of carrying out maintenance and repair within the company. Otherwise, the potential losses from improperly performed repairs can greatly outweigh the benefits of outsourcing the repair function.

Prospects for the development of the maintenance and repair system

Improving the technological level of the maintenance and repair system involves concentrating efforts on the following three groups of activities of repair structures in accordance with their specialization:

– in the field of production of spare parts, the use of progressive methods of managing their quality (reliability), the use of a modern machine park and technology for the production of blanks and products.

– in the production of repairs and maintenance, the widespread use of mechanization means, tools, materials for repair work (assembly and disassembly, assembly), and thereby reducing manual labor and improving the quality of work.

– during the operation of the equipment, the use of methods to improve the operational reliability of technical objects by reducing wear, preventing volumetric destruction and changes in the structure of the material of structures exposed to temperature and corrosive effects; application of technical means for diagnostics of damages and control of operating modes.