Maintenance diagnostics — Performance measurement and interpretation

In recent years, with the mechanization and automation of processes, the share of maintenance in the cost price has increased in many industrial companies.

The maintenance function has also taken on a new dimension. It is seen less and less as an overhead function, but as a key function that contributes fully to a company's performance.

To remain competitive, it makes sense to regularly examine the maintenance function through a diagnostic process, with a view to improving or even building a more efficient organization.

Whatever the company concerned and its specific features, the assessment or diagnosis of the maintenance function is often carried out according to a process comprising the following phases:

• 1 – maintenance performance measurement and interpretation: positioning of results in relation to elements or ratios considered to be standard;

• 2 – analysis of the current maintenance system and identification of areas for improvement ;

• 3 – Synthesis of the analysis and drafting of a progress action plan;

• 4 – summary of issues

• • gains to be expected, expenses to be planned,

  • break-even point for the improvement action plan.

The aim of the first phase of the diagnosis is to position all the economic, technical and human results with reference to significant benchmarks.

It consists of collecting the available data with a view to :

• establish ratios for comparison with standard ratios;

• highlight the areas where the gap in performance appears to be greatest.

These elements should then enable us to prioritize the degree of detail with which we need to analyze the maintenance system in order to identify possible improvements.

The aim of this dossier is to answer the first questions that arise at the start of a diagnosis:

• how to measure performance?

• which indicators or figures should be analyzed?

• how to interpret the results to identify areas for improvement?