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P L A N N I N G
A N D
S C H E D U L I N G
Machinery & Equipment MRO
December 2021
YOU CAN PLAN SOME REACTIVE WORK We’ve always been told that we cannot plan reactive work.
“T
he horse is already out of the barn and we just need to get the horse back in the barn.” “We should spend our time planning the proactive work to get the barn into better shape so horse don’t get out in the first place.” “We also don’t want to slow down swift supervisor response to the reactive work.” However, we can plan some of the reactive work to improve our maintenance results. We can run the Deming Cycle to improve the quality of some of the reactive work, and we can schedule some of the reactive work to improve our productivity. We can accomplish both of these objectives without slowing down supervisors. First, consider the practice of planning. The best planning practice is using
planners as craft historians that give head starts to jobs and save useful information for everyone. This craft historian strategy implements the Deming Cycle to make better plans over time, and does not presume plans are somehow perfect. Indeed, we are not trying to replace the skill, experience, and wisdom of trained craftspersons with perfect job plans. Job plans should aim to eventually be great guides for new persons, and handy references for senior persons, but plans are always living works-in-progress. Combine this strategy with the knowledge that not all reactive work will start today. Many times, reactive work is not an emergency that must start today. Consequently, a planner needs only to check with the crew supervisor anytime a new reactive job pops up and ask if the super-
visor thinks the job will start today. If the job will probably start today, then don’t bother to plan the job at all! But if the job will not start today, the planner can knock out a quick job plan. If there is no existing plan, the planner might simply do a quick field check, make a quick judgment of what is needed, and call it a day. What kind of plan is that? It can be a great job plan. The planner has added craft and time requirements to allow better assignments. The planner has clarified the scope to at least get the execution going in the right direction. After the execution, as always, the planner looks for feedback (longer ladder, additional gaskets, different bolts, etc.) to improve the plan. So, in the future, even for a reactive planning effort, there might already be a living plan from the past! Why
wouldn’t we want the planner to attach the better job plan; the better head start? Why doom a craftsperson to reinvent the wheel and not receive the better head start if the planner had time to attach it? The key to the whole notion of planning some of the reactive work is to check with the crew supervisor first. Never, ever, suggest that the supervisor should wait on planning. But if the job won’t start today, knock out a quick job plan and run the Deming Cycle of continuous improvement to promote better and better maintenance work over the years. Second, consider the practice of scheduling. The best scheduling practice for maintenance productivity is starting crews with weekly, fully loaded schedules to defeat Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law states that, “The amount of work
Photo: SpicyTruffel / Adobe Stock
BY DOC PALMER
