Far from simply allocating jobs from the backlog of work orders to available resources, maintenance planning and scheduling is one of the most effective tools available to control costs and boost asset performance. When considered as part of a broader maintenance strategy, planning and scheduling results in higher resource utilisation and lays the foundation for preventive and predictive maintenance approaches.

As the planning and scheduling processes improve over time, the backlog of maintenance work decreases, and people have the time to do preventive and predictive maintenance. Without it, organisations tend to slip into a reactive maintenance state where most of their work is fixing equipment that breaks. This creates a downward spiral of increasing work backlog, reduced equipment reliability and higher maintenance costs.

Better planning is the process of determining what resources are required for future maintenance works. This process includes consideration of specifics such as available capacity, tasks, trades, minimum skill or qualifications, materials and tools required to complete the job safely and efficiently. Better planning leads to fewer breakdowns and improved asset performance.

Scheduling is the process of coordinating when work orders can commence by allocating resources from the available labour pool, dispatching materials from stores and collecting any required tools. As scheduling improves, jobs are identified many weeks before they are executed and completed predictably.

Migrate: Our team can help migrate from spreadsheet- and whiteboard-centric processes to systemised processes.

Identify: Identify dependencies and re-engineer work processes in a highly constrained operating environment to optimise scheduling and minimise plant shutdowns.

Develop: Develop complex crew rostering and scheduling solutions accommodating multiple award rules and conditions, individual preferences and fatigue management while maintaining fairness and equality across the workforce.

Improve: Improve job plans by removing redundant and ambiguous tasks, re-ordering tasks for efficient workflow and identifying required inventory items.