by Robert M. Williamson

"Maintenance is not about fixing things that break. Maintenance is about preserving, protecting, safeguarding, and looking after the very machines that make business possible."

Many businesses were concerned about the Y2K bug and its possible impact. Significant resources were dedicated to finding potential problems and setting effective countermeasures in place to prevent disruptions. In many cases, this search-identify-correct cycle spanned several years and captured the attention of our business and government leaders, not to mention the general public. For the most part, these efforts were a huge success. No major problems have been reported, and many of the worlds computer systems were totally revamped in the process.

But there is an equally potentially debilitating problem still lurking beneath the surface, and it has received very little serious attention. Time is running out for taking corrective action. What is this lingering problem? It's the shrinking pool of maintenance skills and knowledge.

Maintenance skills and knowledge have been and continue to be in short supply. The problem, which started surfacing about four years ago, is likely to get worse in your company and in every manufacturing- and maintenance-related business. Any business that relies on equipment to operate reliably and perform efficiently the first time, every time is at risk of upwardly spiraling maintenance and operation costs with significant amounts of unproductive downtime directly attributable to insufficient maintenance skills and knowledge.

A crisis in the making
We have a crisis well in the making out there, and I dont see a lot of action to head it off in this era of downsizing, mega-mergers, and becoming lean. The most fundamental elements of productivity are being overlooked  people, the work processes they use, and equipment  in favor of new organizational strategies. Its not an either/or situation. We must address both the organizational issues and the skills and knowledge issues if the manufacturing-driven business economy is to survive. It is as much a global issue as it is a North American issue.

In some plants that have been certified to ISO/QS 9000 quality standards, their former maintenance procedures are no longer part of the maintenance process since they do not fit within the companys quality manual and would add so much extra work to keep up-to-date and to control. This makes detailed, equipment-specific maintenance training difficult and potentially highly ineffective. Unfortunately, these plants overlooked the people and equipment issues in their efforts to improve quality processes.

The meaning of maintenance
"Maintenance" is not about fixing things that break. Maintenance is about preserving, protecting, safeguarding, and looking after the very machines that make business possible. Reactive maintenance (more properly stated "repair maintenance") is often caused by not performing adequate levels of "real maintenance." The maintenance paradigm must be shifted to the true meaning of maintenance if we are to have reliable equipment and machines. Good maintenance that is efficiently and effectively performed is the foundation for higher levels of equipment reliability improvement. Unless educational institutions, businesses, and government properly address the maintenance skills shortage, we will see a rapid decline in equipment-related productivity and an increase in workplace accidents.

The new maintenance generation
Beyond a shortage of younger people entering the maintenance field, we are seeing a trend where these younger maintenance people are missing the depth of knowledge that their retiring counterparts have. Why? As kids grow up today and in recent years, there is less of a chance for them to learn mechanical skills because equipment around the home, the farm, and the schools is much newer and more reliable. They are not exposed to as much basic skills and knowledge-developing opportunities as the prior generations of so-called "wrench heads." If it is not "high-tech" with built-in diagnostics, then they fix it by trial and error rather than using sound problem-solving methods with a depth of equipment knowledge.

Are you ready for this? Employees from Generation X "will change jobs every two to four years, seeking fulfillment, variety, growth, and interesting opportunities," according to the 1998 book "Lean and Meaningful." They will also be attracted to jobs that offer satisfying working and opportunities to learn and advance. They will not generally be satisfied to just fix things that break. Expect a high turnover rate of these younger maintenance employees if they are not properly motivated.

Regardless of who the maintenance people are younger, middle age, or older  we must find ways to help them:

1) understand how the equipment and processes in their plants work

2) master very specific and applied problem-solving skills

3) learn some of the "precision maintenance" skills that were common in the technical schools and apprenticeship programs up until the 1960s.

Training is more than an off-the-shelf program
One of the biggest challenges we have in maintenance training is the assumption that "All we have to do is buy a videotape or CD ROM, and our people will learn." The fact is this: Adults learn by doing. Maintenance people learn best by doing and solving puzzles (or problems).

Sitting in front of a computer screen or a television does not in itself promote good learning.

With all the new high-quality web-based, video tape, and computer-based learning packages becoming available, there still must be equipment- and job-specific procedures coupled with formal on-job coaching or mentoring and performance qualification to properly apply the generic skills and knowledge to the equipment and processes in the plant.

What will it take to wake America up to this problem and finally begin addressing this maintenance crisis in the making?

Bob Williamson is the president of Strategic Work Systems, a consulting firm with offices in Greenville, S.C., and Mill Spring, N.C.  For more information, call , e-mail or visit www.swspitcrew.com.

MRO Today.  Copyright, 2000.

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