In: Advanced Math
managing a work order backlog is not the most exciting of maintenance task but without a complete and up-to date backlog. important work will be forgotten indeed, good backlog management is a perequisite for effective planning and scheduling. discuss an optimum size for non-shutdown work order backlog for a typical 24/7 continuous -process operation and includes if a backlog too small and if the backlog too large
aintenance Work Backlog Management: a Start in Managing Maintenance! A maintenance manager can commence a maintenance improvement programme by simply creating opportunities for individuals and groups to make high performance contributions. One way to do this is to manage the Maintenance Backlog.
Keywords: Maintenance backlog, backlog management
There are numerous definitions of Backlog. The definition I use is “planned maintenance work waiting to be scheduled”. Note: We only schedule 1 week at a time, therefore it’s the bucket of future work. However, if there is a high load of preventive maintenance about to occur then it is important to know about this work for planning purposes.
Others refer to Backlog as the work not completed by the due date. Personally, I use priorities, but not ‘due dates’ for corrective work. I believe that people raising work requests can rarely understand the planning processes required to be implemented to turn a request into an order.
It is important that whatever the definition used, be sure that everyone in the organisation knows the meaning. The caveat is, it is incumbent on the Planner to ensure that once work requests are authorised planning goes ahead to convert the work request to a work order. It has been known for planners to delay their planning activities so that performance indicators on Backlog look good.
Deferred Maintenance is usually high-cost work that must be postponed as a result of inadequate planning, lack of opportunity and/or funding. Examples include roof replacement, HVAC system replacement and window replacement. Deferred maintenance adds to the backlog of maintenance and repairs, but is not included in the backlog calculations. It tends to be specific to the public sector.
The key aspects of successful backlog management are:
This framework for managerial action will produce a formal management system for the control of maintenance backlog, and is an essential component in managing maintenance.
The details of managing backlog involves:
1. The first step in managing the backlog requires that the
work be properly identified and prioritised by maintenance and
operations together.
A rigorous examination of the work requested needs to be carried
out. This will remove duplicate work, finished work, unwanted work
and modifications (modifications need to go through the ‘management
of change’ process, modifications need engineering and fiscal
approval, a modification is not maintenance work) out of the
list.
2. Planning maintenance, including, looking at resources,
estimates and parts (how to do the job!). It is the development of
a detailed programme to achieve an end.
Co-ordination
Planners need to know how to estimate the work. A good planner is a good estimator!
Repair
procedures save time when executing corrective work. Do you have
any?
3. Scheduling (when to do the job!)
4. Job execution and follow up of work in
progress.
Is the right maintenance work being completed at the right time
with the right resources?
Managing Backlog involves getting the planning and scheduling right.
To help the planning process it is normal to run with approximately 2 man weeks of Backlog per technician. If you are constantly below that figure then you could be over-manned. If the Backlog climbs to 4 man weeks then consider overtime working or bringing on additional resources.
Trending the Backlog aids management decision making. There are several different ways to measure Backlog. These are:
All are excellent performance indicators and give you an overall picture where work is building up, scarce, or critical, allowing you to manage maintenance operations.
Best regards,
David Finch, MSc, MIEAust, CEng, FSOE, AIMM