The economy has put pressure on maintenance departments to be more efficient. Unfortunately, increased efficiency can easily result in decreased effectiveness, increased costs, and decreased uptime. Why is this, and what can you do about it?

At the root of this problem is the idea that maintenance efficiency means getting more done in less time. Applying the mathematical formula for efficiency to maintenance results in "leaning out" maintenance procedures so that more procedures can be completed for the same labor input. But this doesn't support the reason you have a maintenance department in the first place. It's not about getting activity done. It's about keeping equipment operating at or near its design condition so it will deliver the expected performance.

You can make maintenance more effective for the same labor input by revamping all of your procedures to emphasize predictive measurements. For best results, you may need to acquire specialized test equipment.