When it comes to Asset Maintenance selecting a good Maintenance Planner is crucial to the success of the maintenance department. But what are the traits that make a good Maintenance Planner? Here we look at the necessary qualities and how to select the best Maintenance Planner for your organization.
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Benefits of Selecting a Good Maintenance Planner
Maintenance Planners sometimes get a bad rap. Down on the shop floor Maintenance Planners often have a reputation for being lazy and disconnected with the real work. So why bother going to the trouble of finding a good Maintenance Planner anyway? Why not just choose one of those craftsmen that didn’t really work out?
Doc Palmer answers this question in his definitive guide: Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook. Doc says that an experienced Maintenance Planner increases workforce productivity by a whopping 57%. So a workforce of 30 people can do the work of an equivalent 47 people, when the company hires a top Maintenance Planner.
So the cost of 1 good planner is the same as getting an extra 17 craftsman for free! It goes without saying that a good Maintenance Planner is mandatory when it comes to implementing and maintaining a good Planned Maintenance system. As a result the maintenance team will get more scheduled maintenance work done because the planned maintenance work will be made easier for them.
Going to the trouble of finding a suitable Maintenance Planner is one of the most effective ways of transforming your maintenance program into a highly effective and cost efficient one. Ultimately the success of you planning program relies heavily on selecting the right Maintenance Planner.
What Makes a Good Maintenance Planner?
As with most technical disciplines, a Maintenance Planner requires a certain skill set. Because the Maintenance Planner directly influences the majority of planned jobs, they should ideally have a thorough knowledge of those jobs. They must at least be able to develop detailed maintenance work scopes which accurately specify the right materials, tools and people. With Maintenance Planning and Scheduling, highly developed craft skills are an incredibly important skill set to bring to the job.
Maintenance Planners also need to deal with a wide range of people on a daily basis, including craftsmen, supervisors, operators, other planners and even line managers. Thus strong communication and people skills are essential for a Maintenance Planner.
Strong computer and data skills are also essential in modern day Maintenance Planning and Scheduling. Maintenance Planners must have a detailed knowledge of the computerized maintenance management system, as well as advanced knowledge of spreadsheet programs.
Not only must a Maintenance Planner know how to search for and locate job specific information, they must also be an expert in presenting and storing historical information. They generally are usually relied on as the computer experts in the department.
Craft Skills
The best Maintenance Planners are the top craftsman from the shop floor, ideally with at least 10 years of technical and practical experience. They are skilled at working with machinery, and have a thorough understanding of the operation and maintenance of plant systems and equipment. Backed by vast on the job experience, they are able to assess and scope jobs easily.
As well as being capable of assessing problems with equipment, they are able to develop solutions to those problems. They can read and understand maintenance manuals, drawings and schematics for complex machinery. This is necessary to properly identify the correct tools and parts required to perform the maintenance work, as well as to develop detailed job procedures.
When it comes to job scoping, a good Maintenance Planner is able to provide good estimates of the skill level and time required to do the job, as well as the jobs sequence and required equipment and tooling. This comes from both personal experience and being able to interpret information from a variety of sources, including feedback from craftsmen and technicians.
Former crafts people also tend to have a better understanding of the safety rules and requirements. They know how to identify hazards, and develop controls for those hazards. And they can develop Job Safety Analysis through years of experience. This is important when it comes to planning a job safely.
People Skills
A good Maintenance Planner needs to be skilled when it comes to dealing with other people. Here are just a few examples of what a Maintenance Planner faces on a day to day basis:
- Working with processing management and operators to determine the operational requirements for individual jobs.
- Dealing with Maintenance Supervisors to determine the most suitable job requirements . Working with technicians to extract and interpret feedback for improvements to job plans.
- Interacting with internal employees, external employees, and contractors.
Being grilled by a Maintenance Planner for information is not well received by many people in the company. Usually people see this as an annoyance, rather than an opportunity to contribute to the success of a better planned job. A Maintenance Planner must have excellent soft skills, to be able to coax important information out of people without coming across as a serial pest.
Data Skills
It is imperative that a Maintenance Planner has a high skill level when it comes to dealing with data. From a research perspective, it is important to learn from historical data so that each job does not need to be planned from scratch. Many jobs have been done before, and it is up to the Planner to locate accurate job history and use it for future asset maintenance work. The Planner must also file and retrieve important feedback and history to improve the accuracy and detail of existing job plans.
Maintenance Planners may also be required to perform mathematical computations from time to time, so mathematical and spread sheeting skills are important. It goes without saying that they must be talented when it comes to operating computers, and particularly the computerized maintenance management system.
Other Skill Requirements
It is true that a top Maintenance Planner needs to somewhat of a jack of all trades. Here are a few of the desirable traits, qualities and experience to look for.
Self-Motivated
It is rare that a Maintenance Planner has a specific process to follow for all of their daily activities. But they do have deadlines and targets to meet. It is important that they are self-motivated to meet these deadlines and targets on a daily and weekly basis.
Well Respected
One of the advantages of hiring a craftsman, leading hand or supervisor from the shop floor is that they usually already have the respect of the maintenance work team. This is important when it comes to collecting history and job scopes from the crafts people. It is best if craftsmen will look up to the Maintenance Planner as the person who could quite easily be their Supervisor should the opportunity arise.
Hard Worker
Maintenance Planning is harder than it looks, and requires a great deal of dedication. A great Maintenance Planner needs to be an exceptionally hard worker and they type of person who would volunteer for overtime if it were available. They would be happy to get their hands dirty should this be required.
Shows Initiative
Collecting the correct information to develop accurate job scope requires the Maintenance Planner to be a kind of Sherlock Holmes. That is, a keen investigator who shows tremendous initiative to find the correct information. This will often involve some detailed data interrogation, or setting up meetings with the right people to extract information.
Understanding
A Planner should have a good understanding of the planned maintenance system and processes, and how they fit into the big picture. It is important to realize the benefits of good planning, and the high value they potentially bring to the business.
Confidence
A Maintenance Planner must be able to deal with a wide range of stakeholders, including management. It is important that they are not afraid of authority, as they will need to deal with senior staff on a regular basis. It goes without saying that they must be able to confidentially run important planning meetings with senior attendees.
Options for Finding the Best Planner
Inside or Outside?
It is usually best to look towards your existing internal maintenance positions first for the most suitable candidate. Particularly when searching for candidates with relevant Craft skills. These candidates will normally have built up a strong knowledge of the site equipment and processes, which will be invaluable when they are a Maintenance Planner. And if you choose carefully they will have already established a good reputation as a hard worker and a go-getter, important attributes to bring into the planning office.
When internal candidates with craft skills are not available, the search should extend to external candidates with a solid mix of craft/computer/people skills. The internal hiring options vary depending on the pay scales of the company, but ideally Maintenance Planner salary should theoretically be roughly the as a Maintenance Supervisor. In reality it will probably be slightly less, and in some industries substantially less.
Maintenance Supervisor
The first place to start searching for the best Maintenance Planner is in the Maintenance Supervisor ranks. They will normally be one of the top Crafts People who was then promoted to Supervisor. They normally possess a high degree of initiative, solid craft skills and process/equipment experience. Computer and people skills will often be part of the Supervisor package as well. Overall, Supervisors make superior Maintenance Planners and should always be the first choice of maintenance positions.
Leading Hands or Craftsman
Workers from the shop floor are without a doubt the most suitable candidates to fulfill the Craft Person skill requirements for the Planner role. These days it is quite common that the Crafts Person also has strong computer skills. These skills may be acquired through their hobbies, home activities, education or previous employment.
Apprentices
Apprentices will generally be less experienced than a Craft Person when it comes to scoping and understanding jobs and asset maintenance in general. So unless the apprentice shows unusually high potential, it is prudent to select a Craft Person with a few more years of experience under their belt.
Engineers or Technologists
Professional Engineers or Semi Professional Technologists will generally have superior computer and people skills due to their university training and on the job experience. Their technical knowledge of processes and equipment can be well developed. However, they will be unable to scope jobs as well as a Craft Person due to the Engineer’s limited hands-on experience. To compensate, the typical Engineers superior communication skills enable them to effectively communicate with other people when preparing job scopes.
Which Skills Are Most Important?
Computer and people skills are the most important skills for a good Maintenance Planner, with craft skills being not quite as important. That is because a Maintenance Planner simply cannot operate effectively in this day and age if their computer and people skills are lacking. But they can get by without craft skills. After all, there is always the option of asking somebody with those craft skills for advice, or referencing a maintenance manual.
Having said that, it is very difficult or even impossible to develop craft skills after a candidate is appointed to the Maintenance Planner position. The only way to properly develop craft skills is to work as a Craft Person, so these skills can only be brought into the job from previous experience.
In contrast, both computer and people skills can be readily developed after being appointed to the Maintenance Planner position. There are countless training programs to choose from to develop computer skills and people skills to the highest levels. The majority of larger companies do in fact run internal training programs to target these skills specifically.
So whilst computer and people skills are more important, a better strategy is to select a person who already has the craft skills, and shows potential to develop strong computer and people skills.
Only the Best Will Do
Armed with the knowledge of the most important Maintenance Planner skills, it’s time to put it into action. For existing Maintenance Planners, this is the backbone of future training focus. If looking for a new Maintenance Planner, these skills should definitely be prioritized when selecting a candidate. Get this right and your Maintenance Planner can propel your scheduled maintenance program from mediocre to best practice, and your bottom line will enjoy the benefits.
Learn More about Planned Maintenance
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. – Colin Powell
Learning from text books is one key step to enduring success. Here is some recommended reading to help you in your pursuit of excellence.
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