The 5 Levels of Effective Maintenance Scheduling

James Kovacevic; MMP, CMRP, CAMA; Principal Consultant; High Performance Reliability

Introduction

85% of organizations recognize that their maintenance planning & scheduling programs do not deliver the

benefits they expect. 86% of organizations also feel that they have the right skills and capabilities to

implement a successful maintenance planning & scheduling program (Assetivity, 2016). So, if the skills

and capabilities required to run an effective maintenance planning & scheduling program are in place,

why is it that these programs are not delivering the benefits they should be? While many factors come

into play, it is likely that this problem stems from one of these potential barriers;

The Planners are not actually planning

The technicians are not following the job plans, or

The scheduling process is not scheduling the right work when it is needed

According to Doc Palmer (Palmer), planning consumes 2/3 of the planner’s time, but yields 1/3 the benefit

of a planning & scheduling program. This leaves 2/3 of the benefit to proper scheduling. By ensuring that

a proper scheduling system is in place, organizations can ensure that the right work is done at the right

time. This allows for;

Reduced Planned Downtime

Reduced Unplanned Downtime

Reduced Overtime

Most likely, proper scheduling is the reason that an organization is not seeing the benefits listed above.

Scheduling is more than just assigning work to technicians. It includes coordinating people, materials,

tools, equipment, assets, and downtime. It also includes prioritizing when work must be completed to

avoid unnecessary downtime. If any of these factors are overlooked, work may be extended, delayed, or

may not happen at all. This has the ability to dramatically impact the operation of the organization.

Understanding that scheduling is not a simple process, and involves a tremendous amount of

coordination, one can begin to see the constraints and issues involved;

There is more work than man-hours

Not condensing maintenance windows into shorter periods

Poor communication between the various groups involved

Improper prioritization based on the philosophy of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”

No defined scheduling process, resulting in last minute scheduling.

Many of the benefits of proper scheduling will be lost if there is not a scheduling process in place, and if

work is not prioritized and scheduled at the right time. To ensure this does not happen, it is important to

follow the 5 levels of scheduling.

The 5 Levels of Scheduling

The 5 levels of scheduling allow an organization to begin the high-level capacity planning of their

maintenance work at least a year in the future. Each level of scheduling cascades down to the next,

facilitating a smooth scheduling process, with each level building on the previous.

At the top is the 52-week schedule, which is based on the goals of the site. Then the 16-week schedule

is used to provide tangible actions required to achieve these goals. At the 4-week level, the short-term

goals are in place and ready to be executed. At the weekly level, the goals are being executed, along

with the daily schedule.

Each of these levels utilize unique activities that are required to facilitate the activities to the next level.

This is what makes the process sustainable. Each level plays a critical function in ensuring the

scheduling process works for the business and generates sustainable returns.

The 52 Week Schedule

The 52-week schedule provides the foundation of the Scheduling Horizon system. It enables the

operation to focus on the exceptions, not the norms. Once properly defined, the 52-week schedule

supports an integrating scheduling with operations. So what exactly is it?

The 52-week schedule is a high-level view of the reoccurring work. This includes PMs, Overhauls,

Inspections, etc.; any work that is known to be required over the course of an average year. Once the

reoccurring work has been identified, it needs to be leveled. This ensures there is a consistent amount

of reoccurring work each week, allowing a consistent amount of corrective and project work to be

planned.

In (Figure 1) you can see the varying required

capacity based on the unleveled workload. This

creates a significant issue when trying to schedule

work for the technicians. The scheduler decides

between scheduling overtime, or foregoing PM

routines. Either choice is not ideal, so the answer is

to level the workload beforehand so that these issues

can be avoided.

Work Leveling is used to minimize variations in the

planned work. It enables Operation & Maintenance to coordinate, by providing production planning with a

consistent level of planned downtime each week for specific equipment or processes.

Work Leveling accomplishes this by moving the scheduled dates (one time only) of the re-occurring work

such as PMs to ensure a smooth steady workflow. There may still be a peak or two, but these are

because there are known shutdowns scheduled

for the site (Figure 2). Work leveling can be time-

consuming to complete, but creates a great

enabler for high PM compliance, and high

schedule adherence.

This level workload establishes the equipment

requirements each week. It also allows the

shutdowns to be identified within an approximate

timeline as well. It can then be integrated with the

operations scheduling to further define equipment requirements. An important thing to note with 52-week

scheduling is that specific work orders are not identified during this horizon. The schedule only looks at

capacity requirements of the trades and equipment.

The 16 Week Schedule

Building on the 52-week schedule, the 16-week schedule is further built up as work is prioritized during

the daily prioritization meeting. This allows the site to develop a short-term strategic plan to achieve their

specific objectives. Utilizing this 16-week schedule, a robust schedule can be developed with operations,

identifying which process or systems can be planned for a particular week.

Figure 1: Unleveled Work Capacity

Figure 2: Leveled Work Capacity

During the 16-week schedule, all reoccurring work and all newly identified work is specified with work

orders. This is the first level with specific work orders. The use of work orders in the 16-week schedule

enables the Planner/Scheduler to identify material, resource and equipment constraints, and work to

optimize the schedule. Any given week between week 5 to 16 has approx. 60% of capacity filled with

work orders.

It is also during the 16-week schedule that the shutdown dates are finalized, if applicable.

The 4 Week Schedule

The 4-week schedule is the high-level tactical schedule. During this period the exact dates and times of

the planned downtime windows are finalized with operations. This is where the alignment between

Maintenance & Operations becomes apparent. The Planner/Scheduler continues to refine the schedule

based on any material or resource availability issues. It is also during the 4-week schedule that the

Planner/Scheduler coordinates all tools, equipment, trades, and contractors to be on site and staged.

During week 2 to 4 approx. 80% of the capacity has been filled with work.

The Weekly Schedule

The weekly schedule is the true tactical schedule. The weekly schedule is typically a snip of the 4-week

schedule. It is during this time that 100% of capacity is filled with work, resulting from priority corrective

and breakdown work, along with pulling ahead any work as needed. This is the last horizon that the

Planner/Scheduler will touch the schedule.

Based on Parkinson’s Law (Ferriss, 2009), we schedule for 100% of time, knowing we may not complete

all of our work. This is because scheduling is essentially goal setting for the week. Now some may

disagree with scheduling for 100% because there will always be breakdowns. But Parkinson’s Law states

that work will expand to fill the allotted time. So if we under schedule, the scheduled work will expand to

fill the time in the event there are no breakdowns.

In scheduling for 100%, all work is prioritized, knowing which work will be dropped in the event a

breakdown occurs. This allows us to accomplish as much as possible.

Once the schedule has been finalized during the Schedule Lock-In meeting, it is then handed over to the

Maintenance Supervisor(s) at least 3 days before the start of the week. This allows the Maintenance

Supervisor(s) to review the work and become familiar with any non-routine work as needed.

The Daily Schedule

The Day/Shift schedule is managed by the Maintenance Supervisor(s). They have the schedule for the

week and know their crew. Giving the Maintenance Supervisor(s) the ability to manage the work on his

crew allows them to address any manpower & operational issues and providing the best service for the

business. The daily schedule is generally not planned further out than 48 hours, as breakdown, call-outs,

and other activities will generally prevent this from occurring.

The Maintenance Supervisor(s) balance the need to complete planned work with any breakdowns or

emergency work. This balance is what allows the business to maximum uptime and reduce costs.

It All Starts With Proper Prioritization

Now that the 5 levels of scheduling are understood, how can we actually utilize them in an ever-changing

environment? It is quite simple, it all starts with proper prioritization. This is where one of the most critical

meetings in the maintenance department comes in, the Daily Prioritization Meeting.

The Daily Prioritization Meeting is simply meeting in which the Maintenance Planner(s), Scheduler(s) and

possibly Supervisor(s) evaluate all new work requests and follow-up work identified during the PM, and

PdM work. By having three different perspectives on the work, it can be ensured that the work is

evaluated and prioritized free of bias and is subjective.

The Daily Prioritization Meeting should not exceed 30 minutes and should be held early in the day. This

allows the emergency work to be addressed quickly. The Daily Prioritization Meeting is a strategic

approach which groups all of the new requests and follow-up work into a few large buckets, which

reduces the need to micro manage all of the work requests.

For the Maintenance Supervisor(s), it identifies any emergency work that needs to be addressed

immediately, allowing it to be executed as quickly as possible.

For the Maintenance Planner(s), prioritization guides which work needs to be planned in which order,

based on the needs of the plant. It also identifies which work will not be planned, but will be executed

immediately by the maintenance supervisor.

For the Maintenance Scheduler, it begins to build a long range schedule, which after weeks of using the

process, ensures that over 80% of the weekly schedule is built approx. 2 weeks ahead of time, reducing

the time to create weekly schedules.

How To Prioritize the Work?

When creating or improving a Priority system, a few guidelines should be observed. This ensures the

prioritization process is well defined, and eliminates any disagreements when prioritizing work.

Regardless which prioritization system is chosen or developed, they should all be rule-based. This

ensures that all work is prioritized free of bias, and favoritism is removed from the equation. Often times,

work requestors may feel as their work is being ignored or superseded. A rule based systems may help

to reduce these feelings.

A decision tree (Figure 3) is excellent for the

strategic level as it provides a clearly defined

process in which each work request is reviewed

against for prioritization and placed into the large

buckets of scheduling based on risk to the

business.

The prioritization tree ensures all work can be

evaluated quickly and effectively and placed into

the high-level scheduling buckets. By reviewing

each work request against 4 questions, the

appropriate scheduling horizon can be selected.

• Is the work corrective or project work? If the work is corrective in nature, then the site is at some

sort of risk. This work should be moved along the decision tree for further prioritization. If the

work is project based, then the work should be scheduled for between 4 -16 weeks out. This

allows for a thorough job plan to be developed, without jeopardizing any important work required

to keep the site operating.

• If the work was identified as corrective, then it needs to be determined if the problem the work

request is addressing is a significant risk to the site for either Environmental, Health, Safety or

Quality risk. If so, then the work should be planned quickly if possible, or released directly to the

maintenance supervisor for immediate execution.

Figure 3: Prioritization Decision Tree

• If the work request is not addressing a problem that is a significant risk, then it needs to be

determined if it is a risk to the site. If so, the work should be scheduled for completion within the

near future. The work should be planned and added to the schedule for completion within the

next 2 weeks.

• If the work request is not addressing a significant risk or a risk but has the potential to grow into a

risk, then the work should be scheduled for completion in approximately 2-4 weeks. This ensures

the planner can properly plan, scope and request the parts for completion of the work.

Working with these buckets, all emergency work will be addressed quickly by the maintenance team,

while prioritizing the planning requirements of the Planner. This ensures that the planner is focused on

the right work for the site.

With the prioritization process established, the process needs to be applied. Often times the process is

left to the planner to implement as they see fit. This is the wrong approach as it is utilized on an ad-hoc

basis or not at all. The prioritization process needs to be implemented and applied consistently to ensure

all work is prioritized the same way, regularly. Consistency and regularity are critical to the success of

the Prioritization process. If Prioritization only takes place once per week, emergency work may slip

through and not be completed, resulting in the loss of buy into the process.

This meeting has been one of the most effective changes I have seen implemented with various

maintenance departments. By reviewing all work requests daily, the maintenance team is able to see the

whole picture and begin to break the reactive cycle. This is partly due to the fact that they are planning

ahead and addressing the work which will make the biggest difference to the site.

It Continues with Partnerships

Even with the Daily Prioritization Meeting taking place, it is not enough to sustain the 5 levels of

scheduling or reap the full rewards of maintenance scheduling. In order to achieve the full rewards, a

partnership with operations is required.

The schedule needs to be managed and integrated with operations and the storeroom to ensure timely

access to equipment, to prevent canceled maintenance windows, and to hand the equipment back to

operations on time. The most powerful way to achieve this partnership is through communication.

Communication is critical for successful scheduling.

Communication comes in many forms, and having the right meetings can ensure that the right information

is exchanged between the various groups. There are two primary meetings which will be needed to

develop this partnership

Weekly Scheduling Meeting

The Weekly Scheduling Meeting is a coordinated approach to finalizing the last 20% of the following

weeks’ schedule. The meeting takes place early in the week (ideally a Tuesday), and consists of key

stakeholders from the various operating functions in the plant, as well as maintenance.

During the meeting, the stakeholders will get a preview of the 80% of work that will be scheduled for the

next week. The stakeholders then provide feedback and priority requests to fill the schedule to 100%

capacity.

In the event of that the production schedule may change, the team will discuss what changes may occur

and work may need to be dropped from the schedule. In addition, maintenance can provide feedback on

why some jobs may have to be pushed due to manning, or material issues.

Lastly, in the event that specific times have not been identified for the maintenance outages, they will be

established or communicated at this meeting.

The final outcome of the meeting is an agreed upon maintenance schedule, that is coordinated with

operations and all stakeholders feel confident in.

Schedule Lock In Meeting

The Schedule Lock-In Meeting is essentially a quick review between the Maintenance and Production

schedule. This ensures all outages are still as planned, and not schedule changes have occurred. The

Schedule Lock-In Meeting generally will take place towards the end of the week and is only around 30

minutes. By having it a day or two before it becomes live, it will provide operations a chance to switch out

any work as needed.

After this meeting, the weekly maintenance schedule is locked in and will be the basis of measuring our

performance. Planned work, schedule adherence, and PM Compliance will be measured off of this

schedule. In addition, at the conclusion of the meeting and any changes the schedule can not be handed

off to the Maintenance Supervisor(s) and posted around the plant.

Reinforcing The Partnership

While communication is critical, there are a few other activities that need to take place to reinforce the

partnership with operations and develop their trust in the 5 levels of maintenance scheduling;

Use the 52 Week Schedule to align expectations around planned downtime

Use the weekly scheduling meeting to address operations concerns

Use the schedule lock-in meeting to finalize an integrated schedule with operations

Manage the Backlog. Don’t allow work to age in the backlog. Follow up and provide feedback to

the requestor

If maintenance is responsible for overrunning a maintenance outage, accept responsibility and

determine what could be done in the future to prevent it.

By continuing to develop the partnership, operations will develop trust and support for the maintenance

scheduling process.

Common Issues Encountered

There are many issues encountered while trying to roll out maintenance scheduling in any organization. By being aware of them, plans can be put in place to overcome them;

Lack of alignment around prioritization. This can be overcome by developing a clear prioritization tree with defined buckets and service times. It is best developed with the input of multiple stakeholders.

Lack of adherence to the maintenance windows. This can go both ways whether it is the equipment being handed over to maintenance or back to operations. Establish service agreements and monitor performance, so root causes can be identified and addressed.

Poor start-up after a maintenance window. This is quite common (think of the 6 failure patterns), and can be a major cause to not providing planned downtime. This can be overcome through good planning practices and having a maintenance work quality audit in place.

Lack of leveled re-occurring work. If the time is not taken at the 52-week schedule to level the capacity requirements of the planned re-occurring work, there will be peaks in which work is missed. In addition, operations may not have time available on the equipment or in the schedule to allow for the work.

Not following the process. Before trust is developed between the two departments, the process may be avoided as it is felt the work will be done by maintenance sooner. Coaching can help with this, and as people see the results of the scheduling process, they will soon trust the process and follow it.

Scheduling work before it is ready. This is an absolute no-no for the maintenance department. If the materials are not on-hand, or job not scoped, do not schedule it. Scheduling this work will do more harm than good.

Conclusion

By implementing the 5 levels of scheduling, any organization can improve the performance of their maintenance department. It is the author’s experience that after implementing the 5 levels of scheduling, that organizations have seen an increase in Schedule Adherence by 10% to >80%, PM Compliance to >95%, and were able to maintain a consistent level of backlog. It is not as simple as just scheduling the work in the 5 levels, it requires proper planning, prioritization and a partnership with operations. It also takes time, trust and building capability of the team members. The benefits are there for the taking, will you implement the 5 levels of scheduling? Keywords:

Planning & Scheduling, Scheduling, Prioritization, Planning, Priority, Work Management, Backlog, Planned Work

References Assetivity. (2016). 2016 Asset Management & Maintenance Priorities Survey. Burswood.

Ferriss, T. (2009). The 4-Hour Work Week. New York: Carmenere One LLC.

Palmer, D. (n.d.). Its All About Scheduling. MARS.