If it’s near the top, however, you may be feeling that your maintenance routines need some improving.
Obviously, each facility and industry is so different that it’s difficult to give precise solutions that will fit yours perfectly. But here are four general tips that can help you out.
FacilitiesNet says that one trap to avoid is getting separated from the maintenance work. In some cases, managers or supervisors may be stuck in time-consuming meetings or doing work that takes them away from the action.
However, for a maintenance team to succeed, somebody needs to take a leadership role. The maintenance team needs someone who’s keeping an eye on their time, resources and schedules. But that can’t happen if a manager is tied up elsewhere.
(To see whether you’re spending more time with your team or in meetings, try tracking how you spend your time throughout the day. If you find you’re seated in a chair more often than you’re out and about in the facility, your maintenance strategy may need some tweaking.)
Maintenance teams won’t be able to finish their work quickly or efficiently if they don’t have the right items in their toolboxes. Some companies may have particular items stored in central locations, but they might be locked away, or they may be unavailable if another worker is already using them. This is a problem.
As maintenance services company RCMBlitz writes, “if people don’t have the right tools to do their job, they will use what they have available.”
Improvising can lead to maintenance solutions that are only temporary, and the recurring problem may end up costing the company more money than it would had it been fixed properly the first time.
Spending time out in the field with your technicians is an important part of improving your maintenance routine. This is good for both practical and educational reasons.
By observing your workers, you’ll get to see for yourself what condition an asset is in. If it’s a piece of equipment you’re less familiar with, you’ll get a better understanding of how it works by asking your technician about its parts and inner workings.
Learning this information can help you understand what kind of maintenance is required for each and every asset in the company, which can help you when it’s time to schedule maintenance routines.
For the entire maintenance team to improve, seek out learning opportunities, both for yourself and your workers. For you, this could take the form of taking seminars on project management or leadership.
For your team, it could mean participating in team-building workshops, or taking additional classes on maintenance and safety techniques.
Regardless of how you approach it, investing the time and energy in helping your team grow in their knowledge and skills will result in a high-performing team.
Keeping your facility in top form depends on a careful maintenance strategy. If you take the time and energy to study how you spend your time, invest in the right resources, shadow your workers and look for professional growth opportunities, your maintenance team will excel, which will help the company excel, too.
And in the end, isn’t that what facilities management is all about?
photo credit: Wicked LIttle Cake Company via photopin cc