 The objectives of equipment maintenance are to give fleet managers the tools that will help them minimize maintenance and repair costs, explain how these tools can be used most effectively, and guide managers in developing the equipment maintenance subsystem of the equipment management subsystem. The equipment maintenance subsystem results in improved maintenance programs, increased shop efficiency, better staffing, and better definition of facility's needs. Three components make up this subsystem, the Preventive Maintenance or PM program, shop operations, and facilities. PM is periodically scheduled services and inspections aimed at preventing potential breakdowns, maintaining the equipment in safe and efficient operating condition, and detecting the needs for major repairs. Necessary repairs discovered during PM's are not part of the PM program. They should be scheduled for repair at an appropriate time. An effective Preventive Maintenance program can do more for minimizing overall maintenance and repair costs than any other element of equipment management, design of a good PM program and its implementation deserves the highest management attention to assure that the best possible program is developed and carried out. A good PM program should consist of the following four parts, PM service intervals, PM service standards, long-range PM schedules, and schedule compliance and control procedures. Part one of the PM program is PM service intervals. PM service intervals can be established on the basis of time, daily or monthly, and usage, miles or hours. This graph shows that a low level of PM will result in high repair costs and high total cost. As the level of effort for PM is increased, repair and total costs decrease. There is a point, however, at which additional increases in PM effort have little effect on repair cost. After this point, the total cost will increase because of the high cost of PM. The ideal level of PM is the point at which total cost is minimized. The best starting point for establishing PM service intervals is the manufacturer's recommendations. Dusty conditions, off-road usage, road condition, towing and stop and go versus long-haul operations affect the amount of PM needed. The factors that affect PM in each particular case must be identified before establishing service intervals. The service intervals must be set on a general equipment class level. For example, there may be a number of individual classes of sedans, but except for police vehicles, PM requirements will normally be the same. Intervals should be set for time and mile-hour usage. The next component of a good PM program is PM service standards, part two. In conjunction with setting service intervals, the type of service and inspection to be performed at each interval must also be established. It is best to designate the type of services by a code such as PMA, B or C or PM1, 2 or 3. The particular method selected is not important, but it is important to have the specific services designated. In this way, when a specific unit is due for a PMB service, the mechanic will know specifically what services and inspection are to be performed. While the PM intervals can be established by general class, PM service standards need to be established down to the specific class, particularly for heavy equipment. PM standards are comprised of four parts, the individual responsible for performing the PM service, the estimated hours for performing the service, a detailed checklist of inspections or services to be performed, and a list of parts needed. Part three of the PM program is the PM schedule. The exact format will depend on whether the system is automated or manual. The PM plan projects the total workload of PMs, the estimated mechanic hours, and the number of mechanics needed to carry out the work. Projecting the PM staffing needs will help schedule the work and will be integrated into overall staffing procedures. After the plan is developed, the work must be distributed by month or week in an attempt to level the workload. Specific dates for PM services for each vehicle need to be established. Part four of the PM program is schedule compliance and control procedures, unless an automated system can be designed so that vehicle utilization is captured and updated weekly. A manual system can be just as effective as an automated one. Shop operations is the next major phase. It is broken down into several key steps, including shop planning, organizing and staffing, scheduling, and monitoring and control. First, let's cover shop planning. A maintenance program starts with planning, which means defining the shop's workload and projecting the resources and budget required to accomplish it. The first step is to determine exactly what responsibilities each shop will have. Some satellite shops may only be responsible for PMs and minor repairs, while the central shop is responsible for major repairs and overhauls. Some shops may be specialty shops. For example, where there is sufficient workload, a one or two-man shop may be established for repair of mowers at a remote substation. Once shop responsibilities are defined, planning can be done for that shop. There are two methods of defining shop workloads and staffing, vehicles per mechanic ratio, vehicle equivalency, and maintenance labor hour planning standards. The vehicles per mechanic ratio method of projecting shop staffing is very simplified, but it offers some measure of planning. In this method, a ratio of vehicles that can be maintained per mechanic is developed and applied to each shop. The advantage of the vehicle per mechanic method is its simplicity. The disadvantage is that it does not allow for consideration of the mix of equipment. It obviously takes fewer mechanics to maintain 20 cars than 20 dump trucks to design a planning system using the vehicles per mechanic method. A standard ratio should be developed considering fleet makeup, utilization, type of use, and climate. The vehicle equivalency method is promoted by the American Public Works Association. The basis of this method is to determine the average number of man-hours required to maintain one base equivalent vehicle in a year. Each agency should determine which vehicle they will use as the base vehicle. A general use auto is best. The hours necessary to maintain the base equivalent unit require the development of performance standards for repair activities by equipment class. Using the standards and historical frequencies for the repair activities, a key volume indicator, KVI, can be developed for each class of vehicle. The KVI is a measure of hours required to maintain a vehicle at a given utilization for the year. Here is an example of how the KVI for a general use automobile is calculated. The KVI's are then equated to equivalency units for each class. The equivalency unit is the ratio of each class to the base class. Suppose the KVI for dump trucks was 164.5 labor hours. Then the equivalency unit, EU, would be computed as follows. The EU is equal to the KVI for the class 164.5 divided by the KVI for the base class 20.46, which equals 8. Therefore, maintaining a dump truck for a year is equivalent to maintaining eight general use autos. In addition to the equivalency units, the number of available hours for each mechanic must be estimated. This example illustrates how they can be computed. The numbers shown here are for illustration. Each agency should develop its own. Once available hours are computed and equivalency units determined for each equipment class. Manpower needs are easily computed for the shops as shown here. The second element in the management cycle is staffing. This function is performed immediately after development of the work program and generally involves distributing the workload throughout the year, determining skill requirements, planning staffing patterns to meet workload and skill requirements, and implementing procedures to meet peak workloads. Distributing the workload over the months of the year is done to identify staffing needs for each month. The workload includes three broad categories of work, preventive maintenance, repair, and rebuild overhaul. Distributing the PM workload is done through development of the 52-week schedule discussed earlier. Properly developed, the schedule should provide a generally level distribution of the workload. Distributing the repair workload is best done from historical data. It is impossible to predict the daily repair workload. The rebuild workload for each agency depends on the agency's policies and in-house capabilities. Some agencies have found it cheaper to contract for rebuilding. Some have not developed rebuild programs because they do not have in-house personnel skills or because facilities are not adequate. Distributing the rebuild or overhaul workloads of the shops allows the manager some flexibility. In sections which have distinct summer and winter seasons, the shops repair workload may be much heavier in one or the other. Rebuilds then should be scheduled when the workload is light. Once the workload is distributed, staffing needs by skill level can be determined. This is done by looking at the workload each month to define the type of work to be done. Referring to the table here, for example, assume that 250 hours of PM work are needed in November. The staffing need is 1.9 mechanics as shown. The same determination is made for each month. For PM, the variation should be small from month to month so that about 2 mechanics will be needed to handle the workload. What skills are needed? Often, someone who is inexperienced is placed on PM work. However, it should be just the opposite. The purpose of PM is to service the vehicle and to diagnose potential breakdowns. The skills required for PM work are experience and well-rounded mechanical knowledge. Just as important is the attitude toward the PM. The next step is to determine how they can be provided most effectively. How can total staffing fluctuate from a low demand of 10.9 in February to a high of 15.4 in June? After analyzing total staffing needs for all work, the fleet manager must define exactly when peak needs arise. Then, he must define what alternatives are available to meet those needs. Obviously, overtime is an alternative for meeting some of the peak demands. Overtime should be evaluated in terms of each agency's policy on overtime, effect on worker productivity, effect on worker morale, and effect on quality of work. The third element of the management cycle is scheduling. To this point, a shop plan has been developed and an organization put together. Now, the manager must direct and schedule the work as it occurs. Scheduling is short-range planning. It is determining the immediate shop workload and scheduling available resources so downtime is minimized. Scheduling is often the most neglected management function in a shop operation. This is primarily because it requires constant effort and attention. It is basically a manual operation. And there is a tendency to say it isn't worth the effort because schedules must be updated daily or even hourly. It is impossible to predict exactly when a breakdown will occur. But historical trends on a fleet-wide basis can provide good indicators of what can be anticipated. That is what shop scheduling is all about. Planning, anticipating, and estimating the short-range workload. Actually, with an effective PM program and scheduling system, scheduled repairs should make up the majority of the workload. PM services alone should account for 30% of the shop work. At least 50% of the repair work and 100% of the rebuild work should be scheduled. In total, scheduled work should be nearly 70% of all work performed. Establishing a priority system can help the shop superintendent focus shop resources on jobs that have the greatest need and the greatest impact on overall equipment service levels. There are a number of factors that enter into priority decisions. Safety, effect of downtime on user operations, and capability of equipment to perform. Shop schedules should be developed weekly. It is best to develop the schedule on Thursdays, so arrangements for parts and coordination with users can take place on Friday. The fourth element of the management cycle is monitoring and control. The element involves reporting, monitoring shop performance, and controlling costs by improving efficiency and quality. The primary reporting document for shop operations is the shop work order. As pointed out earlier, the work order should be a multi-purpose form, one of which is to capture information on equipment downtime and repair labor hours and cost. Good management dictates that operations be monitored, and an equipment shop is no exception. As information needs are defined, a determination has to be made on how shop performance is to be monitored. A list of key performance indicators should be developed. Look at job repeats, rejections, and repair trends by type of work. This is quality control. Under the area of productivity, look at repair costs and percentage of hours charged to specific types of repairs. To evaluate the PM program, look at the ratio of PM hours to repair hours, the percent of PMs done on schedule, and the number of road calls. And for overall effectiveness, look at the ratio of scheduled to unscheduled repairs, equipment downtime trends, and equipment cost per mile or per hour. Work control is not totally an after-the-fact management action. It starts long before the work actually begins. Effective control is exercised through planning, staffing, and scheduling. Many of the management techniques that have been discussed here will help affect good work control. In this program, we have discussed the equipment maintenance subsystem. Using it effectively results in improved maintenance programs, increased shop efficiency, better staffing, and better definition of facilities needs. For more information on this or other IRF videotapes, write to the International Road Federation or call the numbers on your screen.