Maintenance Organization and Control for Multi-Plant Corporations 31

of times actions such as cleaning, filling, lubricating, overhauling, or

testing are performed. A report of accumulated maintenance statistics is
produced by the computer and is used by the operations management to
make an audit of work done.

Breakdowns Reduced

Since the incorporation of this system at a large multi-plant corpora-

tion, there has been a very definite trend of reductions in breakdowns.
This allows nearly all maintenance work to be performed on a planned
basis and on an optimized time schedule to provide the best possible on-
stream factor.
In the actual performance of planned maintenance work, there can be
several approaches. One approach is to have complete in-house mainte-
nance and supervisory ability at each plant with occasional subcontract-
ing for large peaks. A second is to subcontract all maintenance work,
thus eliminating the requirement for maintenance personnel at individual
plants. Each system has obvious advantages and disadvantages depend-
ing on plant size, location relative to other area plants, etc. Recognizing
good planning and skilled supervision as the key elements in low cost
major maintenance, an intermediate approach has been taken at some
plant locations. Some of the main considerations of this approach are:

I . The plant manager is fully responsible for normal maintenance.

Each plant employs an absolute minimum number of resident main-
tenance people consistent with the day-to-day requirements, plus a
normal backlog of work which can be accomplished while the plant
is running.
2. The responsibility for planning major maintenance and turnarounds
would come under the jurisdiction of a corporate maintenance man-
ager working in close conjunction with the plant managers. His
group of mobile planners, technicians and maintenance staff repre-
sent a well-trained nucleus for supervising major maintenance work
to supplement the normal plant maintenance group. These individu-
als travel from plant to plant as required. This makes it unnecessary
to have skilled supervision at each facility capable of handling
planned major maintenance work. By scheduling the total corporate
maintenance requirements, this same skilled group can handle a
large work volume at a number of facilities at overall lower cost
and inject a higher than normal experience factor into the supervi-
sion aspect of maintenance. The major maintenance work is per-
formed using standard critical path scheduling, manpower and tool-
ing planning, cost control procedures, inspection reports, etc.