Engineering and Analysis Tools

Work simplification can probably be best described as the intelligent employment of well-established human behavioral patterns to encourage and expedite the finding and implementation of more effi-
cient work methods

Much time and effort must be expended by the “expert” to become familiar with each new activity studied, in order to be sure that all pertinent aspects and interactions with related activities are uncovered and properly evaluated

The improvements developed and proposed by these “experts” are usually strongly resented by
the prospective users. Their implementation is often resisted, even occasionally deliberately
sabotaged.

THE LAW OF INTELLIGENT ACTION

When confronted with a problem, the intelligence of an individual’s actions is dependent upon his

Desire to solve the problem.

Ability to perform the tasks required.

Capacity to handle the human relations involved.

Estimating maintenance work is defined as the process of predicting probable costs of any physical
change in plant equipment or facilities. A physical change may be the relocation or replacement of
machinery or the cleaning, oiling, adjusting, or repairing of machinery, and so on.

PREREQUISITES FOR ESTIMATING MAINTENANCE COST

A maintenance cost estimate is based on two areas of information: the type or classification of the
job and the end use to which the estimate will be put.

Classifying the job and obtaining full information about its specifications is the first prerequisite.
It is necessary to know the job priority or urgency, work content, and general conditions under which
the work will be performed.

How the estimate will be used is the second prerequisite. Together, these major factors will deter-
mine who will do the estimating, how the estimate will be made, the amount of detail required, and

specific techniques to be followed.

CLASSIFYING THE JOB

Maintenance supervisors often feel that all their work is emergency work and that consequently both planning and estimating are impractical.

result from this position, it is important to have a realistic appraisal of the classifications of work in each individual plant.
This means that the real emergencies must be separated from the work which can be planned.

Fair and effective evaluation of maintenance workers is the most challenging work of wage and salary administrators and of responsible managers.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF JOB EVALUATION

Develop and/or modify an existing plan to ensure valid measurement.

Ensure that the plan is compatible with measurement of other jobs in the organization.

Make a survey of community and/or industry wage rates for comparable jobs.

Develop the compensation curves based on company policy, competitive rates, and so on.

Evaluate all jobs and identify variances from the norm.

Participation with Maintenance Engineering in Measuring Work and Establishing Standards.

Examine the positions of the foremen and maintenance engineers.

Providing Handling Equipment.

The bulk of the improvements in maintenance work are possible
through changes in handling methods. Maintenance operations still contain much of the brute work
that has been eliminated from production jobs.

Standardization of Crews.

One of the common complaints, with regard to the performance effi-
ciency on maintenance jobs, is “too many men on the job.

The practice of reliability and maintenance engineering involves selecting alternative designs, pro-
cedures, plans, and methods that consider time and economy restrictions in their implementation.

Relative Importance of Reliability, Price, and Performance

The wealth of data about customer behavior, values, beliefs, and attitudes often confirms reliability
as the most important product quality attribute, and by that, its impact on the value in exchange,
expressed by price, and value in use, expressed, for example, in terms of users’ return on investment.