2. Emergency Man Hours

This indicator highlights the resources being allocated to plant or facility breakdowns. When the level of resource consumption for emergency or breakdown activities is high, then the productivity rates for the labor resources, whether in-house or contract, is low. This indicator may be used at a department, area, or even a plant level. It may be used to examine resources by trade or craft line.

This indicator is also useful for examining work distribution. A typical distribution would examine the resources used in at least four categories:

Preventive maintenance

Emergency or breakdown maintenance

Repair or corrective maintenance

Routine (or standing) maintenance

Manhours Spent on Emergency Jobs

Total Manhours Worked expressed as a %

This indicator takes the time spent on emergency or breakdown work and divides it by the total man hours expended. The indicator, which is then expressed as a percentage, should examine total resources, not just maintenance. If there are operators or contractors involved, their time should be included as well.

Strengths

This indicator is useful for examining if maintenance labor is being consumed by emergency or breakdown work. Typically, if the amount of emergency or breakdown work consumes more than 20% of the maintenance labor resource, then the preventive maintenance program is viewed as ineffective. Therefore, this indicator becomes a key to PM program evaluation.

Weaknesses

This indicator, like almost all others, is dependent on accurate data collection. Without accuracy, a problem with the preventive maintenance may go undetected. Additionally, what is classified as an emergency or breakdown may need clarification.

3. Cost of Breakdown Repairs

This indicator examines breakdowns in yet another way: the direct cost of breakdowns and emergency repairs. This figure includes the cost of the labor, materials, rental equipment, contractors, and any other direct maintenance cost. However, the cost of lost production (or throughput) should not be included in this calculation. The figure is then divided by the total maintenance cost and a percentage is derived. This indicator can again be calculated at different levels: the maintenance department level, a trade or craft level, a production department or area level, or even the equipment level.

Direct Cost of Breakdown Repairs*

Total Direct Cost of Maintenance

This indicator is calculated by taking the direct cost of maintenance for all of the breakdown or emergency repairs and then dividing that cost by the total direct maintenance cost. The result is expressed as a percentage. Because the cost of performing maintenance in a reactive mode is considerably higher than the cost in a planned mode (by as much as two-to-four times), this indicator will not match the percentage in the previous indicator.

Strengths

This indicator highlights the impact that breakdown or emergency work is having on the maintenance budget. It can be used to cost justify improvements in the preventive maintenance program, when the percentage of maintenance dollars on breakdown or emergency activities is clearly shown.

*Indicators marked with an (*) are expressed as a percentage

Weaknesses

This indicator requires that all breakdown or emergency repairs be clearly identified. Even small activities, in the 5-to-10-minute range, must be clearly identified; otherwise, many costs will not be correctly identified. When the small activities are included, preventive maintenance problems are often exposed and then can easily be corrected.