Deferred maintenance is the postponement of repairs and maintenance activities to save costs, meet budget funding levels or realign available budget funds. Limited resources from time, to budget or staff, causes a maintenance manager to deal with issues of higher priority first.

However, it is not only overwhelming for the maintenance team, but also, the cost of deferred maintenance is enormous. It leads to expenses such as reduced productivity, expensive emergency repairs, safety hazards, shorter asset life cycles, or even the breakdown of the entire system. So, how can you deal with deferred maintenance in your company and increase productivity?

Analyze the current maintenance activities

Analyzing the current maintenance activities involves carrying out an investigation or audit to help the organization identify solutions to the maintenance problems. That way, you can place the root causes of why there are backlogged work orders and how you can improve the maintenance processes.

Ensure you include the maintenance team in the interview process so that you will end up with a detailed report that features the contribution of each person in the maintenance department.

Utilize a CMMS

When you identify all pending maintenance work orders log them on into a computerized maintenance software (CMMS). That way, you will be centralizing all the data in an accessible system to everyone.

That way, the maintenance team have instant access to service requests, work order histories, asset data, equipment documentation and location etc. By harnessing the power of software, there will be no more running around sifting through files which will increase efficiency and productivity.

Prioritize

Prioritize your list of backlogged or deferred tasks by categorizing them into two:

Immediate attention tasks: these are deferred tasks that are of safety violations and require repairs to return to normal operations. Tackle them first.

Delayed attention tasks: these are delayed tasks that could become serious problems if not addressed within a specific time frame. Deal with such issues after the immediately after the immediate attention tasks.

You can categorize the tasks further with the help of the maintenance team according to costs, time, asset life etc. Only make sure you prioritize to ensure productivity goes on.

Strengthen the preventive maintenance program

Ensure you increase your preventive maintenance efforts. It is one way of combating emergency maintenance activities and deferred maintenance that can be costly to the company by stalling production.

Draw a list of all the assets each maintenance individual or team is responsible for and determine the preventive maintenance efforts associated with those assets. After that, you are ready to start planning and scheduling service maintenance tasks to ensure the assets repair before they completely break down.

The best part of utilizing a CMMS is that it sends automated task alerts to the technicians as to when servicing is due, and they will also have all the required information right in their fingertips.

Carry out a life-cycle cost analysis on critical equipment

Life cycle cost will help you understand the actual value and cost of an asset throughout its useful life. You will be able to determine how a poorly maintained asset can cost your company more than if the asset was properly inspected and maintained.

The data you obtain from a life cycle analysis will simplify your work with the financial department as you focus on accurate money for the assets maintenance services.

Measure performance

One way of measuring how well your maintenance actions are working is through KPI for maintenance department. A short form for Key Performance Indicator, it is a digital way of analyzing maintenance performance of an individual or a team to determine where you are in achieving the maintenance goals such as reducing downtime and cutting on cost.

It will help you to identify significant hitches that are slowing you down and deal with them so that you have a smooth-running maintenance program.

Educate yourself on the latest preventive measures

Develop a more proactive approach to maintenance activities by educating yourself on the preventive maintenance best practices.

The final words

While handling a handful of deferred maintenance activities can be overwhelming, with the proper tools and resources, you will have empowerment to run it step by step following this article guide.