Overdue maintenance backlogs are one of the most serious problems we face at MaintenX. Oftentimes, business owners and property managers don’t know what needs to be done or don’t see maintenance requests as a top priority until they become emergent. This results in a backlog that is difficult to pare down, and frequent emergency repairs due to a lack of preventative care on significant appliances.
There is no better example of this than our National Parks System. In 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act was passed, allocating $6.5 billion solely to addressing the maintenance backlog across 400 national parks. While this provided much-needed help to national parks across the country, it only covered half of the estimated costs of needed maintenance in the parks, and provided no funding to smaller state parks also in need of maintenance funds.
This excessive maintenance backlog leads to safety hazards for both park staff and visitors and makes it difficult for these public parks to continue providing educational and recreational opportunities for visitors to enjoy the great outdoors. The same can happen to businesses that ignore their maintenance backlog, as their equipment becomes unusable for staff and reduces the ability for the business to provide great service.
At MaintenX, we understand the demands of running your business and how difficult maintenance planning can be. With these five steps, we can help you effectively reduce your backlog and get on a maintenance schedule that is effective, affordable, and meets your facility’s changing demands.
The Five-Step Plan to Reduce Your Maintenance Backlog
- Sort current backlog to eliminate outdated and duplicate orders – If your maintenance backlog hasn’t been addressed in months, there are likely work orders that have either been addressed without proper documentation, or duplicate orders due to recurring issues. Before you can begin addressing your backlog, take some time to clean up and organize it.
- Prioritize current backlog – Once your work order backlog is organized, prioritize requests based on urgency and impact on your facility operations. This will make it easier to allocate resources based on needs and budget.
- Assess risks and resources – Once you are ready to assign tasks to your maintenance team, be sure to incorporate a risk assessment to ensure your most experienced technicians take on the most complex work. Safety hazards, as well as financial risks and potential for emergency repairs, should be considered, as well as the available hours your maintenance team has to work on particular tasks.
- Re-evaluate your work-order system – Once your team begins working on the backlog, you should take time to restructure your work-order management system to ensure that a new backlog doesn’t accumulate.
- Put a PM plan into action – Finally, once you have your backlog reduced and your work order system in place, begin adding new maintenance requests focused on preventative care. This will prevent future emergency services and ensure your backlog is a productive tool rather than a burden on your facility.
MaintenX can help you reduce your backlog and stay on top of maintenance with our preventative care programs suited to your facility. If you’d like to learn more about our preventative maintenance can help your facility run more smoothly, contact our offices today!
