Maintenance management is not as simple as one might first believe. While it may seem intuitive, proper management of your maintenance team can be complex. Too much focus on reactive repairs rather than planning for the future can turn your maintenance technicians into experts at putting out fires. If you want to get the most out of their skill and expertise, try following these three principles to maintenance management:
Focus on what’s important.
It can be easy to assume that your facility maintenance is productive when all the moving parts are moving fast. But, is your output actually representative of the resources you’re using or the speed at which your maintenance team is working? Tracking wrench time without also studying your team’s ability to prevent future breakdowns or reduce costs won’t get you very far. Instead, focus on the quality of the work and its cost, rather than speed or other superficial metrics of efficiency.
Never encourage multitasking.
Research has shown time and time again that multitasking not only leads to decreased productivity (and by a large margin, too), but that it will inevitably lead to mistakes. This applies to individual technician work as well as overall maintenance planning. If you schedule a repair or maintenance service, don’t ask for additional services when the technician arrives onsite. A lack of planning can result in errors and wasted resources, all of which costs you more.
Outsource and delegate.
Even if your facility is a well-oiled machine, there are certain things you can’t and shouldn’t handle on your own. By outsourcing to a professional maintenance team, you can better use your internal resources for what matters most. However, before you outsource maintenance to an outside technician or company, you should thoroughly vet them and ensure they can handle commercial maintenance service.
If you’re interested in learning more about maintenance management and outsourcing, contact your local MaintenX team today! We provide total facilities repair for businesses with self-performing maintenance crews from coast to coast. If you have an HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or roofing repair service needed, call us!
