Planners and Schedulers and Storekeepers! Oh my!

In past columns we have talked about planners, schedulers and storekeepers. We also have mentioned that the people who do these jobs are sometimes all the same person. So when one person is doing all three of these functions, you might ask yourself how well these important jobs are being performed.

In this article, we’re going to examine how to justify splitting up these jobs into single tasks and how we can justify the cost of having two or three people doing planning, scheduling and storekeeping.

First of all I will mention that not all organizations need these jobs broken up. The size of the facility, type of business, and the size of the maintenance department, as well as many other factors, determine what manpower needs to be allocated to planning and scheduling.

In larger facilities, however — especially in the manufacturing industry where production is paramount — these three key maintenance functions need to be analyzed. The analysis will determine whether the planning and scheduling functions are being carried out effectively or not.

To decide if your organization could benefit from separate identities for each task, you need to list the responsibilities for each job. What exactly does each job entail? Let’s look at the storekeeper role and list a few responsibilities.

The Storekeeper Role

This person is responsible for all aspects of spare parts. These include:

* Reordering and purchasing parts

* Checking out and receiving parts

* Item cycle count

* Checking critical spare parts inventory

* Rotating parts

* Checking usage and decreasing stock where applicable

* Dealing with vendors and searching for new parts

* Organizing and maintaining the storeroom, and

* Running miscellaneous reports.

In large storerooms, the task of organizing the parts is a huge job. Storerooms need to go through a Five S Lean Process especially designed for revamping a storeroom. It focuses on organization, cleanliness and standardization, and can take several months to complete.

If your storeroom is not where you would like to see it, you are not alone. Typically, 75% of the storerooms we see are in shambles, 20% are in good order but need to be reassessed for obsolete parts, etc., and only 5% of the stores are in acceptable condition — having the parts needed both on-hand and easily locatable.

By far the biggest labour commitment for any plant is the setup/reorganization of the stockroom. As a rule of thumb, we like to see maintainers get the part they need in their hands in less than three minutes.

The Planner Role

This role ranks right up there in importance with the storekeeper. The planner basically decides the where, why, what and how of the work that needs to be done. These 3W’s and 1H need to be planned in detail. You’ll understand the reasons after we look at each aspect.

Why: The planner needs to know the scope of the job in order to determine the where, what and how. A planner, typically someone very familiar with the facility, is often responsible for communicating the maintenance activities to the rest of the plant. Planning meetings are generally held with the production department, where the planner explains the work that is going to be carried out, where it will take place, who’s involved, the resources needed and so on.

In very large facilities, planning meetings are held with all maintenance departments represented. This central maintenance meeting will discuss plant utilities; resource availability, etc., that may affect planned work in other areas of the plant.

Where: Looking at the location where the work will be done can help the planner determine if there are any constraints that will impede the flow of the work. For example, are there space restrictions to, from and around the work area that will complicate the delivery of the materials to the worksite? Is the work area in a confined space, or in an area where welding would be hazardous? Are there obstacles that can affect the workflow and the time needed to perform the work?

What: Once the ‘where’ elements of the job are noted, we can concentrate on the ‘what’. For all constraints, what do we need to overcome them? What types of tools, materials, parts, equipment, safety permits and personnel qualifications will be needed?

How: This involves how the work will be performed. For multi-craft work packages, for example, we will need to lay out the timing of each task so there is limited interference between the crafts. The electricians may need the power off but the mechanics may need to drill holes, electric weld or use other power tools. ‘How’ also includes the need for written procedures, drawings and other such documents.

A planner that completes the 3W’s and 1H on every job and every planned outage can provide work packages that cover all foreseen obstacles. I think you can see the value in the planner’s role.

The Scheduler Role

The scheduler is responsible for the who and when of the work order — who will do the work and when it will get done. Schedulers, in many cases, are the maintenance supervisors. They know the skill set of their maintenance staff, their shift rotations, their work schedules and their work habits.

The storekeeper, planner and the scheduler work hand-in-hand to complete the work package. They should be planning routine work at least three weeks in advance. Projects and other major work may be planned months before the scheduled work date.

Once the work package is completed, the maintenance team needs to be advised of its schedules. The staff also needs to review the work to be performed and check the work package to see if anything else will be needed to do the work.

On scheduled outages or down days, pre-work meetings should be held with the maintenance staff to discuss the planned activities. After the outage is over, a post-work meeting should be held to discuss each job and how it went. Lessons learned from each job need to be documented for the next time this job is performed.

Now that we have a good understanding of these three major roles, how can we justify their existence? Obviously, there are cost implications to having two or more people do these jobs. How can we convince the maintenance management, plant managers and owners that there will be cost savings, even though we want to add personnel?

There needs to be a commitment from the people in charge to ‘buy into’ the idea. In my travels, I’m finding that manufacturing plants in general are shifting their cost focus in favour of the maintenance department. No longer is maintenance seen as a necessary cost that adds little value to the product. More and more, maintenance departments are seen as a high-priority area for production improvements. Storerooms that have the parts available and easy-to-find when needed save hours of downtime and reduce last-minute expediting costs. That’s where the payoff comes from.

Properly planned and scheduled work reduces the time needed to perform the work and ensures that equipment startup time goes as scheduled. For companies that I have worked with in this area, equipment availability and reliability have shot through the roof. These companies have focused on their maintenance activities and have embraced the idea of effective planning and scheduling.

Results vary from plant to plant, but a 15% to 50% maintenance productivity improvement is not an unreasonable estimate. Factor this into to the increased output of production and it is easy to see the payoff. In the end, as I like to say, “planners are free.”

Peter Phillips of Trailwalk Holdings, a CMMS consulting company, can be reached at 902-798-3601 or by e-mail at peter@trailwalk.ca.