The Coach: The Maintenance Supervisor

The Roles & Responsibilities of the Maintenance Supervisor

The Maintenance Supervisor is known as the coach of the maintenance department.  But what if they are pre-occupied with other tasks and unable to coach the technicians?  It has the potential to increase overtime, increase rework and increase Mean Time to Repair.  That is why this series continues with the Maintenance Supervisor.   With the Supervisor clear on their roles and responsibilities, the technicians get the coaching they need to succeed.

If you followed the steps in first post of the series, and have reviewed the Maintenance Manager and the Planner / Scheduler, you can now proceed to the Maintenance Supervisor.  This post takes the next step of breaking down the individual role of the Supervisor to help you on that journey.

Just to make sure everyone remains clear, I want to make sure everyone understands the difference between Roles and Responsibilities.

• Role: The role defines the high level expectations of the functional role.  This usually consists of a few statements describing the main purpose of the position.
• Responsibilities: Defining what specific actions or processes that the role is expected to execute to ensure that they are able to achieve the role definition.

Now we can take a look at the Maintenance Supervisor in detail.

What Is the Role of the Maintenance Supervisor?

We all know that the Maintenance Supervisor’s job is to lead, coach and building the capability of the technicians, but what does that actually mean?  Does it include turning wrenches on the equipment, or never leaving their office?  Neither is right, but neither is wrong.  They have the role of building the technicians.  So what specifically do they need to do?

• Maximize Efficiency on a shift basis
• Work with production counterparts to meet production needs
• Serve as the primary coach for the craft
• Remove barriers to maintenance for the craft

Sound simple enough, but as you we all know, there are many sub tasks that all feed into these three items.

What are the Responsibilities of the Maintenance Supervisor?

Now on to the responsibilities.  These are the specific actions that the Maintenance Supervisor has to complete to ensure they fill their role.  This include, but are not limited to;

• Execute the Maintenance Process
• Conduct wrench time audits
• Manage the shift personnel and priorities
• Identify training for the craft
• Recommend process improvements

We all know that the Maintenance Supervisor does more than just this, but most activities should revolve around these core responsibilities.

How Do You Measure the Performance of the Maintenance Supervisor?

Lastly, how is the Maintenance Supervisor measured on their performance?  Typically a few well balanced KPIs should be selected for each of the following areas;

• Schedule Adherence
• % of Jobs w/ Feedback
• Rework
• Craft Utilization

With KPIs selected for each of these areas, the Maintenance Supervisor can quickly see how well he is doing and where there may be a need for more focus.

Does your Maintenance Supervisor know their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities?  Is it broken down like this, or is there just a job description?  When the clarity of roles and responsibilities is provided, the individual and team can make huge strides forward in their performance.  Both as an individual and as a team

Remember, to find success, you must first solve the problem, then achieve the implementation of the solution, and finally sustain winning results.

I’m James Kovacevic
HIGH PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
Solve, Achieve, Sustain
Follow @HPReliability