The Leader of Maintenance Excellence: The Maintenance Manager

The maintenance manager is known as the leader of the maintenance department.  But what if they are unclear on where they are going or need to do?  It has the potential to derail the entire department.  That is why this series is going to start with the maintenance manager.   Once they are clear, the rest of the team can follow.

If you followed the steps in first post of the series, you would be ready to review the roles & responsibilities across the department.  This post takes the next step of breaking down the individual role of the maintenance manager to help you on that journey.

Before we dive in, 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 manager in detail.

What Is the Role of the Maintenance Manager?

We all know that the maintenance manager’s job is to lead the maintenance department, 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 ensuring the department is aligned with the business and the equipment is maintained.  So what specifically do they need to do?

• Maximize Efficiency on a department basis
• Work with production counterparts to meet production needs while driving the maintenance agenda
• Serves as the primary coach of the Maintenance Supervisor, Planner, Storeroom

Sound simple enough, but as you we all know, there are budgetary tasks, HR related tasked, etc. that all feed into these three items.

What are the Responsibilities of the Maintenance Manager?

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

• Monitor the execution of the maintenance process
• Conduct audits of the maintenance process
• Plan training for the department
• Design process improvements in the maintenance department

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

How Do You Measure the Performance of the Maintenance Manager?

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

• Improve the reliability of the equipment
• Department efficiency
• Maintenance Costs
• Training

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

Does your maintenance manager 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

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