Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Technician

By Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT

LinkedIn: RickySmithCMRP

www.worldclassmaintenance.org
 Definition: Proactive Maintenance Technician

• A proactive maintenance technician is a highly trained

professional who is an expert in his or her skills area,
and has knowledge of other skills areas, including
safety and production, and has a desire to learn more.
• This professional knows and can implement a failure-
modes driven maintenance strategy for any piece of
equipment.
• A proactive maintenance technician uses knowledge
and experience to ensure the maintenance process is
optimized by making constructive recommendations
to management concerning improvement areas.
What Knowledge
Should a Maintenance
Technician Possess?
What Knowledge should a Maintenance Technician Possess?

• Knowledge and experience in Proactive Maintenance

• Create work orders to the requirements of leadership
to ensure the right data is used to manage the
maintenance process
• Work in a self-directed work team (technicians have
always acted on their own with minimum supervision)
• Possess knowledge in Troubleshooting using specific
RCA tools as needed
• Possess knowledge in their particular field; ex:
mechanical, electrical, E&I, etc.
Technician Knowledge of Proactive
Maintenance

Maintenance Process/Processes
‒ Maintenance Planning
‒ Maintenance Scheduling
‒ Work Execution to Specifications using Repeatable Procedures
‒ Equipment Turnover to Production
‒ Work Order Close Out
‒ Failure Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Action System
‒ Leading and Lagging KPIs
 Maintenance Technician
Hierarchy of Needs
• Job Security
• Money
• Respect
• Feeling like they are part of a team
• Having the parts available when a job is scheduled
• Given the time to make repairs correctly, if not then another
work order is written to come back and restored later
• Knowing who to go to for advice
• Time to learn and expand their knowledge through training
• (Maintenance should designate “X” amount per year for
training and this money must be protected and only used for
Maintenance Training)
• Mitigation of Equipment Failures
 Why Maintenance Technicians
are not Motivated?
1. Lack of Appreciation by Leadership (not demonstrated)
2. Maintenance Schedules are not met (technicians arrive
at work expecting to execute a specific job and then job
changed)
3. The right part or material not available to accomplish
maintenance work
4. Lack of information when working on a job
5. Rushed to complete work without focus on “doing the
job right”
6. Patching equipment and never coming back to restore
asset to maintainable level
7. Overtime is high thus family life or fun time is sacrificed
8. Lack of Leadership
Characteristics of a Proactive Maintenance Technician

• Daily, a proactive maintenance technician

begins work on time, ends work on time, takes
the allotted break(s) without taking additional
time and always makes the best use of their
time.

• Wrench time is high (55 percent and greater),

as shown, because the maintenance technician
identifies scheduling delays and makes
recommendations for improvement.
 Safety is always “First”

• Additionally, a proactive maintenance technician makes

sure the work site is clean and safe when completing
work.
• Work safety is always the #1 priority.
• We hear this all the time, but the facts show a proactive
organization safety and incident rate is extremely low.
• Think about the difference in a proactive maintenance
organization vs a reactive one, a proactive maintenance
organization incident/safety rate is low.
• Think about our normal lives. If you are late for
appointments or work often what are the chances you
may get in an accident or incident (speeding ticket). It is
much higher and so same goes for Maintenance.
 Maintenance Technician in a Reactive Organization

In a reactive organization a Maintenance Technician may hear

these statements often:
• How much longer is it going to take to get the equipment up
because of a breakdown?
• (I have heard this many times as a tech, supervisor, and as a
maintenance manager)
• How much longer before you finish the PM, etc.?
• Where are the parts?
• Why did this breakdown occur?
• Perhaps most importantly, a proactive maintenance
technician is always proud of the work he or she conducts or
influences.
• No pat on the back is required, just the personal satisfaction
in knowing that the job was completed successfully.
What Does a Typical Day Look
Like for a Proactive Maintenance
Technician?
A proactive maintenance technician begins
the day by receiving his/her job package ,
goes to where the parts are kitted, pulls the
required parts and tools, and leaves for the
job site.

Because the planner has made sure that all

special tools, parts and procedures are at the
job location, the maintenance technician can
begin on time since all the equipment, parts,
tools and procedures are ready to execute.
 What Does a Typical Day Look Like for a
Proactive Maintenance Technician? (cont.)

• The maintenance technician arrives at the job site and is

greeted by a production worker, who has cleaned and
cooled down the equipment per the maintenance
schedule, so the maintenance technician has the optimum
amount of time to perform preventive maintenance,
corrective maintenance, etc.
• With a focus on safety, the proactive maintenance
technician ensures all workplaces are free of hazards and
is skilled at using the tools required to reduce potential
hazards to include premature equipment failure.
 What Does a Typical Day Look Like for a
Proactive Maintenance Technician? (cont.)

Technicians have received in-depth training in the identification

of failure modes and their causes for all equipment in the
maintenance technician’s area on how to prevent or identify
failures early are key components for preventing a failure.
Trained and Competent in…
 Root Cause Analysis Techniques
 PM Execution
 Performing all maintenance to specifications
 Reactive Work actions required
 Their specific skills are, ie. Mechanical, Electrical, Etc.
What Does a Typical Day Look Like for a
Proactive Maintenance Technician? (cont.)
Proactive Maintenance
Technician executes specific
advanced maintenance tools,
such as:
• Ultrasound
• Infrared
• V-Belt Tension Devices
• Coupling Laser alignment tools
• and other precision tools as
needed
 Performs Work to Specification

• The proactive maintenance technician performs his/her work

to specification.
• Following all procedures, the maintenance technician cleans
the area and releases the equipment back to production in a
“like new” status according to the definition of maintenance:
• Once production has the equipment back to operating
standards the maintenance technician returns to the shop
and ensures all required closed out information is on the
work order with:
- Condition as Found
- Condition as Left
- Recommendation to changes to procedure
 Technician Performs Preventive Maintenance as a
“Controlled Experiment”
• Provided with Equipment history for the
past 30-60-90 days the technician ensures
the PM is accurate
• Executes PM per procedure, step by step
• Any additional work found is noted so the
planner can plan and schedule the work to
make the correction
• If any changes to procedure the Technician
notes the issue on the work order
 Before Shift Ends
• Closes all work orders to specifications
• Prior to leaving for the day, the maintenance technician reviews the work scheduled for the next
day from the job plan package left by the planner/scheduler.
• This ensures that the proactive maintenance technician knows the job and validates that the parts
are in the kitted area.
Technician Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
Rick RB2388908 CM4567833 CM2122221 PM2134329 PM9845621
Bill CM2209341 CM3236789 PM6756908 Out CM3245789
Sarah RB2388908 CM1116754 CM2343567 PM6545678 CM3245789
Tim CM2209341 Out PM6756908 PM2134329 Out
Alaa CM2209346 CM2343567 PM6756908 CM3434343 CM3245789
Tim PM2345789 CM2343567 PM6756908 CM1212090 CM0989076
Jose PM3333222 PM2123453 Out PM2134329 CM0989076
Susan PM3333222 PM2123453 CM7878900 CM1212090 PM9845621
 Questions?

rsmith@worldclassmaintenance.org
www.worldclassmaintenance.org