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Do you have a matrix to prioritize work orders?
One of the challenges that many organizations face is maintaining work order priorities in the wake of the emotional squeaky wheel that yells the loudest. Remember the phrase, “In God we trust. All others bring data”? It applies here, as well. Reacting to false priorities exacerbates the
Important considerations for maintenance planning and scheduling
In this post, we will continue with answering a couple of planner/scheduler questions. How do you initially train someone new to the planner/scheduler position? First, let’s talk about the selection process, as I see this as an issue in many organizations. Ideally, the planner/scheduler should
How to lead your company to success in a downturn
Leadership is a very broad and nebulous term. Generally accepted definitions of leadership are “The activity of leading” and/or “A person who rules or guides or inspires others.” By these definitions, anyone can be a leader, whether you formally manage and lead a team as a manager or supervisor
Money talks in quest to reduce waste
Following along with one of my past blogs, “Reliability is a ‘green’ initiative”, I would like to talk some more about waste reduction. Waste is seen in many different forms in manufacturing, and much of these wastes can be reduced or eliminated through incentives. It is no mystery that money
Emotional Intelligence: It’s link to improving productivity and profitability
What is Emotional Intelligence? If you ask this question, you will probably get many different and vague answers. The fact is that the concept of EI in the workplace and the connection between EI and leadership abilities is still being studied. Since 1990, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer – considered
How to lead and survive in our multi-generational workforce
Leaders today are facing the most complicated workforce in the history of Corporate America. For the first time ever, four generations are working side-by-side, each at different life stages, and each with conflicting perspectives, expectations and needs. The members of each of these groups –
Best-selling checklists?
As an unrepentant checklist fanatic/junkie, I recently had to pick myself up off the floor in an airport newsstand (not a bookstore, but a newsstand!). There with all the romance novels, Dan Brown books and the latest silver-bullet management books was The Checklist Manifesto by Dr. Atul Gawande. A best-selling
Follow-up, performance matrix frequently absent from CMMS process flow
Many organizations are using their computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) as a recordkeeping tool. If that’s all they want, a spreadsheet perhaps can suffice. A correctly used CMMS is a tool that goes way beyond recordkeeping. By not fully utilizing the CMMS, maintenance operations are
Expert advice on how to deal with difficult people
One of the first people to study difficult employees in the workplace and to assign specific characteristic descriptors to these groups of people was Robert M. Branson. In 1981, he wrote a book called “Coping with Difficult People.” In this book, he identifies seven categories of difficult
A game plan to resolve conflict in the workplace
Conflict in the workplace seems to be a fact of life. We’ve all seen situations where different people with different goals and needs have come into conflict. And, we’ve all seen the often-intense personal animosity that can result. Organization leaders are responsible for creating a work
