Conversations in Maintenance Management

My first article on maintenance was about choosing and implementing a computerized maintenance management system in truck fleet maintenance operations in 1984. Back then, there were two problems with this concept. First, it was difficult getting mechanics to write or type accurate and complete information about their repair or service. (It was common then to write and separately keypunch the data from work orders.) Second, getting an accurate asset register list for the names and basic attributes of all the maintainable assets was an issue. Sound familiar?

These challenges have been the same for maintainers of the Roman roads, weaponsof Changping, as well as the International Space Station. Deterioration, defects and damage gradually or abruptly make the assets useless or, at least, less useful.

In this book, I revisit some of my writings over the years to see if there are any continuing themes, good ideas and interesting changes in the maintenance management field. It turns out there are. Reading the trade press throughout time, one would think everything had been solved with new gadgets, software and high tech. Now, one tends to see things more clearly. Or, is it still an illusion?

I have written columns on a wide variety of maintenance, reliability and personnel topics over the years. It is interesting to see the development of ideas over time, see predictions that worked out and others that didn't, visit some issues that are universal, have some fun in learning about maintenance, and provide some teaching in short, bite-size chunks.

The solutions to maintenance problems are very detailed. The solutions to issues that face maintenance as a function require an expanded perspective. This book gets people into an extended frame of mind to look at the overall function, activity, personnel, support systems, and more. In the end, you'll look at maintenance management with a whole different perspective.