Archived Newsletter Editorial
Maintenance Matters

November 17, 2008

I'm often surprised to hear of the difficulty some maintenance departments have earning and retaining respect in an organization. The simple fact is that maintenance does matter, as most of the readers of this newsletter will understand, and can be an important and strategic part of a company's operations. It's important for quality, it's important for compliance, and it's important for the bottom line.

So how can we convince people that maintenance is not only a cost, but is instead an opportunity to contribute to corporate objectives and serve as a real competitive advantage? Simple repetition of rather straight forward concepts may be the best approach:

• Preventive maintenance on an optimal schedule will decrease downtime, increase production, lower total cost of ownership of equipment and lower costs of production.
• Equipment performance is one of the greatest sources of variation in quality, especially in mature processes. Defined and controlled processes for maintenance are an important part of securing quality and compliance. (As a result, structure to control these processes are increasingly being expected by regulatory agencies.)
• Given the above two statements, maintenance enhancements often offer the next best area for productivity gains for a mature organization aiming to compete on value, quality and compliance.

Producing results from a maintenance organization that meet these high-minded statements then becomes the next challenge. Fortunately, this is an area in which Blue Mountain is committed to helping our customers excel. Blue Mountain Regulatory Asset Manager®, embraced by many as the new best-in-class maintenance management solution, provides the tool to facilitate improvements and our experienced consultants are a valuable resource to help ensure the success of your new maintenance initiatives.

Bryce Johannes
Director of Marketing
Blue Mountain Quality Resources, Inc.