Carolinas Chapter
Annual Meeting
August 25th – 26th, 2011
CU ICAR
4 Research Drive
Greenville, SC 29607
BMW Zentrum
1400 Highway 101 S.
Greer, SC 29651
9:00 am- 4:00 pm EST
The Misguided Application of the
Planner/Scheduler
Tim Kister
Senior Planner/Scheduler
Life Cycle Engineering
© Life Cycle Engineering 2011
© Life Cycle Engineering 2011
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Background
• Senior Planning/Scheduling SME with Life
Cycle Engineering (LCE)
– Co-Authored “Maintenance Planning and
Scheduling Handbook” with Bruce Hawkins
• LCE – 12 years
• Alcoa, Mt Holly, formally Alumax of SC – 20
years
• E.I. DuPont, Cooper River – 3 years
• U.S. Navy – 6 years, Nuclear Submarines
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Today’s Objectives
• Establish the primary goal of the
planner/scheduler
• Identify the factors that prevent the
planner/scheduler from attaining their goal.
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Goal of Planning
Avoidance of delays during work execution is the
primary goal of planning and scheduling
Advanced planning has the most profound effect
on timely and effective accomplishment of
maintenance work
For every hour of effective planning, the typical
return is three hours in maintenance labor time
saved or an equivalent savings in materials and
production downtime
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The Planner’s Role
Right
Place
Right
Time
Right
People
Right
Tools
Equipment
Materials
Information
Spec’s
Safety
Permits
Maintenance
Work
Follow up
Analysis
Improvement
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Scheduler’s Role
Scheduling is “When to do the Job”
The purpose of scheduling is to ensure that
resources are available at a specific time
when the equipment is available
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Four Week Forecasting
In Progress
Next Week
Second Week
Third Week
Fourth Week
(100% Loaded)
100% Loaded
75% Loaded
50% Loaded
30%
Loaded, All
PM/PdM
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Planner Utilization
• 1/3 of all companies have a Maintenance
Planner position
• Of that 1/3, less than 10% are used efficiently
• Why is there such a gap???
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Contributing Factors
Planner/Schedulers are Not!!
• Gofers
• Clerks
• Parts Chasers
• Parts Expeditors
• Purchasing Agents/Buyers
• Relief Supervisors
• Fall back maintenance labor
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Common Causes of Planning Group
Failures
•
•
•
•
•
Over worked planners
Unqualified planners
Overlapping job responsibilities
Careless planners
Lack of communication
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Over Worked Planners
• The most common reason for failure is simply
too few planners on staff
– It is impossible for a planner to effectively
support too many tradespersons
– Details are missed that affect efficiency of
execution
– Plans are incomplete, productivity and
planning integrity suffer
• Proper planner to tradespersons ratio
addresses this problem
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Span of Control
• Planner/Schedulers 1:20
– Many factor influence this ratio
• Defined roles & responsibilities
• Maturity of processes
• Area/assets assigned
• Supervisors
1:10 (8 to 15)
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Unqualified Planners
• Careful planner qualification, selection and
training are essential
• Planners without the proper training hinder
planning effectiveness
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Planner Attributes
• Experienced tradesperson, well respected
• Understands the “P/S Process”
• Comfortable with engineering drawings
• Self motivated, a visionary type person
• Communicates well at all levels of the
organization
• Good administrative and computer skills
• A leader
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Overlapping Job Responsibilities
• Lines of responsibility are not clearly defined
– Addressing Breakdown/Emergency Issues
– Procurement & Part Expediting
– Daily Schedule Adjustments
– Filling in for Supervisors
– Committees, Safety, Quality
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Lines of Responsibility
• The planning function should report at least
one level above the first line maintenance
supervisor
• If to low, the position will not receive proper
management support
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Lines of Responsibilities
Maintenance
Manager
Maintenance
Superintendent
This is not the
proper chain of
reporting
Maintenance
Supervision
P/S
Area A
Maintenance
Crew
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Lines of Responsibilities
Maintenance
Manager
Maintenance
Control Mgr.
P/S
Area A
P/S
Area B
Maintenance
Superintendent
P/S
Area C
P/S
Central Shops
Maintenance
Organization
Clerical
Support
Clerical
Support
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Roles & Responsibilities
• Clear description of responsibilities
documented
• The planner/scheduler should:
– be assigned 100% of the function
– not fill in for a crew supervisor that is out or on
vacation
– not be required to return to their tools during
breakdowns or major outages
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Careless Planner/Schedulers
• Incomplete work packages
• Not managing the backlog
• Parts lists lacking or incomplete parts lists on
“planned” work orders
• Little or no coordination of scheduled work
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Lack of Communication
• Team/partnership between the planner and
supervisor/s has not been developed
• Miscommunication or no communications are
taking place
• Operations and Maintenance scheduling is
not coordinated
• Feedback from the floor non-existent
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Planner Relationships
General Management
Operations
Operations
Manager
Supervisor
Safety, etc.
Maintenance
Maintenance
Manager
Maintenance
Planner/Scheduler
Maintenance
Supervisor
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Transitioning to an Effective
Planner/Scheduler
• Defined roles & responsibilities
• Defined planner qualifications, selection and
training processes in place
• Proper planner to tradesperson ratios
• Attention to work order details and
completeness
• Teamwork and communication
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Dedicated & Focused Planner/Schedulers
• A dedicated planner will allow the supervisor
to spend more time directing their team
• Several jobs can be planned more efficiently
by a focused planner rather than one at a time
as a supervisor or tradesperson would do
• The aim of effective planning and scheduling
is to optimize the utilization of maintenance
resources by reducing delays
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Distribution of a Planner’s Day
•
•
•
•
•
•
Job Screening
Job Requirements/Analysis
Job Research
Detailed Job Planning
Job Package Preparation
Procurement
___% 5%
___% 10%
___% 5%
___% 20%
5%
___%
___% 20%
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Distribution of a Planner’s Day
•
•
•
•
Scheduling
Daily Schedule Adjustments
Job Close Out
Personal/Miscellaneous
___% 15%
___%
5%
___%
5%
___% 10%
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Planner/Scheduler Focus
• Remember:
– The primary goal of planning and
scheduling is the reduction of delays, waits
and interruptions
and
– The first day of a successful
planner/scheduler’s focus is ……
Next Week
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Questions???
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The principles and
concepts in this
presentation can
be found in our
book.
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Contact Information
Tim Kister, CMRP
tkister@LCE.com
www.LCE.com
Cell: 843-810-5815
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