Module -II

1. Maintenance planning and scheduling.

2. establishing a maintenance plan.
3. Safety precautions –Characteristics of items to be maintained.
4. Classification of items, Maintenance procedure.
5. Guidelines for matching procedures to items.

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 MAINTENANCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Having known the fault lists, result of condition monitoring and having decided the type/
strategy of maintenance, the next step is to plan and schedule the maintenance jobs so that the
jobs can be executed properly and desired results can be obtained in time. Planning and
scheduling functions are the key deliverables of the planning role. This is where the most
gains in execution have the potential to be made and acted upon. In some larger organizations
these are split, allowing more adequate resources for each role, but often planning and
scheduling is done by same person or group. Often problem arises in that case, as the
maintenance planner does not do much planning and jumps to scheduling. Very often, the
planner bogs down to work as expedite material, work on tools, plan emergency work or
work as relief supervisor and gives very little thought to work-order planning. The two,
planning and scheduling have to have completely different approach. The role of the planner
needs to cover the full range of the work order system, from input into coding, prioritization
and a degree of autonomy in execution.

PLANNING

Planning of jobs or Job-planning can occur at any stage during the life of a works order or
maintenance job. An indicator (electronic or otherwise) in the work-order systems needs to be
able to identify the work-order by status of planning. In this manner works orders requiring
parts, procedures, documents, skills or equipment can easily be focused upon. A work order
cannot be considered planned until all of these have been considered. However, detailed
manpower planning/ deployment is not done at this stage.

Planning of maintenance jobs basically deals with answering two questions, "what" and
"How" of the job; i.e. "what jobs/ activities are to be done" and "how those jobs and activities
are to be done". While answering these two questions, many supplementary questions are to
be answered, e.g. "Where the job is to be done" and "Why the job is to be done" etc., but all
these will be helping in developing "what" and "how" of the job. As such, it is very essential
that engineering knowledge must be applied extensively to maintenance jobs for development
of appropriate job plans using most suited techniques, tools, materials and special facilities
etc.

As the job planning forms the basic foundation, over which the efficiency and cost of further
actions (e.g. scheduling, execution and control etc.) depends, persons responsible for job

2
planning should have adequate qualities/ capabilities, such as, knowledge about jobs and
available techniques facilities and resources, analytical ability, conceptual logical ability and
judgmental courage etc.

STEPS OF JOB PLANNING

The main steps to be followed for proper job planning are, generally, as follows

1. Knowledge Base- It includes knowledge about equipment, job, available techniques,

materials and facilities etc. the planner should have through understanding of workorder
requirement and should know and refer to
i. Correct equipment number and code.
ii. Work description request or equipment symptom and failure analysis reports etc.,
iii. Refer to CMMS for details and previous history of the job, if any,
iv. Drawings, instruction manuals and Maintenance Manuals, including assembling
Disassembly and packing instructions etc.,
v. Job Manuals,
vi. Experience of same or similar machines,
vii. Departmental maintenance workshop and that of other departments,
viii. Plant's Captive or centralized workshops or repair cells,
ix. Nearby ancillary industries, etc.
2. Job Investigation at Site- It gives a clear perception of the total job and also helps in
ascertaining the followings
i. Physical access and space limitation- This may call for jobs like removing covers,
guards, stoppers or cutting a portion machine housing etc. for better approach,
ii. Assessing if available lifting and handling tackles/ facilities are enough or special
cranes/ facilities are to be brought; also helps in deciding scaffolding etc.
iii. Facilities for disposal of water, oil, gases and hazardous materials which may leak
or come out during dismantling.
iv. Space for keeping the dismantled parts and safety enclosures for machine under
repair.
v. Proximity of other jobs, going on at potentially the same time.
vi. Safety issues, e.g. requirement of permits, clearances, putting danger tags, any hot
or cold or wet situation there, etc.,
vii. Identify any reference point or benchmark or match-mark, for ease of assembly.

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 viii. Take necessary photographs before dismantling, for checking later-on.
3. Identify and document the work- Knowing earlier two steps and knowing the needs of
preventive, predictive and other maintenance jobs, a complete job/ work list is made.
Pending and leftover jobs from previous schedules may also be included. The planner
often consults concerned operating and maintenance personnel and PdM and CBM
inspectors also for any special problems and cross-checking. A trained planner may
review the inspection results for common problems (e.g. misalignment, imbalance etc.)
and also not so common problems (e.g. resonance etc.).
4. Development of Repair Plan- Preparation of step-by-step procedures which would
accomplish the work with the most economical use of time, manpower and material. It
may include and video photography can also be planned before starting the job and during
critical dismantling making of sketches, line diagrams and rough networks etc. For first
time jobs, provision of still Weight of each item to be determined/ estimated beforehand
and planning should be done avoid double or multiple handling of the same item. The
total job should be broken in small measurable activities at this stage.
5. Preparation of Tools, Tackles and Facilities List- In smaller plans, like Figure 1, this
can be done in the plan sheet itself, but for bigger jobs, a separate list may be attached
indicating the needs of special tools, tackles and facilities needed, with sketches etc., such
as special porter bar and other lifting tackles, arranging special long boom crane and
transfer cars, special torque wrenches and big spanners etc. Advance action has to be
taken for most of these. Surveying equipment may also have to be arranged to mark the
level of machine foundations (if earlier are not seen), before dismantling.
6. Estimation of Time Required to do the Job- For smaller jobs, as shown in Figure 1, it is
easier, but for bigger jobs it may need knowledge of "work simplification", "work
measurement" and Critical path analysis etc.
7. Work-order Feedback forms/ plan- Two types of feedback forms are used; one for
supervisor of planner to approve the plan and other for scheduler to report after
completion. Figure 1 shows a sample plan for a small job of changing V belt of blower-
X. In the figure SH-1 means Store House No. 1. Cost column can be filled at initial
planning stage or, better, at review stage, after knowing exactly the number of parts
changed.

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 Figure 1: Changing V-belt of Blower X
Figure 2 roughly shows a Planning Process, indicating connections with different
agencies.

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 Figure 2: Planning Process
PLANNING TECHNIQUES
There may be numerous methods/ techniques, a planner may use to plan and putdown that
on paper or computer etc. Few of those are mentioned below-
1. Work breakdown structure- This involves breaking the total job down into lower and
lower levels of tasks that have to be carried out. A good test is, can you easily estimate
how long the task will take and who will be required. There is never a wrong or a right
answer to how you do a Work Breakdown Structure. It is for the planner or planning
manager to come up with what they consider the best solution. The lowest levels of the
tasks should be capable of being clearly defined. The pre-requisite for a planner is-
i. should be able to estimate resources (time, people material etc.),
ii. should be able to assign work and
iii. should think about reporting cycle.

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2. Work Measurement-It is the careful analysis of a task, its size, the method used in its
performance, and its efficiency. The objective is to determine the workload (the amount
of work assigned to or expected from a worker in a specified time period) in an operation,
the time that is required, and the number of workers needed to perform the work
efficiently.
The purpose of measurement is to collect real data about actual events.
Components-A work measurement system has three components- 'preferred methods',
'time values', and 'reporting'. Preferred methods are not always the most efficient or
fastest way to do a task. This should enhance safety, quality, and productivity.
The time (Time value), that a job should take, is determined not on the basis of speeding
up the motions a worker normally makes but on the normal pace of the average worker,
taking into consideration allowances for rest periods, coffee breaks, and fatigue.
A reporting system is important to the success of any work measurement method.
Supervisors and managers must have access to labor-management information that is both
timely and complete. Timely information can be used to manage and shift labor hours to
areas where they are needed and to correct problems or at least prevent them from
becoming a crisis.
Work Measurement Methods-All work measurement systems are based on the same,
simple three-stage procedure analysis', 'data collection and measurement', and 'synthesis'.
They differ in the nature and degree of analysis, the nature and level of data collection
and measurement, and the nature of the synthesis process.
There are four work measurement methods- historical data, work sampling, time study
and predetermined motion/time systems. Each of the four methods have their strengths
and weaknesses. Work Simplification technique can also be used, but that is used more
for mass production operations.
3. Work Packages- It involves details of what work is required and when it is to be
delivered, negotiation to agree for the work with the line manager and for necessary
clearances, arranging the broken-down works in some logical sequence, determining what
works can be done in parallel and putting them on paper or computer etc. A sample shown
below-

Task/ work/ activity Start time Duration Agency Note

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3. Gantt Chart-Though these are basically planning technique, these are extensively
4. PERT and CPM- used in scheduling and monitoring, as such are discussed later.

PLANNER'S TOOL KIT

For field inspection and notes, a planner should have a note book for writing (and or a digital
voice recorder), a small digital camera 9 for taking pre-dismantling photos), a strong torch
light, a marker and a measuring tape etc. In the office, he/she should have computer, printer
and other essential things.

JOB MANUALS

Job Manuals are almost permanent about methodologies, tools, tackles and facilities for all
maintenance jobs, which may have to be done in future. This involves saving the different
plans and modifying and expanding those plans for other similar machines. Generally
following steps are involved in preparing Job Manuals-

a. Make a list of all major and medium jobs of the plant (preferably equipment.
Shop wise) and codify (numerical codes) for proper identification,
b. For each coded job, a separate job manual is to be made in the form of job
plan, indicating job steps, tools, tackles, spares, consumables and facilities
needed and also indicating safety and statutory clearance etc.
c. Each job manual, thus prepared, should be cross checked and cleared by
Maintenance I/c.
d. Different Job manuals should be bunched and sent to respective potential
users,
e. Necessary updation of job manuals, as needed, in consultation with respective
users, these job manuals are quite useful for maintenance organization and
plant. Few main uses

These job manuals are quite useful for maintenance organization and plant. Few main uses
are

i. For actual planning and scheduling of any job, the job manuals provide ready
information for use as it is or for further micro-planning.

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 ii. The executing agencies refer to the job manual before starting the job, to ensure that
they follow correct procedures and to take necessary tool and spares etc to avoid
frequent visits to stores and thus save time,
iii. Material Department may also use job manual for better material procurement
strategy.

SCHEDULING

Scheduling is the function of coordinating all of the logistical issues around the issues
regarding the execution phase of the work. This can also uncover some areas of planning
deficiency, which needs to be addressed. Scheduling is best performed in a capacity-
scheduling manner. Most modern systems have the capacity to output data to spreadsheets or
in similar forms. Only planned job can be scheduled properly. A schedule without a planned
job is like "wish list.

Scheduling of maintenance jobs basically deals with answering two questions-"Who" and
"When" of the job, i.e., "who would do the job" and "when the job would be started and
done".

Effective scheduling essentially needs realistic thinking, based on substantial data and
records. However, majority of scheduling work needs to occur in areas such as

i. Overhead labour hours (such as safety and toolbox meetings, break times and training
times etc.) are to be gathered, along with holidays and off-days and scheduled as
standing works orders for future analysis of these,
ii. Hours for PM completion to be deduced form data in the CMMS. This focuses on
ensuring the equipment is maintained to its best levels,
iii. Addition of corrective and approved improvement actions as dictated by the
prioritization system and operations plan. These are to be planned works orders only.
A guide could be "Age of works orders against priority (As a measure of the priority
systems effectiveness)",
iv. The combination of corrective, preventative and improvement work needs to total the
levels set for planned / scheduled work. However, a workable level may be 70%-80%
in the initial stages; etc.

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PRE-REQUISITES FOR SCHEDULERS

A scheduler should also have knowledge about job, techniques, facilities, analytical ability
and judgmental courage. The scheduler must obtain knowledge/ information about following
facts/aspects, before starting his job-

1. Manpower availability by trade, location, shift, crew arrangement and permissible

overtime limit etc.,
2. Man-hour back log on current or unfinished jobs,
3. Availability of the equipment or area where the work has to be performed,
4. Availability of proper tools, tackles, spares, consumables, structural and other
required materials,
5. Availability of special equipments, jigs/ fixtures, special lifting and handling facilities
and cranes etc. This should also include labour and time saving devices like
pneumatic hammers and excavators etc.
6. Availability of external manpower and their capabilities; these may be from other
shops/ departments of the plant or from contractors (local, nearby, ancillary etc.).
7. Starting date of the job; also, often completion time of total job is predetermined and,
in that case, resources are to be arranged accordingly.
8. Past schedules and charts (updated) if the same job has been done earlier; etc.

SCHEDULING PRINCIPLES

Following principles greatly contribute to the success of scheduling, especially in a bigger

organization-

1. Job plan should provide number of workmen required with the lowest required skill/
craft level and the job duration,
2. Entire plant must respect the importance of schedules and job priorities,
3. Special or heavy demand jobs cannot be scheduled unless backlog is addressed by
providing additional resources or by relaxing/ reassigning priorities,
4. Lobs will not be scheduled unless all the planned materials (parts, tools, special
facilities etc.) are available in time and in required quantity.
5. Each available maintenance trade must be scheduled for a full day of productive work
for every day of availability.

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 6. Scheduler should develop a one-week schedule for each crew based on craft hour
available forecast that shows highest skill level available and job priorities.
Consideration is also given for multiple jobs on the same equipment or system and of
proactive versus reactive work available.
7. The one-week schedule assigns work for every available work hour. The schedule
allows for emergencies and high priority, reactive jobs by scheduling a reasonable
amount of work hours on easily interruptible tasks. Preference is given for completing
higher priority work by even underutilizing available skill level over completing
lower priority work.
8. The crew supervisor develops a daily schedule, one day in advance, using current job
progress, the one-week schedule and new high priority reactive job as a guide. The
crew supervisor handles the current day's work and problem, even to the extent of
rescheduling the entire crew for emergency works.
9. Wrench Time (It is a measure of crafts personnel at work, using tools, in front of jobs,
those tasks or traveling to or from jobs etc.) is the primary measure of workmen's
efficiency and Wrench time does not include obtaining parts, tools or instructions, or
the travel associated with of one week schedule and its effectiveness. Wrench time
can't improve if the crew is not given of planning and scheduling efficiencies. Again,
schedule compliance is the measure of adherence enough work.
10. Advance Scheduling- It is actually more of an allocation of work and may not be a
detailed schedule of exact personnel and time assignment. Advance scheduling
provides enough work for the entire crew and sets goal for maximum utilization of
available craft hours.
Scheduling differs from 'Job Loading'. Job loading is the jobs listed in sequence upon
importance during the weekly or other coordination meetings. This sequence may not
be chronological within the week or that period.

SCHEDULE TYPES AND TECHNIQUES

Different types of schedules are made suiting the respective job plans and different
techniques are used for making and following those schedules. The first step of all scheduling
is to break the job into small measurable elements, called activities and to arrange them in
logical sequences considering the preceding, concurrent and succeeding activities so that a
succeeding activity should follow preceding activities and concurrent activities can start
together,

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Arranging these activities in different fashion makes different types of schedules. The
schedules may be Weekly General Schedule, Daily Schedule, Gantt Chart, Bar Chart, PERT
network and CPM or CPA schedules etc.

Weekly General Schedule

This is made to provide weeks’ worth of work for each employee in an area. The shutdown
(S/D) date column indicates the best day in the week to perform some job. As such, operation
should also get a copy of this schedule to help arrange shutdown. However, maintenance
supervisor has to be attentive for individual's deployment. Table 1 shows a portion of one
such schedule.

Table 1 (Sample Weekly Schedule)

Daily Schedule

Daily schedule is developed to free maintenance supervisor from some of the coordination
problems. Effort is made by the scheduler to provide a day's work for each maintenance
employee of the area. Using the CMMS, the scheduler lists the number of times each job has
been placed on schedule. It is normally the responsibility of team leader or maintenance
supervisor to assign the right person or persons to each job. The job that is not completed in a
day, may be placed on schedule of next day or left for another suitable day of week. Table 2

12
shows one such sample schedule. The table shows original estimated time just for reference.
It can be deleted or, additionally, one more column can be introduced showing least time
taken in past for the same job.

Table 2 Sample Daily Schedule

Gantt Chart and Bar Chart

Gantt charts are, normally, a project planning tool that can be used to represent the timing of
tasks required to complete a project. Because Gantt charts are simple to understand and easy
to construct, they are used by most project managers for all but the most complex project and
are also used by maintenance engineers for scheduling bigger maintenance jobs. In a Gantt
chart, each task/ activity takes up one row. Dates run along the top in increments of days,
weeks or months, depending on the total length of the work. The expected time for each task
is represented by a horizontal bar whose left end marks the expected beginning of the task
and whose right end marks the expected completion date. Tasks may run sequentially, in
parallel or overlapping. As the work progresses, the chart is updated by filling in the bars to a
length proportional to the fraction of work that has been accomplished on the task. This way,
one can get a quick reading of project progress by drawing a vertical line through the chart at
the current date. Completed tasks lie to the left of the line and are completely filled in.
Current tasks cross the line and are behind schedule if their filled-in section is to the left of

13
the line and ahead of schedule if the filled-in section stops to the right of the line. Gantt charts
made with Microsoft Excel are easy to update and maintain.

Bar chart can be defined as a graphical comparison of several quantities in which the lengths
of the horizontal or vertical bars represent the relative magnitude of the values. It is the type
the chart most commonly used by technical analyst. Bar chart most commonly used by
technical analysts. The horizontal scale on the bottom of the chart indicates the passage of
time. The time scale is usually shift-wise, daily, weekly or monthly.

Firstly, it visualizes the time flow of the processes for all project workspace members. The
second task of the bar chart is to provide the project manager or maintenance personnel with
functionalities for individual processes.

Bar Charts are of different types for different applications. In maintenance scenario, Bar
Chart is a Gantt Chart on slightly lower scale for scheduling maintenance jobs and employing
the same principles as Gantt chart. Maintenance Bar Charts are of two types-

1. Overall Chart-This broadly shows all the jobs /activities of a repair plan in one chart.
However, for a big repair plan, this may become confusing.
2. Individual Charts-This, again, can be of two types-
i. Individual section/ area/ execution agency wise; such as separate charts for
shop maintenance crews, heavy maintenance crews, contractors and
captive shops etc.
ii. Individual crew or workmen wise chart within each individual section
agency.

Individual workman chart is also called Manpower Chart.

Figure 3 shows a portion of Bar Chart for 900 Mill shutdown. In the chart, A, B C are the
three working shifts of a day, HM means heavy maintenance, "Opr" means operation and
"Contr" means contractor. The duration of each activity is shown by the lower portion of each
bar. The portion above each bar in the same row is used to fill up during review/ follow-up,
indicating the actual time taken.

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 Figure 3 Bar Chart for 900 Mill Shutdown Repair

Limitation of Gantt Chart- Though Gantt charts are very useful for maintenance activities,
it has some limitations or disadvantages, such as-

1. They can become quite unwieldy for major repairs or projects with more than about 30
activities. Larger Gantt charts may not be suitable for most computer displays.

2. Gantt charts communicate relatively little information per unit area of display. That is.
major repairs or projects are often considerably more complex than can be communicated
effectively with a Gantt chart.

3. Gantt charts do not represent the size of the total job or the relative size of work elements
therefore the magnitude of a behind-schedule condition is easily miscommunicated.

PERT, CPM and CPA Networks

Though Bar Charts /Gantt Charts have lot of merits, one big demerit is that they do not
clearly define interdependencies of activities, i.e. which activity must precede and which
activity must succeed concerned activities and how much delay in one activity actually
affects other activities. To overcome this demerit, many Network Techniques have come up,
like PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique), CPM (Critical Path

15
Method) or CPA (Critical Path Analysis) etc. Though most of these were developed for
monitoring big project works, they are equally suitable for maintenance job.

All these Network Techniques have common methodologies and approach. The networks are
made of "Activities" and "Events". Activity tells the actual job to be done and is in the form
of straight line. Event tells the actual beginning or ending of an activity (job) and is
designated by a circle, or sometimes a square. Events do not consume any time but activities
do consume time. All events are numbered and an activity is indicated by two connecting
events. For plotting a network. following guidelines are followed-

1. Total Repair/ Shutdown job is broken into small measurable activities. Occasionally
a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used for that. WBS is a hierarchic
decomposition or breakdown of a major activity into successive levels, in which
each level is a finer breakdown of the preceding one.
2. All activities and events are arranged in logical sequence and plotted on paper so
that succeeding activity and event must follow the preceding activity and event, i.e.
succeeding activity must be on the right side of preceding activity,
3. The network is not drawn on time scale, but it has time-sense; i.e. each event,
starting earlier than few events, must be on left (west) side of those events.
Similarly, an event. finishing later than few events, must be on right (east) side of
those events.
4. From one event many activities can start (including concurrent activities) and many
activities can end at one event,
5. There can be only one activity between two events. If there is no activity between
two events, they may be connected by dummy activity (dotted line) to show the
time-sense.
6. The activity line may or may not have arrow head. In case arrow head is indicated,
it must be from left to right (West to East),
7. Based on the activity time, the "Earliest Start Time. 𝑇 " and "Latest Finish Time,
𝑇 ," is calculated and indicated on network (at least for smaller networks).
Similarly, "Latest Start Time, 𝑇 ," and "Earliest Finish Time, 𝑇 " are also
calculated. Based on these, the "Slack. Time" for each activity (amount of time that
the activity can be delayed past its earliest start time or earliest finish time, without
delaying the job/ project) and "Float" for each event (the amount of time an activity
can be delayed without affecting subsequent activities) are calculated. Float is, also
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 called node by some users. Event number, earliest finish time and latest finish time
are either written inside the event (if the event size is big to accommodate, as shown
in Fig 7.5) or on the top of the event.
8. Each network will have at least one critical path, having zero slack and zero float.
These critical paths are specifically marked on the network.
9. The total duration of Repair job is, thus, obtained by adding all the activity times on
the critical path.

PERT in relation to CPM

CPM and CPA are same with little different emphasis and both would be taken as CPM.
PERT is used for bigger works, involving some uncertainties and first-time job. It is a
network model that allows for randomness in activity time. As such PERT uses three-time
estimates; "Optimistic", "Most-likely" and "Pessimistic" and based on these, Expected
Activity time is calculated-----

(Expected Activity Time)

[𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 + 4 ∗ (𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒) + 𝑝𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒]
=
6

CPM charts are similar to PERT charts and are sometimes known as PERT/[Link] is a
deterministic method that uses a fixed time estimate for each activity. While CPM is easy to
understand and uses, it does not consider time variations that can have a great impact on
completion time of a complex project or Repair Plan. In most maintenance application we use
PERT/CPM model networks.

CPM may be considered as a smaller PERT and is more often used in maintenance.

Different types of PERT/CPM networks are being used in maintenance today; three of which
shown here as Figure 4, Figure 5 and Figure 6. Figure 4 and Figure 5 are the same network
except that in figure 5 activity lines are suitably folded to make the network easier to be made
on smaller paper. Again, in Figure 4 and Figure 5, events have been shown as squares for ease
in making, but in actual use these should better be circles. In figure 6 the same activities have
been arranged in squared network and 𝑇 , 𝑇 etc. can be mentioned within squares. All
these networks need separate "Activity Lists" which consists of activity number, agency, time
(duration), activity description and may or may not include earliest start time and latest finish
time. Table 3 shows one activity list.

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 Table 3. Activity List for 900 Mill Shutdown

[Link]. Activity Agency Time Activity Description Earliest Latest

Number (Hrs) Start Finish
Time Time
1 0-1 HM 8 Remove rolls

2 1-2 HM 8 Remove Top and Bottom

Spindles and Top Carrier
3 2-3 HM 8 Remove Bottom Spindle Brg,
and Bottom Spindle Lift
Cylinder
4 3-4 HM 8
5 0-9 Contr. 32 Remove Oil of Lube Oil System
No. 1
6 0-7 FM. Remove Front Working Table
Covers
Figure :4-PERT/CPM Network, Conventional-1

Figure 4: PERT/CPM Network, Conventional 1

 Slack of activity 2-4 = 𝑇 − 𝑇 =𝑇 −𝑇

 Free Float of activity 2-4 = (𝑇 , of event 4-𝑇 ., of event2- Activity time)

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  Total Float of Activity 2-4 = (𝑇 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 4 − 𝑇 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 2 − 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒)
 Total Float of any event can also be said as (𝑇 −𝑇 )

Figure 5: PERT/CPM Network

Figure 6: PERT/CPM Squared Network

As for historical development, PERT was first used by the U.S. Department of the Navy in
planning and carrying out the development of the Polaris submarine-launched missile

19
programme in 1950 and CPM was developed by M/s Du Pont and Remington Rand around
the same time. However, these are now extensively used in project and maintenance jobs.

There are some limitations in network techniques also. Though it has time-sense, it does not
give any time comparison between the duration of individual activities, as the activity lines
length depends on ease of making network. As such, in actual practice, a combination of Bar
Chart and PERT/CPM network are used; Bar chart for execution and PERT/CPM chart for
making bar chart and monitoring.

Advantages and Disadvantages of PERT and CPM- These are shown in the following chart-

Advantages (PERT/CPM) Disadvantages

1. Very effective tool for monitoring any 1. Costly
repair plan or project, 2. Time consuming,
2. Helps in understanding and 3. Poor estimates in activity times in PERT
communication amongst involved 4. Inclination to use pessimistic time
personnel/ agencies. estimates for activity time (in PERT)
3. Highlights activities important to
complete the total job on time,
4. Shows interrelationship in workflow
and is useful in determining labour
and resources needs in advance,
5. An effective tool in controlling the
cost and can easily be computerized,
6. Helps in avoiding duplication and
omissions and determining the total
job duration systematically.

JOB SCHEDULING WITHIN LIMITED RESOURCES

The network technique theoretically assumes unlimited resources and tries to make as many
activities/ jobs concurrent as technically possible. But in actual maintenance scheduling,
often, following limitations/ constraints are faced-

 Resources (manpower and facilities) are limited,

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  Occasionally start time and end time are fixed beforehand because of fitting that
schedule in some master schedule or other available opportunities,
 Actual site condition and handling facility constraints/ obstructions may not allow
many jobs to start concurrently; etc.

As such, scheduling of maintenance job within limited resources is a greater challenge. The
problem becomes more acute when the network is large. As such, often, following three basic
approaches are adopted to solve such scheduling problems-

1. Subjective Approach- This is essentially a manual process and the scheduler decides
subjectively which activity is to be deferred or to be made from concurrent to succeeding. 2.
Mathematical Programming Approach- In this approach, considering all the constraints and
limitations, a systematic search is made for optimal solution amongst various possible
alternatives. The optimal solution is the schedule of activities which minimizes the
completion time, while observing the activity precedence and resource limitation. This
approach may use inter-programming and dynamic programming etc.

3. Heuristic Approach- This approach is also told as "Rule of Thumb Approach" and is,
probably, the most suited approach for maintenance scheduling within limited resources It
involves devising simple procedures of activity scheduling that do not affect much the critical
path activities and do not deviate much from the optimal ones. The heuristics which may be
used, include-

 Minimum job/activity slack time method

 Minimum late finish time method
 Greatest resource utilization method
 Most job utilization method

The thumb rule, for priority allocation while scheduling, may include 'allocate resources to
activity having least slack', 'if a tie, allocate resources to the activity that is in progress', 'if tie
again, allocate resources to the activity requiring larges resource' and 'allocate resources to
the activity that precedes minimum resource time requirement' etc.

SHORT TERM PLANNING

Like in other walk of life, in maintenance also we often use short term and long-term plans.
Short term plans are generally short-term schedule and its duration may be hours, days,

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weeks or months and these plans can be adjusted or changed frequently. Short term plans
should cover 10% to 15% of the schedule of total job and it should demonstrate continuity.
These jobs should normally be derived from master schedule of total job. Short term planning
of maintenance jobs generally includes small preventive maintenance, diagnostic and
predictive maintenance, small defect rectification, adjustments and small corrective
maintenance etc., which are planned and scheduled on day-to-day basis or at shorter notice.
The persons/ group, engaged for short term planning, also ensures timely resource
availability, coordination amongst connected agencies as well as proper documentation. Some
of the short-term jobs are given herewith-

a. Lubrication plans and schedules,

b. Small defect rectification,
c. Vibration monitoring of few critical equipments,
d. Lubricant monitoring, thermography and other monitoring as per need,
e. Small PM and PdM jobs, etc.

The planning and scheduling of such jobs are done, taking into consideration of plans of other
departments, without necessitating the stoppage of running equipment or on scheduled off-
days or on days the equipment is not used. Occasionally, small shutdowns, for some urgent
repairs, may also be included in short term planning.

LONG TERM PLANNING

Long term plans are generally for future and the duration may be months or years. Whereas
short term planning is "tactical planning", long term planning is "strategic planning". Long
term maintenance planning includes the jobs/ actions which are helpful in maintaining
original level of performance in terms of output, efficiency and reliability. It also includes
maintenance jobs which lead to improved availability and capacity of equipment (may be
slightly better than rated/ designed figures), improved maintenance facilities and safety and
environmental protection. This also calls for development of life cycle plans with anticipated
projection of major replacement of components/assemblies over the entire life cycle of the
plant. These jobs call for more resources, coordination with many agencies and planning
much in advance. Some of the long-term maintenance plans, commonly used in plants and
industries are given herewith-

Major Repairs and Capital Repairs

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The term "Major Repair" is often confused with the term "Capital Repair". Major Repair
includes jobs required to restore a seriously deteriorated or broken-down equipment to a
condition of usability for its desired functions. In addition to maintaining the essential
qualities of the equipment, these repairs may include minor modification/ redesign. Major
overhaul may be another term to mean the same. Frequency of such repairs is normally once
or twice a year, but may vary depending on the duty to be performed and reliability needed.

a year,

The value of asset, normally, builds up original value or very ne "Capital repairs", normally,
means major dismantling and nearly rebuilding of the equipments /plant, needing lot of
resources. The value of asset, normally, builds up original value or very near to that after
capital repairs. At the time of capital repairs, jobs of major repair nature or may also be
included. Frequency of such repairs is once, in two years or even later.

Annual overhauls and statutory overhauls

This apparently appears like major repairs/overhauls and may include job of similar nature
but is generally taken on yearly basis often in the form of "Action Plan' and are mainly taken
for following reasons-

1. Annual maintenance cleaning, painting and corrosion prevention of equipment,

machines, tanks, reservoirs, filters and heat exchangers etc.,
2. Statutory overhauls and inspection and certification (by governmental or other
authorized agencies) of equipment like boilers, pressure vessels, weighbridges etc.
3. Annual Operational Cleaning and painting jobs, like removal of mill-scales, dust
debris, cobbles and crop-pieces and reconditioning of deflectors, diverters etc.

Of course, these repairs also include jobs of major repairs nature and leftover jobs.
Renovation and Revamping

Renovation and revamping are, nearly, similar jobs. These differ vastly from capital repairs a
renovation/ revamping jobs are taken rarely (after many years), after the equipment condition
deteriorated to such an extent that the number of major/ capital repairs, PM, PdM and other
maintenance repairs do not yield desired result and maintenance becomes uneconomical. The
include almost total rebuilding of the equipment complex, using either similar type of technol
with some redesign or improved technology and equipment. Up-gradation of production

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capacity and productivity may or may not be the main aim of these plans but up-gradation of
equipment availability and reliability are definitely the aims for such plans.

Modernization

Modernization of the whole plant/ industry or a section/ shop of the plant is planned when
operation and profitability of the plant or section uneconomical or uncompetitive and
improvement is expected by plans mentioned earlier. Modernization jobs become essential
when the existing plant/ technology has become outdated /obsolete, productivity is not
competitive other better/ cheaper alternatives has become available. However, plant
engineering or project departments are more responsible for planning such jobs and
maintenance department plays the supporting role.

Five Year Rolling Plan

In industries, generally, five year rolling plans are made for major overhauls and replaces of
components. Such plans are essential as procurement of few spares/ components/ assemblies
may need long lead-time and few may be expected to be obsolete. Every year this five-year
plan is reviewed and updated for next five year. These plans are mainly indicative and
budgetary and these, annual overhauls, major repairs and other long-term plans are planned
and scheduled detail. The period of such rolling plans may vary from three years to ten years
in few industries.

Turn-around Planning

This terminology is used for maintenance and repair/ reconditioning jobs of entire plant or
few shops/ areas, which are nearly capital repair type jobs or jobs between capital repair and
revamping natures. Turnaround jobs are planned much in advance as changing of long lead-
time components are also involved. A committee, consisting of members of production,
maintenance, project and technical services departments is formed and is headed by a
"Turnaround coordinator". The committee oversees all activities from preparation of
drawings to execution. The term turn-around s initially introduced for planning total plant
operations for reversing the downward trend.

Corporate Maintenance Plans

This is also an indicative and reference plan, like 5- year or 10-year rolling plans, but is made
to suit the corporate planning goals for total operation of its major plants/ industries, mainly

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including jobs like major repairs, replacements, modifications and revamping etc., which may
be taken at different plants at different times. Many of such jobs need lot of money and need
corporate approval.

MAINTENANCE TURNAROUND AND OUTAGE MANAGEMENT

These terms are recently used often in industries. Maintenance turnaround is as the planned
outage of the shop/ plant to completely overhaul equipments and plant so that it will become
almost new and will have a full operating life. Turnaround is phase during which actual
maintenance is performed as per plan.

The term 'Outage Management' has been taken from is taken from computer system to assist
restoration of electrical power. For general maintenance system and for Turnaround. "Outage
Management' means effective management of total shutdown period.

With the introduction of advance technology, sophisticated and complex equipment, today
any plant outage/ downtime (including turnaround) is very costly and, as such, need of
turnaround has to be examined carefully and turnaround period has to be as small as possible.

Cost-effectiveness is the main criteria for turnaround. Following points to be considered-

a. Present condition and its impact on cost, may be due to more downtimes or
quality or waste loss,
b. Possibility of cost-effective turnaround,
c. How much of the overall maintenance budget should be allocated to
turnaround,
d. Amount of profit loss due to plant being off line during turnaround and below
targets production for few days after turnaround.

As such thorough advance preparation has to be done to keep the turnaround as short as
possible. This is done in following phases-

A. Phase;Initiation -Period during which turnaround parameters are defined and core A.
Phase-1; Initiation persons are allocated. This includes reviewing past records, monitoring
present performance, setting objectives, delegating authority and allocating personnel. This
phase can spread over a period of months. Often a turnaround in-charge is allocated with
steering group, consisting maintenance, operation, engineering and project department
representatives.

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B. Phase-2; Preparation- This includes different failure analysis, planning, scheduling.
material/spares, tools and special facilities procurement and reserving those, indigenous and
outside manufacturer of necessary components, necessary outsourcing, issue of work-orders,
job cards, work permits, necessary safety and environment aspects etc. This period can spread
over from 3 to 18 months, depending on the size and complexity of turnaround, during which
a large quantity of data (both, technical and non-technical) are to be considered.

[Link]-3; Execution- Period during which actual work is done as per schedule. This
includes various level monitoring, coordination and control and necessary rescheduling of
resources and resolving arising issues etc. This period may vary from 2 weeks to 8 weeks,
depending on the size of turnaround and, during that constant watch and control is done about
work quality, safety, logistics and cost aspects.

D. Phase-4; Termination- This period starts immediately after turnaround jobs are
completed and plant starts and the period may vary from 1 to 3 weeks. During this period,
analysis of performance and effect of turnaround jobs are monitored, necessary learning and
changes are established, disposal of special tools and facilities, disposal of wastes etc. and
preparation of final reports are done, with necessary noting/ remarks which may help next
turnaround. Necessary auditing of activities and cost are done at each phase.

QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

1. What do you mean by maintenance job planning? Discuss various steps of maintenance job
planning.

2. What is a job manual and what are its uses?

3. What is difference between job planning and job scheduling? What different scheduling
techniques/

methods are used in industries?

4. What are PERT and CPM and what is the difference between them?

5. In an activity 3-4, the earliest start time and latest start time is 6 and 11 hours respectively,
the earliest finish time and latest finish time is 19 and 24 hours respectively, the three times,
optimistic, most likely and pessimistic times are 5. 14 and 17 hours respectively. Answer the
followings-

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(1) Show the activity 2-3 on paper with all the given details,

(2) Find out the activity time,

(3) Find out the slack and total float times

6. What is Gantt Chart and Bar Chart and how do they differ from PERT/ CPM.

7. Define slack time and Total float in PERT and CPM networks. How do you calculate Total
float and

free float?

8. What is long term plan? Discuss briefly few long-term plans.

9. What is network technique in relation to maintenance job planning? What are the different
networks commonly used?

10. What is Maintenance Turnaround?

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