Maintenance Management

&
control

Lecture 3

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 Introduction
• Maintenance management may be described as the function of
providing policy guidance for maintenance activities, in addition to
exercising technical and management control of maintenance programs.
• Generally, as the size of the maintenance activity and group increases,
the need for better management and control become essential.
• In the past, the typical size of a maintenance group in a manufacturing
establishment varied from 5 to 10% of the operating force.
• Today, the proportional size of the maintenance effort compared to the
operating group has increased significantly, and this increase is
expected to continue. The prime factor behind this trend is the tendency
in industry to increase the mechanization and automation of many
processes.
• Consequently, this means lesser need for operators but greater
requirement for maintenance
07/21/2025 personnel.
Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 2
 FUNCTIONS OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

• Planning and repairing equipment/facilities to acceptable

standards
• Performing preventive maintenance; more specifically,
developing and implementing a regularly scheduled work
program for the purpose of maintaining satisfactory
equipment/facility operation as well as preventing major
problems
• Preparing realistic budgets that detail maintenance personnel
and material needs
• Managing inventory to ensure that parts/materials necessary to
conduct maintenance tasks are readily available
• Keeping records on equipment, services, etc.
07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 3
 Continuation
• Developing effective approaches to monitor the activities of
maintenance staff
• Developing effective techniques for keeping operations personnel,
upper-level management, and other concerned groups aware of
maintenance activities
• Training maintenance staff and other concerned individuals to
improve their skills and perform effectively
• Reviewing plans for new facilities, installation of new equipment, etc.
• Implementing methods to improve workplace safety and developing
safety education-related programs for maintenance staff
• Developing contract specifications and inspecting work performed by
contractors to ensure compliance with contractual requirements
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ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

1. MAINTENANCE POLICY
• A maintenance policy is one of the most important elements of
effective maintenance management.
• It is essential for continuity of operations and a clear understanding of
the maintenance management program, regardless of the size of a
maintenance organization.
• Usually, maintenance organizations have manuals containing items
such as policies, programs, objectives, responsibilities, and authorities
for all levels of supervision, reporting requirements, useful methods
and techniques, and performance measurement indices.
• Lacking such documentation, i.e., a policy manual, a policy document
must be developed containing all essential policy information.

07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 5

Continuation
2. MATERIAL CONTROL
• Past experience indicates that, on average, material costs account
for approximately 30 to 40% of total direct maintenance costs.
• Efficient utilization of personnel depends largely on effectiveness
in material coordination.
• Material problems can lead to false starts, excess travel time,
delays, unmet due dates, etc. Steps such as job planning,
coordinating with purchasing, coordinating with stores,
coordination of issuance of materials, and reviewing the
completed job can help reduce material related problems.
• Deciding whether to keep spares in storage is one of the most
important problems of material control.
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Continuation
3. WORK ORDER SYSTEM
• A work order authorizes and directs an individual or a group to perform a
given task.
• A well-defined work order system should cover all the maintenance jobs
requested and accomplished, whether repetitive or one-time jobs.
• The work order system is useful for management in controlling costs and
evaluating job performance.
• Although the type and size of the work order can vary from one
maintenance organization to another, a work order should at least contain
information such as requested and planned completion dates, work
description and its reasons, planned start date, labor and material costs,
item or items to be affected, work category (preventive maintenance,
repair, installation, etc.), and appropriate approval signatures.

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 Continuation
4. EQUIPMENT RECORDS
• Equipment records play a critical role in effectiveness and efficiency of the
maintenance organization. Usually, equipment records are grouped under four
classifications: maintenance work performed, maintenance cost, inventory, and files.
• The maintenance work performed category contains chronological documentation of all
repairs and preventive maintenance (PM) performed during the item’s service life to
date. The maintenance cost category contains historical profiles and accumulations of
labor and material costs by item. Usually, information on inventory is provided by the
stores or accounting department.
• The inventory category contains information such as property number, size and type,
procurement cost, date manufactured or acquired, manufacturer, and location of the
equipment/item. The files category includes operating and service manuals,
warranties, drawings, and so on.
• Equipment records are useful when procuring new items/equipment to determine
operating performance trends, troubleshooting breakdowns, making replacement or
modification decisions, investigating incidents, identifying areas of concern, performing
reliability and maintainabilityPrinciples
07/21/2025 studies, and conducting
of maintenance life cycle cost and design studies.
Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 8
 Contn
5. PREVENTIVE AND CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE
• The basic purpose of performing PM is to keep
facility/equipment in satisfactory condition through inspection
and correction of early-stage deficiencies.
• Three principle factors shape the requirement and scope of the
PM effort: process reliability, economics, and standards
compliance.
• A major proportion of a maintenance organization’s effort is
spent on corrective maintenance (CM). Thus, CM is an
important factor in the effectiveness of maintenance
organization.
• Both
07/21/2025
PM and CM are further discussed the next lectures.
Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 9
 Contn
6. JOB PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
• Job planning is an essential element of the effective maintenance management.
• A number of tasks may have to be performed prior to commencement of a maintenance job; for
example, procurement of parts, tools, and materials, coordination and delivery of parts, tools, and
materials, identification of methods and sequencing, coordination with other departments, and
securing safety permits.
• Although the degree of planning required may vary with the craft involved and methods used, past
experience indicates that on average one planner is required for every twenty craft persons.
• Strictly speaking, formal planning should cover 100% of the maintenance workload but emergency
jobs and small, straightforward work assignments are performed in a less formal environment.
• Thus, in most maintenance organizations 80 to 85% planning coverage is attainable.
• Maintenance scheduling is as important as job planning. Schedule effectiveness is based on the
reliability of the planning function. For large jobs, in particular those requiring multi-craft
coordination, serious consideration must be given to using methods such as Program Evaluation and
Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM) to assure effective overall control.
• The CPM approach is described in detail later in the next slides

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 contn
7. BACKLOG CONTROL AND PRIORITY SYSTEM
• The amount of backlog within a maintenance organization is one of the
determining factors of maintenance management effectiveness.
• Identification of backlogs is important to balance manpower and workload
requirements. Furthermore, decisions concerning overtime, hiring,
subcontracting, shop assignments, etc., are largely based on backlog
information.
• Management makes use of various indices to make backlog related
decisions.
• The determination of job priority in a maintenance organization is
necessary since it is not possible to start every job the day it is requested.
• In assigning job priorities, it is important to consider factors such as
importance of the item or system, the type of maintenance, required due
dates,
07/21/2025 and the length of time
Principles the job Eng
of maintenance awaiting scheduling will take.
by [Link] Mukalazi 11
Contn
8. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
• Successful maintenance organizations regularly measure
their performance through various means.
• Performance analyses contribute to maintenance
department efficiency and are essential to revealing the
downtime of equipment, peculiarities in operational
behavior of the concerned organization, developing plans
for future maintenance, and so on.
• Various types of performance indices for use by the
maintenance management are discussed later in these
slides
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 MAINTENANCE CONTROL
• A maintenance system can be viewed as a simple input/output system
• The inputs to the system are manpower, failed equipment, material and spare parts,
tools, information, polices and procedures, and spares. The output is equipment that
is up, reliable and well configured to achieve the planned operation of the plant
• •The system has a set of activities that make it functional. The activities include
planning, scheduling, execution and control. The control is achieved in reference to
the objectives of the maintenance system. The objectives are usually aligned with
the organization objectives and include equipment availability, costs and quality. The
feedback and control is an important function in this system that can be used to
improve the system performance.
• An effective maintenance control system improves equipment reliability and assists
in the optimal utilization of resources
• Maintenance control refers to the set of activities, tools and procedures utilized to
coordinate and allocate maintenance resources to achieve the objectives of the
maintenance system that are necessary for the following: 1. Work control; 2. Quality
and process control; 3. Cost control; and 4. An effective reporting and feedback
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system
 The Control Process
1. Establish objectives and standards:
the control process begins with planning,
when performance objectives and
standards to be measured are then set.
Performance objectives should represent
key (essential) results that must be
accomplished

2. Measure actual performance: the goal is

to accurately measure the performance results
(output standards) and/or the performance
efforts (input standards). Measurement must
be accurate enough to pinpoint significant
differences between what is actually obtained
and what was originally planned.

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Continuation
• In maintenance performance measurements, the following indices assist in
setting targets and assessing if they are met or not:
a) Production Indices:
Quality rate (QR) = (Units produced within specifications)/(Total units
produced)
Process rate (PR) = (Speed of machine operation)/(Design speed)
Machine Utilization (U) = (Actual production achieved (hrs)/(Total scheduled
hours)
Percentage lost production due to causes other than Maintenance= (Lost
production hours due to causes other than breakdowns)/(Total lost production
hours)
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 Continuation
b) Maintenance Indices:
• Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) = U*PR*QR
• Percentage of lost production hours due to breakdown= (Lost production
hours due to breakdown)/(Total lost production hours)
• Mean time between failures (MTBF) = (Number of available operating
hours)/(Number of breakdowns)
• Mean time of repair (MTR) = (Sum of all repair times)/(Number of breakdowns)
• Machine breakdown severity = (Cost of breakdown repairs)/(Number of
breakdowns) Percentage of planned maintenance = (Number of maintenance
hours worked as planned)/(Total maintenance hours worked)
• Maintenance efficiency = (Actual hours worked on Maintenance)/(Total available
hours for maintenance)
• Effective cost of labor/hour = (Total cost of labor (wages and overtime))/(Actual
hours worked) Effective cost of maintenance/man/hour (1) = (total cost of
maintenance)/(total man hours worked) (2) = (direct cost of breakdown repairs (labor
and material)/(total direct cost
07/21/2025 of all
Principles maintenance)
of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 16
 Continuation
3. Compare results with objectives and standards: this
step can be expressed in the Control Equation: Need for Action
= Desired Performance –Actual Performance. Sometimes
managers make a historical comparison, using past
performance as a basis for evaluating current performance. A
relative comparison uses the performance achievements of
other persons, work units, or organizations as the evaluation
benchmarks. In maintenance comparisons standards are set
scientifically through such methods such as time and motion
studies. The preventive maintenance routines, for example, are
measured in terms of expected time in every routine performed,
based on operating hours, or time interval
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Continuation
[Link] corrective action: the final step in the control process
is to take any action necessary to correct problems,
discrepancies, or make improvements. Management by
exception is the practice of giving attention to situations that
show the utmost need for action. It saves valuable time, energy,
and other resources by focusing attention on critical and high
priority areas. The maintenance managers should give special
attention to two types of exceptions: 1) a problem situation in
which actual performance is below the standard; and 2) an
opportunity situation in which actual performance is above the
standard. The reason for this is that with the goal of existence,
enterprises should look for achieving a high level of productivity.

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 Functional Structure of Maintenance Control
1. Planning and forecasting the maintenance load: the planning and forecasting of
maintenance load deals with two important aspects of maintenance. The first aspect is the
emphasis on planning the maintenance load which is a result of a planned maintenance
program. The second aspect deals with forecasting the maintenance load. The functions of
planning and forecasting (predicting) maintenance load are prerequisites for effective
maintenance control. the best way of predicting the maintenance requirements is to have a
large portion of the maintenance load planned. This necessitates an effective planned
maintenance program that ensures at least 80% of the maintenance load is planned and it's
preferable to have 90% of the load planned. Unplanned maintenance work is a major factor in
lack of control unlike planned maintenance work that reduces uncertainties in planning the
required resources and coordination to accomplish the maintenance work and hence assists in
effective maintenance control.

2. Work order planning and scheduling: the functions of work order planning and scheduling
deal with planning the resources for the required maintenance jobs and allocating the
available resources. The resources include manpower, material, spare parts and tools. Usually
this requires a job of a planner who is well training in productivity methods, time standards,
materials, computers and has good communications skills. The scheduling deals with
allocation of the available resources at specified points in time. The work order planning
requires
07/21/2025 the existence of a wellPrinciples
designed work
of maintenance Engorder system
by [Link] Mukalazi 19
 Functional Structure of Maintenance Control

• Then scheduling the work based on an established priority system. A brief

outline of these functions is provides in this chapter since they are
presented in detail in a separate chapter of this book.
3. Work order execution and performance evaluation: the work order
execution and monitoring functions deal with processing the work orders
and monitoring the progress of the work through the work cycle. In this
function data is collected to assess the quality of work and the utilization of
the resources.
4. Feedback and corrective action: feedback information and corrective
action is concerned with the collection of data about the status of the work
execution, system availability, work backlog, quality of work performed.
Then this information is analyzed and communicated to decision makers in
order to take appropriate corrective actions and, thus, to aid in achieving
set goals and objectives.
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Work Order System

• The work order system consists of two main parts: (1) the
documents required to facilitate work planning, execution
and control; and (2) the work order flow process
1. Basic Documentation for Work Order System
• The necessary documents required for the work order
system include the work order, materials and tools
requisition forms, job card, maintenance schedule,
maintenance program, plant inventory and equipment
history files.
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 1.1 The Work Order (W/O)
• The work order is the basic document (form) for planning
and control.
• It is necessary to ensure that any request, failure and
remedy are recorded for further use.
• In industry, W/Os may be referred to by different names such
as work request, work requisition, request for service, etc.
The W/O can be initiated by any persons in the organization
and must be screened by the maintenance planner or
coordinator.
• Detailed written instructions for any work or activities (job)
to be carried out, in any component or part of a
plant/equipment/machinery, must be clearly shown in the
W/O.
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Uses of the Work Order (W/O)
• Detailing the required resources for the job including
the assignment of skilled and competent personnel for
undertaking the maintenance tasks;
• Ensuring appropriate and the best methods and
procedures utilization including safety procedures;
• Execution, maintaining, monitoring and controlling the
maintenance activities and tasks; and
• Providing the right data and information from the work
order for analysis and continuous improvements.

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 Key information of the Work Order
(W/O)
Information needed for planning and scheduling include the
following:
• Inventory number, unit description and site;
• Person or department requesting the work and date work required;
• Work description and time standards;
• Job specification, code number and priority;
• Crafts required;
• Special tools;
• Safety procedures; and
• Technical information (drawings and manuals)
07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 24
Work Order (W/O)

Information needed for

control include:
• Actual time taken;
• Cost codes for crafts;
• Down time or time work
finished; and
• Cause and consequences
of failure.
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 [Link] and Tools Requisition:

• The W/O should be supplemented by two requisition forms; one for materials
and the other for tools
• Those forms are necessary to ensure that materials and tools are ready
before the job is started. These two forms are also useful for providing
information to facilitate smooth and timely planning and control. Such
information includes:
1. Inventory number, unit description and site;
2. Work description and time standards;
3. Job specification and code number;
4. Spare parts and material required;
5. Special tools required;
6. Stock control;
7. Stores code and units price; and
Time required for tools use.
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07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 27
Other basic Documentation for Work Order System

• 1.3. Job Card: The job card describes the maintenance plan for specific equipment. It
carries time taken for repair, inspection or preventive maintenance.
• 1.4. Plant Inventory: Lists all plant items and allocates each item an individual code
number. The plant inventory should be supplemented by a front page, containing the
technical details about the plant/equipment/machinery, and could be called a Plant
Register or Card
• 1.5. Maintenance Schedule: A comprehensive list of maintenance and its incidence
(frequency of occurrence) over the life cycle of the assets is a general guideline to assist
in developing routine maintenance
• For example, in the case of motor vehicles, it assists with a vehicle’s routine
maintenance at a set odometer reading or time schedule, depending the use and driving
habits
• A comprehensive list for a university includes all assets which require up-keeping, i.e.,
buildings, transport fleet, air conditioning systems, audiovisuals, stand-by generatorset,
etc., so as to determine all required activities for the whole life cycle of the different
physical assets. Based on the schedule, managers set the appropriate maintenance
organization, workforce, out-sourcing policies, and periodic maintenance programs
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Continuation
• 1.6 Maintenance Program: This is a plan allocating
specific maintenance to a specific time period, often in
chart form

• 1.7 Plant History (Record): Contains information

about all work done on plant items including equipment
history files. The history file includes work performed,
down time and causes of failure

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 Work Order System Flow
• The work order system flow refers to the dispatching procedures and the
order in which the job is processed from its initiation till its completion.
• The following are the sequential steps for the W/O processing: Upon
receipt of the work request by the planner (it can be initiated via
telephone, computer terminal, or in hard copy) it is screened and
checked to determine whether it is a planned maintenance (i.e.,
preventive or predictive) or an occurrence of a failure.
• If the job is an EMERGENCY case, then a maintenance crew is dispatched
IMMEDIATELY and the W/O follows later.
• Otherwise a work order is planned and completed, showing the needed
information for planning, execution and control i.e., check equipment
history, job card, fill-in requisitions for materials and tools, plan
manpower, etc. Usually three to four copies are directed to the planner,
foreman, accountant, and supervisor. This is done online in typical
contemporary practice.
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 Work Order System Flow
• The foreman of the appropriate unit may give a hard copy to the craftsmen assigned to
the job, or the W/O can be accessed directly by crafts through Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) or Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) equipment.
The craftsman completes the job and fills information on the W/O.
• The foreman checks the quality of work and verifies information and approves or
complete his copy on the system (if the system is manual, he puts the verified
information on the relevant copies and then forwards them to the maintenance control).
• Accounting completes costs information on his copy/system.
• The system extracts data and puts the data in the equipment history file for periodic
analysis to control and improve maintenance strategies and policies.
• The planner verifies the job is completed and all required information extracted and then
closes the W/O.

• The above steps could be handled manually or automated.

• These steps can presented on A flow chart . If an automated system is used these copies
can be stored as copies in the system and circulated online via a local area network.
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Tools Necessary for Effective Maintenance Control
System

1. Statistical process control tools ( SPC tools): the SPC tools assist in
identifying major causes of failures, process capabilities and stability and examine
machines and gauges capabilities. The tools include Pareto chart, fishbone diagram
(cause and effect diagram) and control charts.
2. Network analysis: network analysis has been successfully used in the power
supply and petrochemical industries to reduce plant stoppage by modeling large
maintenance jobs, overhauls and plant shutdowns as a network model in order to
minimize job completion time and shutdown periods using critical path analysis.
3. Failure mode and effect analysis (FEMA): a failure mode and effects analysis
(FMEA) is a procedure for analysis of potential failure modes within a system for the
classification by severity or determination of the failure's effect upon the system. It is
widely used in the manufacturing industries in various phases of the product life
cycle. Failure causes are any errors or defects in process, design, or item especially
ones that affect the customer, and can be potential or actual. Effects analysis refers
to studying the consequences of those failures; or, applying such analysis in failure's
risk assessment for systematically identifying potential failures in a system or a
process.
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Continuation
4. FIMS (Functionally Identified Maintenance system): FIMS is a
diagnostic technique that represents equipment or a system in a hierarchical
logical sequence. In the hierarchical representation each level is a functional
and logical development of the preceding one. The purpose of FIMS is to identify
the failure location in an easily and timely manner. It has been applied
successfully in complex systems such as refineries, airplanes and locomotives.
5. Work measurement: work measurement is one of the elements of work
study. It is a technique to develop time standards of jobs while considering
ratings of workers and allowances for personal needs, fatigue and other
contingencies. Time standards are essential for accurate scheduling, control and
incentive schemes.
6. Stock control: effective polices for spare parts and materials ordering play a
critical role in reducing down time. Planned maintenance programs facilitate the
ordering of spare parts and consumables. The application of economic re-order
quantities based on material usage data not only reduces the total inventory
cost, but plant down-tine and
07/21/2025 maintenance
Principles labor
of maintenance Eng by [Link] costs.
Mukalazi 33
 Continuation
7. Budget: budgeting is essential for cost control. It forms a basis for the judgment
of actual performance, and through cost control it shows if remedial measures are
necessary. The real costs of maintenance are not easily assessed. Its true cost should
be segregated from those of the indirect activities of the department, if satisfactory
control and accountability are to be established
8. Life cycle costing (LCC): life cycle cost is the total cost of ownership of
machinery and equipment, including its cost of acquisition, operation, maintenance,
conversion, and/or decommission (SAE 1999; Barringer, 2003). The objective of LCC
analysis is to choose the most cost appropriate approach from a series of
alternatives to achieve the lowest long-term cost over the life of an asset. Usually the
cost of operation, maintenance, and disposal costs are the major component in the
LCC. The use of LCC may help in reduction in the costs of maintenance and operation
since theses costs are the dominant ones in machinery LCC.
9. Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS): CMMS enables
maintenance managers and supervisors to access information about equipment,
manpower and maintenance polices. This information assists in improving
maintenance effectiveness and control.
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Maintenance Control methods
• Two widely used maintenance project control methods are
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and
Critical Path Method (CPM).
• In maintenance and other projects three important
factors of concern are time, cost, and resource
availability. CPM and PERT deal with these factors
individually and in combination.
• PERT and CPM are similar. The major difference between
the two is that when the completion times of activities of
the project are uncertain, PERT is used and with the
certainty of completion times, CPM is employed.
07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 35
Steps are involved with PERT and CPM
• Break a project into individual jobs or tasks.
• Arrange these jobs/tasks into a logical network.
• Determine duration time of each job/task.
• Develop a schedule.
• Identify jobs/tasks that control the completion of
project.
• Redistribute resources or funds to improve schedule.

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CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM)

• Four symbols used to construct a CPM network are shown in Fig.

3.1. The circle denotes an event.
• Specifically, it represents an unambiguous point in the life of a
project. An event could be the start or completion of an activity or
activities, and usually the events are labeled by number.
• A circle shown with three divisions in Fig. 3.1(b) is also denotes an
event. Its top half labels the event with a number, and the bottom
portions indicate latest event time (LET) and earliest event time
(EET).
• LET may be described as the latest time in which an event can be
reached without delaying project completion. EET is the earliest
time in which an activity can be accomplished or an event could
be reached.
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Continuation
• The continuous arrow represents an activity that
consumes time, money, and manpower. This arrow always
starts at a circle and ends at a circle.
• The dotted arrow denotes a dummy activity or a restraint.
Specifically, this is an imaginary activity that does not
consume time, money, or manpower.
• Figure 3.2 depicts an application of a dummy activity. It
shows that activities L and M must be accomplished
before activity N can start.
• However, only activity M must be completed prior to
starting activity O.
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07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 41
 Example 3.2

• A maintenance project was broken down into a set of seven

activities, after which Table 3.2 was prepared. Prepare a CPM
network using Fig. 3.1 symbols and Table 3.2 data, and determine
the critical path associated with the network. A CPM network for
given data in Table 3.2 is presented in Fig. 3.3.
• In this figure, the following paths originate and terminate at
events 1 and 7, respectively:

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 Continuation
• The quantities in parentheses above show the total time
in days for each path.
• The dummy activity consumes zero time. By definition,
the longest path through the network is the critical path.
Inspection of the above three values shows that 45 days
is the largest time.
• Specifically, it will take 45 days from event 1 to reach
event 7. Thus, this is the critical path. The word “critical”
is used because any delay in the completion of activities
along the critical path will result in delay of completion of
the maintenance project.
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07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 44
Critical Path Determination Approach
• For simple and straightforward CPM networks, the critical
path can easily be identified in a manner discussed
above. For complex networks a more systematic
approach is required. This section presents one such
approach with the aid of Fig. 3.4.
• The symbols used in the figure are defined below.

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Steps
• 1. Construct CPM network.
• 2. Calculate EET of each event by making a forward pass
of the network and using: For any event j,

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Continuation
• 3. Calculate LET of each event by making a backward
pass of the network and using: For any event i,

07/21/2025 Principles of maintenance Eng by [Link] Mukalazi 47

Continuation
• 4. Select network events with equal EET and LET. If the
network results in only one path, i.e., from the first event
to the last event, with EET = LET, this path is critical.
Otherwise, go to next step.
• 5. Calculate the total float for each activity on each of
the paths with EET = LET. The critical path is the path
that results in the least sum of the total floats. The total
float for any activity (i, j) can be calculated using the
following equation:

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 Example 3.3
Determine the critical path by calculating EET and LET of each event of
the network shown in Fig. 3.3.
• Using Eq. (3.2) we obtain EET of events 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 as 0, 12,
12, 18,21, 30, and 45, respectively. Similarly, with the aid of Eq. (3.4)
the LET of events 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are 0, 19, 12, 18, 21, 30, and
45, respectively.
• Figure 3.5 shows a redrawn Fig. 3.3 CPM network with these EETs and
LETs. The lower left quarter of each circle in Fig. 3.5 shows LET and the
right quarter the EET.
• The activities marked CP in Fig. 3.5 indicate the critical path as all the
events that fall on this path have EET = LET, and it is the only path
whose events have equal EETs and LETs.
• In other two paths the EET and LET of all events encountered are not
equal.
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CPM Advantages
• It is an effective tool for monitoring project progress.
• It helps improve project understanding and communication among
involved personnel.
• It highlights activities important to complete the project on time.
These activities must be completed on time to accomplish the
entire project on predicted time.
• It shows interrelationships in workflow and is useful in determining
labor and resources needs in advance.
• It is an effective tool for controlling costs and can easily be
computerized.
• It helps avoiding duplications and omissions and determining
project duration systematically.
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CPM disadvantages
• Costly
• Time-consuming
• Poor estimates of activity times
• Inclination to use pessimistic estimates for activity
times

Read about maintenance management control indices

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