IDCON’s latest newsletter describes how to make the most of weekly and daily operations and maintenance meetings, and lists the best practices for non-shutdown backlog targets.

Daily and weekly meetings between operations and maintenance are crucial when trying to improve daily maintenance.

Many organisations deal well with production stops, but have issues with organising routine work.

Coordinating meetings where various departments prioritise work orders (WO) and maintenance is critical to the partnership between operations and maintenance.

These meetings create efficiency and when well-organised with clear goals and agendas, they can change the culture for an organisation.

A weekly meeting should take no more than an hour. The maintenance coordinator, maintenance planner and foreman of the operations department should be present.

Most organisations do not have reliable enough operations to just hold weekly meetings. The weekly schedule needs to be updated on a daily basis.

A common mistake is to hold daily meetings first thing in the morning. They need to be held midday, so that a schedule can be made for maintenance around 3pm in preparation for the next workday.

Maintenance tips

  • The best practices for non-shutdown backlog targets are as follows:
  • Total backlog of four to six weeks: includes all approved work
  • Planning backlog of two to four weeks: all work on which planning has started
  • Planned backlog of two to four weeks: alll work that is ready according to schedule