Maintenance Technology May 2015 - (Page 15)

COVER STORY A summary of key ﬁndings: 2015 2012 Use reactive maintenance more than half of the time: 41% 45% Use preventive maintenance more than half of the time: 32% 34% Use predictive maintenance more than half of the time: 10% 12% Single most important challenge to job effectiveness: Top reason for contracting maintenance services: Top world-class maintenance strategy in partial or full use: Skilled-labor shortage (both years) ■ Is a survey-based overview of best-practice maintenance strategies currently used in U.S. industrial operations. ■ Is based on 298 responses from Maintenance Technology magazine subscribers to an online survey delivered in April 2015. Comparative chart information is taken from an identical study conducted in 2012 (293 responses). ■ Includes some survey percentages that do not total 100% due to rounding. Limited manpower (both years) RCM (both years) The beckoning new world Our two 2015-only survey questions-on respondents' use of IOT-connected digital equipment, and their familiarity with ISO 55000-represent the power of things to come. While responses to these questions show a somewhat conservative acceptance in both areas, this is not likely to remain. For example, more than a third (37%) of respondents say their use of digital equipment to support maintenance functions is either moderate or significant. And the ranks of those who say they have no such equipment-already in the minority at 19%-can only shrink in coming years as this equipment becomes more affordable and useful. Implementation of the ISO 55000 asset-management standard is a tougher sell, but our respondents also show progress here: 13% have either already implemented it or begun to. This level of implementation so soon after the standard's introduction (in January 2014) is a good sign of its value to the maintenance and reliability community. Though there is still work to be done-more than a third say they have not heard of ISO 55000-it's likely this could also change quickly as more operations not only adapt it, but require their suppliers to as well. But how the next few years will unfold for those in desperate need of skilled labor is impossible to predict. Despite significant, growing support for skills training and STEM education from government, community colleges and private enterprise, respondents to our State of the Practice Survey continue to see this as their toughest and most worrisome challenge. In the survey's final segment, which offered respondents the opportunity to write in their view of the current or future state of industrial maintenance in the U.S., more than half of the responses to this question addressed the topic directly. Two are included above; here's one more: "There are no young people getting into training for this type of work," writes this respondent. "If something does not change, we will be without people to maintain our equipment and plants." MT MAY 2015 The Maintenance Technology State of the Practice Study, 2015: Respondent details: ■ 45% work at companies with annual sales above $25 million. ■ 53% have an annual budget for maintenance and reliability activities that is greater than $100,000. ■ Respondent job titles include Maintenance Manager, Maintenance Group Leader, Maintenance Supervisor, Director of Maintenance, Maintenance Coordinator, Maintenance Engineer, Maintenance Planner, Reliability Engineer, Director of Reliability and Facility Manager, among others. CHART 1: What is the single most important challenge to your ability to effectively do your job today? Skilled labor shortage 2015: 39% Competition 2012: 36% Unenlightened management 2015: 26% 2012: 25% 2012: 15% Economy 2015: 10% 2012: 9% Government regulations 2015: 5% 2012: 0% Other* Retirement of skilled technicians 2015: 13% 2015: 1% 2012: 4% 2015: 6% 2012: 11% * Responses include "workload per employee"; "cost of staffing"; "lean organizational shifts"; "too many responsibilities"; "budget too low" and others. MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM | 15 http://www.MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM

Maintenance Technology May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology May 2015