The book companion · Free resource library
A working toolkit for the maintenance problem in front of you.
Worksheets you walk a shop with. One-pagers you tack above your desk. Choose a problem, work through a short path, or find the resource from your chapter.
Take the book onto the floor
49 resources · 28 chapters · No email required
Start with the work
Choose the symptom. Each path puts the first resource up front and explains what to use next.
Your starting path
Separate true emergencies from noise, then install a repeatable intake gate.
01 / Start here
02 / Then use
03 / Then use
Your starting path
Rank the overdue work, kit the critical jobs, and protect inspection quality.
01 / Start here
02 / Then use
03 / Then use
Worksheet
Use it toFind why inspection routes are not producing usable findings.
Open resourceYour starting path
Protect the frozen zone, run the schedule meeting, and code every miss.
01 / Start here
02 / Then use
Agenda
Use it toTurn the meeting into a committed schedule.
Open resource03 / Then use
Worksheet
Use it toCode misses while the facts are still fresh.
Open resourceYour starting path
Fix planning quality first, then classify parts by stock-out consequence.
01 / Start here
Template
Use it toDefine the job before the technician has to improvise.
Open resource02 / Then use
03 / Then use
Worksheet
Use it toClassify parts by consequence, not habit.
Open resourceYour starting path
Raise close-out quality so the next job plan, failure code, and RCA are usable.
01 / Start here
Rubric
Use it toScore whether the work order actually teaches the system.
Open resource02 / Then use
03 / Then use
Template
Use it toCoach the gap without turning it into a lecture.
Open resourceYour starting path
Pick the right RCA depth, close the loop, and keep repeat assets visible.
01 / Start here
02 / Then use
03 / Then use
Checklist
Use it toMake sure corrective actions survive the meeting.
Open resourcePut Fix the System to work
Start with your role and the foundations your plant has in place.
Maintenance Tool RoadmapFind the supporting systems and the first change to investigate.
KPI System MapConnect the result to a role measure, a practical action, and a review.
KPI Cascade FrameworkUse the book’s cycle and playbook picker to choose a response, then bring the relevant worksheet to the team. These connections guide an investigation; they do not prove a cause.
90-day system
Use this sequence to connect individual improvements into a repeatable maintenance system.
Days 1-14
Walk the floor, measure the current state, and choose the first constraint.
Measure the day as it actually happens.
Score each stage honestly.
Rank the gaps before choosing work.
Days 15-30
Make incoming work clean enough to plan and schedule.
Create a usable request standard.
Route every request within one day.
Turn accepted work into executable work.
Days 31-60
Move from a weekly wish list to a protected, executable schedule.
Commit the week with operations present.
Start work with the crew aligned.
Keep execution disciplined at the asset.
Days 61-90
Use close-out, RCA, and schedule misses to improve the next cycle.
Improve the feedback signal.
Pick the right depth of investigation.
Turn misses into stage-specific fixes.
The complete resource library
Following along with the book? Every resource is here in its original chapter order.
Worksheet · Chapter 1
A one-day exercise to measure your crew's wrench time. Walk behind one crew. Log every minute. Do the math.
One-Pager · Chapter 1
Palmer's four tiers, and what your shop looks like at each one.
Worksheet · Chapter 2
The Ray and Carl whiteboard, made printable. Observed loss → system that closes it → ninety-day install order.
One-Pager · Chapter 2
Three seductive, wrong answers to 'what is the job of a maintenance manager?' — and the one right one.
One-Pager · Chapter 3
The Five-Stage Cycle has five ways of breaking. Catch a leaking stage on the floor before the KPI report tells you it's already slipped.
Worksheet · Chapter 4
Five questions, one per stage of the cycle. Score yourself honestly — land on a tier, spot the stage holding you back most.
Worksheet · Chapter 4
Eight KPIs against world-class, target, and action-threshold numbers. Plot your plant; the gaps rank your install priorities.
Template · Chapter 5
Four fields. Ninety seconds to complete. The front door of the work management cycle — built for operators, not maintenance.
Checklist · Chapter 5
Fifteen minutes, first thing in the morning. Every notification routed, every operator heard back from within 24 hours.
Agenda · Chapter 5
Thirty minutes. Once a month. Operations and maintenance together. The meeting that keeps identification installed.
Checklist · Chapter 6
Forty-eight hours before the job. Parts laid out, tag hung, photo on the WO. Includes the Friday RESTOCK step most plants skip — the one that keeps kitting from quietly decaying inside a quarter.
Template · Chapter 6
BOM, procedure, hours, safety, drawings. The planner's sign-off page. If a technician has to improvise on the floor, it wasn't a plan.
Template · Chapter 7
The one-page signed standard that protects the scheduled week from casual disruption. Without this, the weekly scheduling meeting produces a wish list.
Worksheet · Chapter 7
When schedule compliance slips, trace the drop to a specific stage of the cycle instead of blaming operations by reflex.
Agenda · Chapter 7
Thirty minutes, once a week, with maintenance and operations together. Produces a committed schedule, not a wish list.
Template · Chapter 8
Five minutes, at the asset, before the first tool comes out of the bag. Four items the crew lead reads aloud.
Rubric · Chapter 8
The Chapter 1 follow-a-crew exercise, formalized for ongoing quarterly use so you can prove the installation is working.
Checklist · Chapter 8
Lockout-tagout done as muscle memory, not theater. Every isolation verified. Every verification logged.
Rubric · Chapter 9
The five-element standard. A close-out that meets all five feeds the cycle. A close-out that meets fewer starves it.
One-Pager · Chapter 9
Canonical failure codes for common asset classes. Pick the closest match and write the code with a one-line description.
Template · Chapter 9
Five minutes, private, with one technician at a time, about one specific weak close-out.
Flowchart · Chapter 10
Three questions to run within five minutes of any out-of-schedule request. If all three answers are no, it is not an emergency.
One-Pager · Chapter 10
Five patterns of not-actually-an-emergency. Route matching requests to the planning queue with an explanation.
Role Cards · Chapter 11
Five roles, one person per role, designated in writing at incident declaration and deactivated at incident closure.
Template · Chapter 11
Every war room event gets a 90-minute debrief within 72 hours of incident closure. Six questions, one two-page memo.
Checklist · Chapter 12
The pre-arrival gate. Every item verified before the contractor's first boot touches plant concrete.
Rubric · Chapter 12
The plant's record of what the contractor actually did, written by a plant technician and filed in the CMMS.
Flowchart · Chapter 13
Three decision questions and three tools. Pick by the problem, not by the tool you already know.
Worksheet · Chapter 13
A 20-minute structured conversation for linear, single-event failures. Stop when the last why points to something you can change.
Infographic · Chapter 14
One card. Ten playbooks. Pick the one whose trigger fires in your plant and run it.
Picker · Chapter 14
Pick your worst KPI and start there. Not the easiest one. The one that is costing the most.
Checklist · Chapter 15
Every PM due on day N has its full parts kit staged by end of shift on day N-2. No PM goes to the floor without its kit.
Worksheet · Chapter 15
Classify every overdue PM by asset criticality, rank it, and clear the A-class list before you install kitting.
Checklist · Chapter 16
Every RCA produces an action list. This checklist keeps the actions from dying after the meeting.
Worksheet · Chapter 16
Every asset that has failed the same way three or more times in twelve months belongs on this list.
Decision Tree · Chapter 17
Four levers. Every aged work order goes through one. No exceptions and no coming back to it later.
Worksheet · Chapter 17
Get from total backlog as a lie to the real backlog after aged, duplicate, and stale work has been removed.
Rubric · Chapter 18
Every incoming work order goes through the four-question test at intake. Maintenance classifies, not the originator.
Worksheet · Chapter 18
Two weeks, every incoming work order, classified against the four-question rubric instead of gut feel.
Worksheet · Chapter 19
Complete one sheet per week. Code each miss the same day, then tally root causes at week end.
Worksheet · Chapter 20
Audit active inspection routes, code missed work, and verify the findings pipeline before compliance numbers count.
Worksheet · Chapter 21
Classify storeroom items by consequence of stock-out, audit parts delays, and set the scheduling gate for confirmed parts.
Worksheet · Chapter 22
Select pilot assets, match techniques to failure modes, document baselines, and set thresholds before condition monitoring begins.
Worksheet · Chapter 23
Find the asset and failure-mode combinations driving availability loss, then focus job plans and parts readiness on the top three.
Worksheet · Chapter 24
Break repair events into response, diagnosis, parts, repair, and closure time so the dominant delay becomes visible.
Worksheet · Chapter 25
Prepare for a standards conversation by separating unclear expectations, missing support, and true performance gaps.
Checklist · Chapter 26
A supervisor station checklist for the 30 minutes before shift, the first 45 minutes on the floor, and end-of-shift handover.
Worksheet · Chapter 27
Map who can do critical work independently, identify coverage gaps, and turn those gaps into cross-training actions.
Quick Start · Chapter 28
Pick your current level, pull the triggering metric, open the right playbook, and start the first 30 days after finishing the book.
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