15 Rules Every Maintenance Manager Should Know

Learned the hard way. On the floor. Good plants do the basics relentlessly.

Fifteen rules distilled from real plant floors, not textbooks. Know the equipment — walk it, hear it, feel it. Work orders count — if it isn't logged, it didn't happen. Root cause first. Plan before fire. Rank criticality. Know failure modes. Spares strategy. Operator care. Cut weak PMs. Manage backlog. Measure wrench time. Plan shutdowns. Reliability wins. Monitor condition. Keep improving. Good plants do the basics relentlessly.