System
2. Stabilizing
basic control
3. Preventive
planned habits
5. Reliability-led
system owned
PMs are vague, skipped, or mostly tribal memory.
Basic PMs exist, but quality varies by technician.
Tasks are standardized, scheduled, and compliance is visible.
PMs are tied to failure modes and adjusted by results.
PM strategy improves from failure history and asset risk.
Crews start the day hunting parts, permits, and priorities.
A weekly list exists, but emergencies constantly reshuffle it.
Work is planned, kitted, and scheduled before the week starts.
Schedule compliance is measured and break-ins are challenged.
Planning protects reliability work from daily plant noise.
Bad Actors
repeat failures
Everyone knows the repeat offenders. Nobody owns them.
Bad actors are tracked manually after the pain gets obvious.
Top assets are ranked monthly by downtime, cost, and repeats.
Each bad actor has an owner, countermeasure, and due date.
Recurring losses are removed before they become culture.
Work orders close with blank fields and useless comments.
Failure codes exist, but people use the easiest option.
Closeout standards are taught, audited, and corrected.
Data supports Pareto reviews, PM changes, and RCA triggers.
The CMMS is trusted enough to make decisions from it.
Operator Care
asset ownership
Operators run equipment until it fails, then call maintenance.
Basic checks exist, but standards and follow-up are weak.
Clean, inspect, tighten, and report routines are visible.
Operators raise defects early and maintenance closes the loop.
Operations and maintenance jointly protect equipment health.
Lubrication
precision basics
Grease is applied by habit, sound, or whoever is nearby.
Lubricants are labeled, but routes and quantities drift.
Correct lubricant, point, amount, frequency, and method are defined.
Oil analysis and contamination control guide changes.
Lubrication is engineered, audited, and improved as a system.
Condition Monitoring
early warning
Problems are found after noise, heat, alarms, or downtime.
Routes exist for critical assets, but follow-up is inconsistent.
Vibration, thermal, oil, and inspections feed planned work.
Alerts trigger decisions before failure windows close.
Condition data shapes strategy, spares, and production risk.
RCA means finding someone or something to blame.
Major failures get reviewed, but actions are weak.
Triggers, templates, owners, and due dates are defined.
Corrective actions are verified for recurrence prevention.
RCA changes standards, PMs, training, design, or spares.
Backlog is a pile. Nobody trusts age, priority, or scope.
Work is prioritized, but old noise still clogs the list.
Backlog is clean, aged, planned, and ready to schedule.
Backlog mix is managed by risk, labor, and asset criticality.
Backlog is a control system, not a storage bin.
Shutdown Readiness
outage execution
Shutdowns are survived with heroics, expediting, and luck.
Scopes are listed, but readiness reviews happen late.
Scopes, parts, labor, permits, and job plans are locked early.
Risk reviews, constraints, and restart plans are built in.
Shutdowns become reliability interventions, not calendar events.
