This unique and practical book describes 42 real-life events and/or situations in the careers of the three authors from which they gained insights into the applicable best practices in maintenance and reliability. The authors explain the underlying philosophies where relevant, drawing on the teachings of the leading thinkers in leadership and management. Designed to share knowledge and experience with the readers, in a readily accessible fashion, this resource does not tell the readers what to do or how to do it; it merely explains the event or situation the authors faced, and how they dealt with it. Readers can choose whether they wish to adopt or adapt the authors’ examples. These stories are dynamic illustrations of real life situations which readers will recognize in their own work situations. With a vast potential for improvements in reliability and maintenance performance in industry, these well proven approaches and best practices are sure to help stimulate improved performance on all fronts--safety and environmental, production, maintenance costs, and reputation!

• Provides a logical organization with chapters grouped into six broad headings, enabling readers to choose the order in which they wish to absorb the lessons, which are based on the Shewhart-Deming Continuous Improvement cycle.
• In addition to the Plan-Schedule-Execute-Analyze elements, the authors have added Leadership and People to complete the suite.
• Each chapter has broadly similar sections, beginning with a Background to the events, going on to describe the key elements of the approach, and ending with Lessons and Principles.
• Underlying theories, philosophies or even detailed descriptions of methods are stripped out of the main chapters and described in Appendices, so that only those readers who wish to delve into details may do so.
• Contains a Book Summary which draws all the principles and lessons together, and gives references to the relevant chapters.
• Copiously illustrated, with charts, diagrams and tables which relate closely to the text.

“This book is an essential tool to help pass on the wealth of knowledge of best practices to future generations of maintenance leaders. My only hope is that lots of professionals read it so that many companies and economies reap the benefits of these solid practices.” —Joel Leonard, 'The Maintenance Evangelist', MPACT Learning Center

"The book represents a great wealth of practical experience on many topics ... an essential primer on maintenance topics ... from a practical point of view. I will make this required reading by the SAMI maintenance consultants. There is certainly food for thought even for the most experienced manager."—S. Bradley Peterson, President, Strategic Asset Management, Inc.

“This is a must read for people who have to struggle with the day-to-day problems of plant life. If you have a subordinate field position in a manufacturing facility, this book will reveal why bosses do the things they do. If you are in a supervisory or management role, this book will help you steer your career.”—Charles J. Latino, CEO and President, Reliability Center, Inc.

"I have written numerous maintenance and reliability books myself and when I first took a quick glance at the book I did not see the real value in it until I sat down and read it. What these authors did was take their real world experience and join knowledge to make a great book. If you are experiencing anxiety in your plant or just curious how to make your operation run more efficiently I highly recommend this book. Good job guys. This is the first book I have ever read like this. I love it." —Ricky Smith, CMRP

"I read the book from the perspective of a 'non-technical' reader and think that it is a fund of valuable knowledge and experience.

I find it very well organized. The summary at the end, the background, lessons and principles in each chapter made it very easy for me to follow and flow with the content. I particularly liked the 'marriage' of time-tested management principles and technical strategies with a people-oriented approach. The fact that several 'people-failures' are really 'process-failures' rings true. I like the emphasis on communication, sharing, and alignment of the vision with and through the ranks of all involved personnel. Kudos to the authors for sharing their life long experience through this book..." —Ayesha Chopra, Trainer, Seminar Leader and Co-author 'Secretary's Factomatic'

Part 1: Introductory

• Introduction & Navigation Guide
• The Locations

Part 2: Leadership

• Creating the vision
• Setting Objectives
• Changing Paradigms with Leadership and Expertise
• Applying Best Business Practices
• Evaluate Contractor's Unit Rates
• Benchmarking

Part 3: People

• Manning levels
• Integrating Inspection and Degradation Strategies
• Technician Training Challenge
• Competence Profiles
• Operators & Maintainers
• Building a Reliability Culture
• Managing Surplus Staff
• Retraining Surplus Staff

Part 4: Plan

• Integrated Planning
• Critical Path Planning Capability
• Shutdown Management
• Electrical Maintenance Strategies
• Minor Maintenance by Operators
• Relocating Machine Tools
• Painting Contract Strategy

Part 5: Schedule

• Long Look-Ahead Plan
• Workload Management
• Infrastructure Maintenance
• Workflow Management

Part 6: Execute

• Trip Testing
• Work the Plan
• Keeping to Schedule
• Operators as a Maintenance Resource
• Overtime Control
• Manage Contractors

Part 7: Analyze

• Reliability Engineering in New Projects
• Computing Reliability Data
• Shutdown Planning Review
• Shutdown Duration/Cost
• Turnaround Performance Improvements
• Motor Maintenance Regimes
• Boiler Feed-Water Pump Seals
• Cooling Water Pump Failures
• Laboratory Oven Failures
• Heater Outlet Flue Gas Dampers
• Pump Reliability
• Book Summary