The Mining Maintenance Management Program Explained
Maintenance is not a "stand-alone" activity. It is only successful when all other mining departments provide essential support: (warehouse/repair materials) or cooperation (operations/making equipment available for scheduled maintenance).
The Maintenance Management Program must define all of these support and cooperative activities to ensure they are understood by all mining departments and the total operation.
Maintenance cannot operate effectively without this program. Nor do other departments understand the essential support they must provide to unless guided by his program.
Only the mine manager controls all departments. Therefore, it is his responsibility to ensure that there is an effective Maintenance Management Program that supports his operation.
All mining operations are part of a corporation with a mission to operate efficiently, perform a public service, produce a needed commodity and operate a profitable operation.
In turn, the corporation requires each of its mine managers to state a Production Strategy explaining how they will operate the mining operation entrusted to them.
This Production Strategy requires mine managers to assign an Objective to each department specifying their responsibilities. Then, recognizing that all departments must work together in close coordination, a series of Policies are provided to ensure a successful and efficient Production Strategy.
It has been well substantiated that if the mine manager does not initiate this Production Strategy, an inadequate maintenance management program will be the result.
The absence of a Program provided by a mine manager often results in a "program" inadequately documented, based on the often-conflicted views of each supporting department. The maintenance superintendent, caught in the middle, does not control any of the other mine departments and must depend on what each department views as their contribution to help maintenance.
By contrast, a program provided by the mine manager compels each mine department to meet an essential Objective and operate in conjunction with all other departments following Policies that achieve effective maintenance management.
If you are a mine manager, I urge you to determine the status of your mine maintenance management program. If you require help, I would be pleased to provide a PDF copy of Developing the Maintenance Program, a 19-page chapter in the Textbook: Maintenance in Transition (396 pages, 32 chapters and 5 appendices). Inquiries: pdtmtc@msn.com
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Paul D. Tomlingson
Retired, Maintenance Consultant
Denver. Colorado USA
303 656 7875
pdtmtc@msn.com------------------------------