Coming soon · Book Profile
Developing Perf Indicators Maintenance
A practical framework for measuring and managing the maintenance/asset management function using hierarchically linked performance indicators that connect shop-floor functions to corporate strategy and profitability.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
Most companies treat maintenance as a necessary evil and never learn to measure it — so they cannot manage it, and they leave enormous savings and capacity on the table. Terry Wireman argues that maintenance/asset management is a genuine core competency and a strategic market advantage, and that the way to unlock it is to build a disciplined pyramid of performance indicators. Starting from a comprehensive maintenance strategy and an eleven-block asset management model (from preventive maintenance through predictive maintenance, RCM, TPM, and statistical financial optimization), the book shows how to develop, interpret, and link indicators from the functional level up through tactical, efficiency/effectiveness, financial, and corporate levels. Each maintenance function is dissected with its most useful indicators — including the strengths, weaknesses, and the eight most common problems that drag indicators down — plus scorecards and dashboards for communicating results. For maintenance managers, reliability engineers, and executives, it is a roadmap for converting maintenance data into decisions that lower cost, raise capacity, and strengthen competitiveness.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A maintenance manager, reliability engineer, or plant/facility leader who wants to prove and improve the value of the maintenance function and make their organization competitive.
- The problem
- Maintenance is viewed as an expense, cannot be measured, and is stuck in a costly reactive mode that limits plant capacity and inflates cost. They feel undervalued and frustrated that management sees maintenance as a necessary evil and dismisses their contribution to profitability.
- The plan
- Develop and approve a comprehensive maintenance/asset management strategy before building indicators.
- Build the foundation: an effective preventive maintenance program reducing reactive work below 20%.
- Add supporting functions in sequence — stores/procurement, work flow, CMMS/EAM, and training.
- Layer on operational involvement, predictive maintenance, and RCM to raise availability and reliability.
- Advance to TPM and statistical financial optimization for equipment effectiveness, then continuous improvement.
- The payoff
- Maintenance recognized as a strategic contributor to profitability, with lower expenses and higher capacity. · Reactive work below 20%, stores service level 95–97%, planning/scheduling above 80%, and rising equipment uptime and OEE. · Accurate data enabling life-cycle costing, financial optimization, and confident equipment decisions.
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Related profiles we’ve built
Additional reading
- Mathematical Aspects of Reliability-Centered Maintenance · Howard L. Resnikoff
Mentioned in the preface as a companion volume that provides a formal mathematical treatment of the subjects covered in the main text.
- Handbook: Maintenance Evaluation and Program Development (MSG-1) · 747 Maintenance Steering Group, Air Transport Association
The direct predecessor document to RCM, used to develop the initial maintenance program for the Boeing 747. It is cited as the first application of decision-diagram techniques.
- Airline/Manufacturer Maintenance Program Planning Document: MSG-2 · Air Transport Association, R & M Subcommittee
An improved version of MSG-1 that was used to develop maintenance programs for the DC-10 and L-1011. The book states that RCM is a more rigorous and expanded version of the MSG-2 logic.
- Reliability and Long Life Design · Robert P. Haviland
Cited in a footnote as an 'excellent detailed discussion of the physical processes present in the failure mechanism,' providing deeper background on the nature of failure.
- Operations Management · Richard Schonberger
Cited by the author to support the definition of core competencies, specifically mentioning that expert maintenance can be a way an organization distinguishes itself positively.
- The Benchmarking Workbook · Gregory Hines
Cited by the author for its definition of a core competency, which includes managing and supporting facilities and capital equipment, directly validating maintenance as a core process.
- The Benchmarking Management Guide · American Productivity and Quality Center
Cited by the author to identify business measures that core competencies should impact, such as Return on Net Assets and Asset Utilization, which are central to the book's thesis on maintenance.
- Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance · Seiichi Nakajima
This is a foundational text for the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) concept, which the author positions as a key phase in the 'Maintenance Era' that the book seeks to move beyond.
- TPM Development Program: Implementing Total Productive Maintenance · Seiichi Nakajima
Provides practical implementation guidance for TPM, serving as a benchmark against which the author's new 'Post-Maintenance Era' approach is compared.
- The Circle of Innovation · Tom Peters
Cited as a key influence on the new management concepts of the post-maintenance era, advocating for paradigm shifts and out-of-the-box thinking rather than just incremental improvements.