Ahmad Salehiyan

Work Order

Work order systems are one of the keys for successful maintenance management. Work orders, which are the documents used to collect all necessary maintenance information, can be described in many different ways. For the purpose of this text, we will use the following definition:
A work order is a request that has been screened by a planner, who has decided the work request is necessary and has determined what resources are required to perform the work.

Who Uses Work Orders?

Work orders should not be implemented by just the maintenance department, without regard for other parts of the organization. The groups that should be involved in the use of a maintenance work order system, list as follow:

  • Maintenance
  • Operations/Facilities
  • Engineering
  • Inventory/Purchasing
  • Accounting
  • Upper Management

MAINTENANCE

Maintenance is the primary user of the work order. Maintenance requires information such as:

  • What equipment needs work performed
  • What resources are required
  • A description of the work
  • A description of the work
  • Priority of the work
  • Date needed by

OPERATIONS OR FACILITIES

Operations or facilities also needs input into the work order process. They must be able to request work from maintenance in an easy process. If they have to fill out 15 forms in triplicate, they will be unlikely to participate in the use of the work order, thereby eliminating its effectiveness. Whether it is manual or computerized, the work order system must be easy for operations and facilities personnel to use. They should only be required to fill in brief information, such as:

  • What equipment needs work
  • Brief description of the request
  • Date needed
  • Requestor

MAINTENANCE / RELIABILITY ENGINEERING

Because maintenance / reliability engineers are usually charged with the effectiveness of the preventive and predictive maintenance programs, they need input into the work order system. In addition to requesting work for engineering services, maintenance / reliability engineers also need access to historical information. If accurate and properly maintained, historical information can help engineers operate a cost effective preventive maintenance program. Without accurate information, the PM and PDM programs become guesswork. Therefore, the maintenance / reliability engineering staff will need information such as:

  • Mean Time Between Failure
  • Mean Time to Repair
  • Cause of failure
  • Repair type
  • Corrective action taken
  • Date of repair

MAINTENANCE / RELIABILITY ENGINEERING

The inventory and purchasing departments need information from the work order system, especially regarding the planned work backlog. If the work is planned properly, inventory and purchasing personnel will know what parts are needed and when they are needed. Good historical information on maintenance material usage will help them establish max/min levels, order points, safety stock, and other settings for maintenance materials. The information required by inventory and purchasing includes:

  • Part number
  • Part description
  • Quantity required
  • Date required

ACCOUNTING

Accounting needs information from the work order system in order to properly charge the right accounts for the labor and materials used to perform maintenance tasks. The costing system may be different for different locations. However, the following types of accounting information are commonly gathered:

  • Cost center
  • Accounting number
  • Charge account
  • Departmental charge number

Conclusion

The work order system is the cornerstone for any successful maintenance organization. If work orders are not used, the organization cannot expect much of a return on investment from the maintenance organization. However, work order problems are not all maintenance related. Unless all parts of an organization cooperate and use the system, true maintenance resource optimization will be just a dream.