The ability to sell maintenance programmes, plans and future budgets are paramount if we are ever to get back on the path economic prosperity world-wide. Maintenance waste attributes to 25 % of all energy waste. Effective maintenance programmes can generate 20–40 % more uptime and reduce operational costs by over 35 %. With companies, cities and even countries on the brink of economic collapse, more need to leverage maintenance and reliability programmes to their advantage. I personally helped a Goodyear plant save over 2 million dollars in energy costs just by plugging leaks with an acoustic ultrasound leak detector. Imagine if every company, city and country just plugged their compressed air leaks, billions of dollars worldwide would be saved. That money could be used for better uses like training and developing future workers to boomer tsunami as the current generation of skilled workers retire.

However, most executives ignore, or dismiss the maintenance function and do not look at it as a profit- contributor but as a necessary evil or cost centre. Before we can make the leap to prosperity, we need to wake up the C-Suite to real opportunities available by leveraging maintenance. We need more pros to stand up and lead their organizations. Don’t ask permission just do it and hopefully you can generate some wins before others catch on. Below are some steps that if some brave business leaders implement will see some major results:

• Utilize Acoustic Ultrasound leak detectors and plug all of the compressed air leaks possible.
• Conduct monthly infrared thermo-graphic surveys and see if you can uncover serious energy loss areas.
• Develop a formalized mentorship and internship programmes to develop current and future talent pools to prepare for the uture retirement of current workers.
• Make video recordings of best practices of regular procedures. Also video tape infrequent but important procedures so that future workers can see and understand critical activities to keep machines and facilities operational.
• Conduct recorded interviews of seasoned pros to better understand why they do things that may be instinctual to them.
• To make sure that the local schools produce talent that you can hire, conduct plant tours, invite guidance counsellors, teachers, and students for plant tours, job shadow days and develop internships where possible.
• Also showcase success stories of workers who overcame adversity to serve in your organization on the local media.
• Reach out to your elected officials, as the more sensitive they are to your challenges, the more support you can receive. The more maintenance and reliability departments rise out of basements and bowels of their facilities and become a known value, the more resources, support and respect will emerge.

Keep on Fixing-It Forward!