On The Floor: Aligning Team Goals With Corporate Goals

Alignment, in the context of this magazine, typically refers to the actual aligning of equipment and components in plants and facilities. There is, however, another area of alignment that should be just as important to our readers and their organizations: the alignment of maintenance and reliability goals with corporate business goals.

As listed here, this month’s Reader Panel questions have generated quite a number of thoughtful answers. In short, we asked our panelists the following:

• If they were aware of their company/organizations’ corporate business goals (or, if consultants, those of their clients/customers) beyond increasing profits and how these goals are communicated.
• Assuming they were aware of these types of corporate goals, how did their maintenance and/or reliability goals (or those of their clients/customers) align, and in what areas was there misalignment.
• Did their maintenance and/or reliability departments (or those of their clients/customers) have a focused plan to improve and sustain alignment with corporate business goals and, if not, what was preventing the establishment of such a plan?

It’s clear these questions overlap to some degree—and that’s the way most of this month’s respondents chose to answer them. Some responded to all questions, others to just one. Thus, for the sake of clarity and brevity, we’ve edited and compiled the separate answers from each panelist into a single response from the individual. We also indicate with which industrial sectors they are associated.

Maintenance Leader, Manufacturing, Midwest…

Good question this month! At our company, in each plant’s main information center and in department huddle areas, information boards state the following: our mission statement, our goals for the year, and a daily update of production achieved versus our customer demands. We also have plant-wide meetings throughout the year. Every day, management has a meeting on the floor where all aspects of daily operations are addressed. This [meeting] includes maintenance personnel.

From the maintenance-end of the business, PM scheduling is addressed, along with any other project work that is scheduled. Also, each day at the start of all shifts, each maintenance team has a huddle to discuss the following: uptime, downtime, PM scheduling, PM compliance, response times, and burden rate. I would say, that these goals are communicated well—daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly—to the entire team. In conclusion, our goals across the board, other than increasing profits, are one of the things that I feel is done well within our company.

Industry Consultant, West…

[Regarding my clients’ corporate business goals], the safety aspect is emphasized every day, with crew safety meetings and safety KPIs that are shared weekly (with most clients) or monthly (with fewer of my clients). The link between planned/scheduled work and safety is reinforced in what I teach (at the request of upper management).  Having spent 30 years as a craftsman working in the trenches, I wish this emphasis had started long ago.

From the 30,000-ft. level, operations maintenance, and reliability groups seem aligned, yet most times (with my clients), closer examination reveals that operations wants the machine to run when they want it to run. But usually, the operations group has little or no interest in performing maintenance. At the very least, it is low on their priority list, and when maintenance is performed, it is [done] without enthusiasm and ownership. Eventually, the maintenance/reliability group has to step in and repair the equipment that was not properly maintained.

The feeling seems to be that operations ought to operate the equipment, not maintain it, and that the maintenance/reliability group ought to keep the equipment running, without need to understand the process or the expectations from the equipment.

One of my clients has really emphasized the importance of maintenance/reliability group influence on the business plan. They update all of the personnel in the plant on the KPIs tied to the maintenance/reliability group. The upper management group also makes the correlation for all of the plant personnel showing how reliability is tied to the weekly production targets and customer-relations aspect of the business. To achieve established goals, a multi-tiered plan, with monitoring of performance, is published for all plant personnel to see.  For its maintenance/reliability group to be successful, this client has spent a lot of money on training for planning, scheduling, and precision-maintenance work, advanced industrial-engineering training, supervisor training, and stores-department improvement.

Other clients know that there needs to be an investment in the maintenance/reliability groups to bring them up to speed, but they don’t have the incentive to invest the funds for that improvement. They will spend far too much on emergency repairs, rather than on prevention. Corporate-level and plant upper-management being reactionary instead of proactive prevents improvement of maintenance/reliability teams.

Technical Supervisor, Energy Sector, Northwest…

[Corporate] goals (safety, budget, and operations) are communicated throughout the organization with monthly, quarterly, and annual updates. [Through alignment of maintenance and/or reliability goals with corporate business goals] we maintain high unit availability and minimize unit forced outage events, and maintain the highest standards in public and employee safety. We have plans to continue to improve our operation, minimize forced outages, and maintain high unit availability to provide the maximum value for our members.

Reliability Engineer, Manufacturing, Midwest…

I’m relatively new in the company (no more than a year). At the corporate level (where I work), I think there is some clarity [regarding corporate goals]. There is a quarterly meeting where all management in our division is informed on how we are doing, where are we going, and the challenges ahead.

Our RCM (reliability-centered maintenance) program is part of a center of excellence in our division, so we don’t have any other option than to align with the company’s operations goals. The misalignment is evident at the plant or floor level where this objective meets reality. Capex (capital spend), Opex (operational spend), hiring, and training usually can be delayed or put on hold every time goals are not achieved.

Our company is on a journey of excellence for that purpose [improving and sustaining alignment of goals]. A global and divisional center of excellence has been created. I lead the RCM program at the divisional level. So yes, we are moving slowly, but surely, incorporating best practices, world-class benchmarking, etc.

Now for one more question

An industry consultant from the Midwest—a frequent participant in our Reader Panel discussions—offered a more general comment about communicating corporate business goals and aligning them with maintenance and/or reliability goals. It adds a thought-provoking wrap-up to this column.

As he put it, we’ve touched on a very sensitive point here. “Only exceptional organizations are conscious about the benefits of keeping everyone in the decision loop,” he wrote. “Goals should actually be common property so people can contribute their experiences and ingenuity to ease the accomplishments and improve the expectations. Good leaders share their goals and listen to their teams!”

That leads to one final question: How does your organization align with respect to these observations?

About the EP Reader Panel

The Efficient Plant Reader Panel includes approximately 100 working industrial-maintenance practitioners and consultants who have volunteered to answer monthly questions prepared by our editorial staff. Panelist identities are not revealed and their responses are not necessarily projectable. Note that our panel welcomes new members. To be considered, email your name and contact information to jalexander@efficientplantmag.com with “Reader Panel” in the subject line. All panelists are automatically included in an annual cash-prize drawing after one year of active participation.