Maintenance & Reliability: Why ‘Good Enough Never Is’ Drives Business Success

Maintenance & Reliability: Why ‘Good Enough Never Is’ Drives Business Success

About fifteen years ago I attended a conference whose keynote was centered on quality. The speaker, Debbi Fields, the visionary behind Mrs. Fields Cookies, demonstrated how relentless pursuit of excellence built a U.S.‑wide cookie empire. Her mantra—Good Enough Never Is—remains a guiding principle for my work improving maintenance and reliability at Cargill.

Continuing Education for M&R Professionals

For maintenance and reliability leaders, ongoing learning is the single most effective way to drive measurable business gains. By mastering advanced RCM techniques, predictive diagnostics, scheduling, precision maintenance, root‑cause analysis, reliability engineering (e.g., Weibull analysis), leadership, and business management, professionals elevate production rates, improve quality, and reduce operating costs. Yet many managers under‑invest in this critical skill set.

1. Reliability‑Centred Maintenance (classical and streamlined)
2. 15‑20 predictive (condition‑monitoring) techniques applicable to your assets
3. Planning and scheduling strategies
4. Precision maintenance: balance, alignment, fit, and lubrication
5. Root‑cause analysis methods
6. Reliability engineering (Weibull analysis)
7. Leadership and change‑management principles
8. Business management fundamentals

Adopting the Good Enough Never Is mindset demands relentless learning and a commitment to continual improvement.

Predictive Application

Critical equipment—often the sole source of safety, environmental, food‑safety, quality, or production capability—must be monitored proactively. Failure to detect impending issues can lead to catastrophic business impact. Predictive maintenance (PdM) technologies, preventive maintenance (PM) plans, and failure‑finding tasks are all outcomes of a robust RCM analysis.

Common gaps:

• Using only a handful (2‑3) of PdM techniques when 15‑20 are needed to cover all critical failure modes.
• Applying PdM to a small percentage of the asset base, despite 70‑90% of equipment being critical.

True excellence requires covering a large portion of the asset base with multiple, appropriately chosen technologies—often necessitating up to 25% of the annual maintenance budget for equipment, tools, labor, and training.

Preventive Plans

Many PM systems are legacy, ad‑hoc lists that fail to address the failure modes of critical plant equipment. A rigorous review should answer: Does the plan target a critical failure mode? If yes, does it quantify the limits? If not, redesign or replace it. Ensure each task provides clear tolerances, specifications, safety instructions, and tool requirements.

Precision Maintenance

Precision techniques—balance, alignment, fit, torque, and lubrication—are the foundation of long‑term reliability. Yet cost control pressures often breed a “good enough” attitude in design and installation.

When specifying equipment, demand:

1. Balance accuracy of G1.0
2. Alignment tolerance of 0.002 mm (or better, depending on operating speed)
3. Precision fit and dimensional tolerances
4. Torque standards for mechanical and electrical components
5. Lubrication protocols that control microscopic particle contamination

These practices are equally vital during maintenance. Educate and motivate craftsmen to “sweat the details.” Leadership must foster a culture where excellence is the baseline, not the exception.

Conclusion

For maintenance and reliability leaders, the most powerful action is to embed the Good Enough Never Is philosophy into daily operations. When the entire organization practices this mindset, the results—higher uptime, lower costs, and sustainable growth—follow, just as Debbi Fields’s cookie empire proves.

Tim Goshert is the worldwide reliability and maintenance manager for Cargill, one of the world’s largest food and agricultural processing companies (more than 1,000 facilities worldwide). He leads global reliability and maintenance initiatives and chairs Cargill’s Worldwide Reliability and Maintenance Steering Committee. Tim is a board member of the Society of Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) and actively contributes to its community.

Learn more about Mrs. Fields Cookies at Mrs. Fields.