Guaranteed Maintainability: How Design, Specification, and Training Deliver Unmatched Equipment Reliability

When it comes to ensuring long‑term equipment reliability, the smartest strategy is to select components that simply don’t fail. Even when a failure occurs, the key is to make repairs fast, cheap, and straightforward. By making these considerations at the outset, a maintenance department can truly guarantee maintainability. The concept was first articulated by Atlanta‑based consultant Ed Feldman, who has spent decades helping plants achieve this goal.

There are three primary obstacles that prevent maintenance teams from guaranteeing maintainability: 1) purchasing on a low‑bid basis without regard for experience, specification, or future serviceability; 2) mental laziness—relying on opinion rather than data to choose the best brands; and 3) time constraints that limit maintenance input during the design phase.

Designing new plants, machines, or processes involves thousands of decisions that influence maintainability. Joel Levitt, a leading maintenance trainer, identifies nine critical areas that should be evaluated during design and specification:

1. Access: Inefficient layouts—such as HVAC filter locations tucked in 11‑foot ceilings filled with wires and insulation—create dangerous, time‑consuming maintenance tasks. Guaranteed maintainability requires that all required maintenance points be easily reachable and safely accessible.
2. Commissioning and Turnover: Clear hand‑over procedures are essential. For buildings, turnover begins once the architect’s punch list is closed, triggering a warranty period for latent defects. For machinery, turnover is confirmed when production meets agreed benchmarks. Key actions include:
   • Providing maintenance with formal documentation in an agreed‑upon format.
   • Recording a video walk‑through that highlights adjustments, shut‑offs, and operating procedures.
   • Conducting on‑site or off‑site training covering repairs, failure modes, and optimization.
   • Offering coupons for future training sessions.
3. Components and Parts: Choosing parts that align with existing inventory and proven suppliers reduces lead times. For instance, an oil terminal’s manager selected Square D motor controllers because of existing stock and a reliable dealer relationship. In contrast, a subsidized housing project’s reliance on imported furnaces led to a nine‑month wait for replacement parts, forcing costly replacements.
4. Design: Design is the most powerful lever for reliability. A manufacturer’s failure analysis revealed uneven greasing of bearings; after installing an automated lubrication system, bearing failures ceased. Reliable data—often sourced from CMMS systems—should drive every design decision.
5. Documentation: Vendor documentation quality varies widely. Check for an online portal that provides technical data, parts lists, and wiring diagrams. Lucent Technologies (now AT&T) exemplifies best practice by specifying ISO 900X‑compliant manuals that cover asset description, function, component list, troubleshooting by component, and safety/environmental considerations.
6. Installation: Contractors may overlook long‑term maintenance needs. Maintenance‑friendly installation—well‑positioned shut‑off valves, accessible disconnects, and orientation that protects against lift‑truck or crane damage—significantly eases future servicing.
7. Skills Required for Repair: Changing equipment models incurs a learning curve. Evaluate whether the improvement in reliability or efficiency justifies the cost of retraining. Vendors should bundle comprehensive training with new equipment purchases.
8. Surfaces/Finishes: In food‑service or pharmaceutical settings, the choice of material matters. Rutgers University replaced tile with durable Corian in dorm bathrooms, accepting higher upfront cost for easier cleaning and greater longevity.
9. Tools: New equipment often requires specialized tools. Ensure tool acquisition is budgeted and that maintenance staff are trained to use them. Qualified maintenance personnel should also be certified operators, as practiced at GE Engineered Plastics.

Additional factors support guaranteed maintainability:

• Maintain a robust professional network to share repair experience and re‑engineering insights.
• When reliant on a single manufacturer, visit the production facility to build relationships with the engineers and shop staff who built the asset.
• Base procurement decisions on total life‑cycle cost—factoring in maintenance, downtime, and future capacity—rather than the purchase price alone.
• Experiment with new asset types, techniques, and materials to continuously improve reliability.

About the Author: Joel Levitt is a renowned maintenance trainer who has led over 500 sessions for more than 10,000 maintenance leaders across 3,000 organizations in 20 countries. Since 1980, he has served as president of Springfield Resources, a consulting firm that addresses all sizes of maintenance challenges. Levitt’s experience spans process control design, equipment inspection, electrical work, field service, merchant marine operations, manufacturing management, and property management. For more information, visit www.maintrainer.com or call 800‑242‑5656.