What Maintenance & Reliability Leaders Are Prioritizing Right Now

What’s on the minds of maintenance and reliability leaders? I’ve distilled insights from conversations with dozens of experts at the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals conference in Cleveland and Reliable Plant’s “Lean Tools for Maintenance and Reliability” event in Chicago.

Lean Maintenance: A growing share of maintenance managers now embed Lean manufacturing and Toyota Production System principles to boost organizational efficiency and tackle reliability of key assets. This shift reflects lean’s maturation in the U.S. and a growing realization that earlier initiatives often sidelined maintenance. As a result, tools like kaizen, five‑whys, and poka‑yoke are becoming as familiar to maintenance teams as repair, rebuild, and overhaul. (See page 38 for a full review of the Lean Tools event.)

Going Green: Sustainability mandates are increasingly trickling down to maintenance operations. Managers are asked to replace harsh chemicals with eco‑friendly alternatives, choose low‑VOC floor coatings and paints, and swap high‑pressure sodium, metal halide, and mercury vapor bulbs for energy‑efficient T8 fluorescents. These actions support corporate green goals while also reducing operating costs.

Baby Boomers and Skill Shortages: Many leaders cite the impending retirement of Baby Boomer workers as a major concern. One maintenance manager noted his crew’s average age was 57.5 years, while others reported averages between 52 and 55. Despite recognizing the problem, few have concrete plans to attract, hire, develop, and retain talent to replace retiring specialists. Hopeful remarks about a “magical genie” are common, but the reality is that the workforce gap must be addressed proactively.

Communicating Value: A persistent challenge is convincing production and corporate stakeholders of maintenance’s worth. The issue often stems from two factors:

1. Maintenance teams are typically modest and lack the confidence or skill to promote themselves.
2. Quantifying impact in business terms—especially monetary—remains a hurdle. Drew Troyer’s columns in Reliable Plant illustrate how mean time between repairs is helpful, but money is the decisive metric.

Organizations that excel in showcasing their value publish plant newsletters, intranet articles, and case studies that translate maintenance projects into financial gains. If you don’t market your achievements, no one else will.

What’s on your mind? Drop me a line at parnold@noria.com and let me know.