Of course the industrial maintenance department has to report on matters of cost and budgets. But how about reports from the tradespersons on the plant floor, or from technician in the fleet maintenance shops?
Many tradespersons I speak to have been quietly monitoring some aspect of the machinery they look after. They often have valid ideas for improvement that no one else has heard. Initiatives and reporting can and should start at the tradesperson level. If you are a tradesperson and you've got a sense of initiative and some great ideas and you work hard, then start blowing your horn. This is your company, with its expensive assets that you are helping to manage. Don't worry if others in the lunchroom are giving you strange looks as you compile your data and as you write your reports.
Perhaps you are thinking "What should I report?" Most people involved with maintenance, whether a tradesperson on the floor or a shop supervisor, have at least one pet project that they are interested in exploring deeper. Your commitment to report about it monthly or quarterly will help you keep the project on track. If you are convinced that you can coax better overall performance from your machinery and your department by starting with a particular initiative then wait no longer. This is your year!
If you have made some notable progress by the time the corporate annual report is being compiled, then submit your work and ask to be included. Be as assertive on this as you can get away with. If it doesn't make the report this year, ask why and perhaps ask for some guidelines on how to prepare your materials and then try again next year. If you're serious about your work, as most every maintenance department is, you'll get into that annual report eventually.
Wouldn't some recognition for your department's efforts and contributions help to paint the big picture?
