When I was little my dad would bring home comic books when I was sick. It broke up the monotony of being ill and introduced a bit of fun flipping through the pages. Now take that same idea - a bit of fun with comics - and instead apply it to livening up and strengthening a preventive maintenance (PM) culture. (When was the last time you sat in a riveting PM meeting?)
Yes, entertaining author and experienced consultant Joel Levitt, President of Springfield Resources, is creating content about PM through his comic book, Stories of PM, covering PM principles.
At first, I was skeptical that Stories of PM was another semi-dull presentation in picture format. But the book's introduction alone, covering "What PM is NOT", completely changed my mind (with all points comically illustrated). PM is not:
- Panic Maintenance
- Percussion Maintenance (whacking equipment until it works)
- Pencil-whipped Maintenance (meetings)
- Pain Management
- and more...
If you're wondering, no, Stories of PM isn't written specifically for the pulp and paper industry. It's written using the principles of preventive maintenance which apply across (large) industries. Case in point, Levitt covers these four PM principles:
- Identify all the ways in which a piece of equipment could fail
- Inspect to predict future failures
- Perform basic maintenance to postpone breakdowns
- Correct any problems found
Pretty solid stuff.
Stories of PM also provides bonus material, such as "maintenance secrets" - the types of tips you'd expect from a seasoned consultant authoring a PM comic. Tips gleaned from years of experience in the field. He passes his top tips on to readers.
Now, you may be thinking that this PM comic book is well and good, but you really don't need it.
Of course you don't need it to have a well-running PM program. Many mills can, have, and do PM very well without this book.
But consider this little statistic: according to the International Facilities Management Association, the average ROI for a PM program is 545%, and the bulk of that is from improving the useful life of the equipment. That's an awfully nice number.
It would make sense to do what you can to augment your PM efforts however you can. And this comic is a low-cost and an enjoyable means to do so. By low-cost, we're talking $16.95 per book plus shipping at time of this publication.
Stories of PM covers the:
"...why, what, when, where, and even sometimes how to PM effectively. The stories are fun to read and contain descriptive color drawings... Included are about a dozen best practices disguised as the rantings of a bug."
So you can make your PM entertaining, with useful material, and have the advantage of a seasoned consultant putting a book together. All in an inexpensive resource that's an add-on to what you're already doing.
Adding in fun always makes things better. On every plane. Even with PM.
You can find the Stories of PM here. |
