PART 03 - Reliability cycle; workforce development

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M&R Professionals Certification

In this category, maintenance and reliability engineers, capital project engineers, designers, managers, and other professionals working in the M&R field are tested for their broad knowledge of M&R.

Two key certifications are available in this category. One is Certified Plant Engineer (CPE) / Certified Maintenance Manager (CMM) offered by the Association of Facility Engineers (AFE). The other is Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) conducted by the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals Certifying Organization (SMRPCO). AFE and some industrial training companies provide the necessary training for the CPE / CMM test.

The CMRP certification process is ANSI certified. According to ANSI requirements, SMRP/SMRPCO is prohibited from providing any specific training. However, SMRPCO has a study guide available in hard copy format from SMRP headquarters. This guide can be downloaded from their website www.smrp.org/certification free of cost.

CMRP certification was initiated in 2000 and is now recognized as the standard of M&R certification by many organizations worldwide. The certification process evaluates an individual’s skills in the five pillars of knowledge defined by SMRP: Business and Management, Manufacturing/Operations Processes Reliability, Equipment Reliability, People Skills, and Work Management. Many organizations have now started using CMRP certification to assess their employees’ knowledge and then to develop appropriate training programs that help their employees improve their skills.

Succession Planning

Succession planning is another key element of the workforce development process. It is a process of identifying and preparing suitable employees — through mentoring, training, and job rotation — to replace key players in the organization. It involves having the management periodically review their key personnel and those in the next lower level to determine several backups for key positions. This is important because it often takes years of grooming to develop effective managers and leaders.

Leadership culture

Managers and supervisors should be encouraged to become leaders. Directive, autocratic management style will soon become thing of the past. The leaders of tomorrow will need to be facilitative. Establishing agreed‐upon results with individual performers, the managers will provide needed resources, support, and coaching. Part of the leader’s role will be to help people reach their full potential, then raise the bar to keep them growing.

Leaders inspire, rather than direct. They coach, encourage, and guide. Effective leaders earn agreement with their people about what has to be done. They determine — with their team members — what resources are needed to get the job done. They arrange those resources and then get out of the way so their people can perform.

Conclusions / Summary

The labor shortage will intensify in near future. Finding qualified employees will be difficult. Workers will move easily from job to job in a flow we used to call “job hopping.” The continual shifting will be commonplace. Organizations will be caught unaware until they suddenly lose their best people. It is important to be prepared and have your program in place to retain them if possible, or to have back‐up workers trained and ready to take new responsibility.

It’s very difficult to change our old habits. We are accustomed to fixing things when they breakdown. In fact, some of us enjoy doing that because it gives us a sense of accomplishment. We need to change our thinking and start taking proactive actions. It’s important to educate the workforce including the management in reliability principles and in implementing best maintenance practices. Don’t expect to see any positive results in a short period. It takes many years to build the right culture. Be persistent and you will see the results in organization’s bottom line.

Keep it in mind that it’s people who get things done. Let us prepare them to do the right things.