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Work orders guidelines enable you to better organize and oversee your service activities, developing a proper work order greatly contributes to the efficiency of management teams and your field workers, and to smooth communication between all stakeholders. What is a work order? A work order is a document by which managers authorize workers to complete tasks. Also known as a work order or service order, work orders are commonly used to manage maintenance operations across industries. They can also be used for follow-up actions on inspections or audits carried out. The importance of work orders Work order guidelines are the heart of any maintenance management system. These are not only simple tools for planning and assigning tasks, but also for controlling the variety of resources spent on maintenance. Work orders are important because they play a vital role in standardizing maintenance workflows, including from submitting work requests to closing work orders. Read also 6 steps to implement a work order process + guide. What is a work order used for? A work order contributes to good communication between the field teams, the management teams, and the customers, regarding the nature and the conditions for carrying out the maintenance task. It standardizes workflow and helps streamline the process of planning, assigning, and tracking tasks. It can be used to document resources and track performance. Therefore, it is also a document with legal significance, which can serve as proof in the event of a customer complaint. Everything is reported there, from the exact schedules for performing the service at the place of its execution, to the equipment used. In addition to this, the work order has practical utility for all parties involved: For the technical team: have the details of the intervention and previous ones, if any, keep track of the hours worked, have a document serving as an intermediary between the service provider and the client, have the completion of the work validated by the customer's signature. For the team leader or the service provider: follow up on interventions, have traceability of the interventions in case of disagreement with the customer, collect reliable data on the hours worked by technicians, be proactive about the maintenance services to be provided, increase trust in the customer relationship, grant more autonomy and responsibility to its teams, while adopting a posture of continuous improvement. For the customer: keep the history of the services obtained, easily find the contact of the intervening company, have the possibility of giving an opinion on the quality of the service received, understand price calculation and invoicing through transparency. How to make a work order? What does a work order contain? There is no standard format because each document can be adapted to the specificities and needs of the company. Its layout is also very variable, it is above all a communication document so be sure to favor clarity! Here is the list of the most common information that can be found here: the number of the work order, the date, the place of intervention, the coordinates and the contact of the customer, the type of service, the detailed description of the intervention, the material used, schedules: start and end dates/times, the total hours worked, the history of other interventions previously carried out, attachments (photos, plans, diagrams, etc.), any concluding remarks. A few work orders guidelines: specify the start/end times of the service, add a photo of the work done, specify the spare parts needed, have the client sign to validate the intervention. The difference between a work order, a work request, and a purchase order While a work order is sometimes referred to as a work order or service order in other parts of the world, they are essentially the same thing. However, although related to each other, work orders cannot be used interchangeably with work requests and purchase orders, as each term has a different meaning: Work order or work request The difference between a work order and a work request is their source and sequence, i.e. where they originate from and when they are triggered. Typically, work requests come from people who are not maintenance personnel, which leads to the creation of maintenance work orders. For example, machine operators typically first submit a work request for an equipment problem, then maintenance managers approve a designated work order to mechanics. Work order or purchase order The difference between a work order and a purchase order is how they are used as part of maintenance work order workflows. While work orders detail specific tasks or services to be performed, purchase orders detail the materials or products needed to complete a work order. Typically, a work order includes a purchase order with the new parts and items to be used when repairing or servicing a piece of equipment. Read also 10 steps for choosing the right CMMS. Work Orders guidelines There are several ways to create a work order, depending on business requirements and customer needs, among other factors. Either way, a streamlined process for opening work orders can ensure that maintenance work gets done on time. Below are some general work orders guidelines to help teams write work orders more effectively: Understand the work required Work order writers must not only refer to the details stated in the work requisitions, but they must also gain a thorough understanding of exactly what needs to be done. If in doubt or if some information seems vague, such as equipment symptoms and initial safety considerations, these should be confirmed with the applicant early on to avoid duplication of work. Consider the resources needed After having clearly identified the work requested, think about the elements necessary for its realization. Anticipating what tools to use, inventory to check and parts to purchase can help avoid costly delays. Also, it is essential to assess whether the task can be done alone, with another member of the maintenance team, or with colleagues from other departments like engineering and industrial design. Be specific but succinct A work order template contains the job description, recipient(s), requester details, cost breakdown, schedule or deadline, and authorized signatures. The key to effective work order writing is to present all the necessary information in a simple manner. Finding the balance between brevity and completeness can help minimize the risk of discrepancies when implementing the work order. Set realistic estimates and deadlines When breaking down the cost of labor, materials, and equipment for any job, state reasonable amounts. Asking too much or too little can potentially delay work order processing. Besides budget allocation, one of the biggest challenges of managing work orders is scheduling. Priority levels and due dates should be established based on technician availability, maintenance schedule, and other ongoing tasks. Use work orders without resorting to paper Work orders written on paper can be difficult for management to organize, as they tend to be easily damaged and misplaced. A digital work order form, on the other hand, can be filled out on any mobile device, making it easier for teams to write work orders wherever they are. Unlike traditional paper-based service orders, scanned work orders not only minimize data entry errors but also save time and effort when sending them out for authorization. Sample Work Order System and Procedure A work order system should allow employees to perform maintenance tasks more efficiently, not slow them down. To streamline work order processing, first, assess business performance using industry benchmarks. Compare your results with the example work order procedure below and identify areas for improvement in the context of the organization: Step 1 Work request submission and review – Non-maintenance employees submit a work request which is reviewed by their manager. Their managers then validate it with the information entered during previous inspections before sending it to the maintenance department. Step 2 Approval and creation of a work order – Upon receipt, the maintenance manager determines if the scope of work is necessary. Once approved, management records the work request in the form of a work order with their signature. Step 3 Work Order Assignment and Scheduling – After giving permission, the manager assigns the job to a mechanic and schedules when it should be done. Applying a dispatch matrix can help ensure that the most qualified technician will be dispatched to work on a particular asset. Step 4 Work Order Fulfillment and Tracking – In the equipment location area, the maintainer observes physical constraints, identifies environmental conditions, and prepares any type of notes that can help accomplish the work order. When resources become available, work can begin and the manager begins tracking the status of the work order. Step 5 Work Order Completion and Record Keeping – Once the work is done, the service technician reports the work actually performed and his manager reviews it before closing the work order. Finally, the maintenance manager files the completed work order for future reference. Conclusion The work order is the written record that restores the information concerning work between a service provider and a client: what must be done, when, with what material and what labor, and for how much. It is essential in many industries, especially for service and maintenance companies. For your organization to gain in efficiency and productivity, equip yourself with software to manage your work orders and benefit from digitized information exchanges: readability, reliability, security, and data traceability will be there, both for the workers in the field, their managers and the administrative and accounting departments. Use our Work Order guidelines to succeed. Read also 10 steps for CMMS implementation.

Preventive maintenance program, or planned technical maintenance, consists of intervening on equipment at regular intervals or according to predefined criteria. Its primary objective is to reduce the risk of breakdowns on goods, machinery, and equipment, but it also makes it possible to achieve more general objectives. This is why most factories and companies seek to increase the share of preventive maintenance implemented compared to corrective maintenance. To implement a preventive maintenance strategy or plan, it is important to master the main aspects and know which tools can be used. Read also 10 steps for choosing the right CMMS. What is the purpose of preventive maintenance program? Maintenance is carried out according to predetermined criteria, the objective of which is to reduce the probability of failure of an item or the degradation of a service rendered. So, it must make it possible to avoid equipment failures during use. The cost analysis must highlight a gain in relation to the failures it avoids. Purpose of preventive maintenance: Increase the lifespan of equipment Decrease the probability of in-service failures Reduce downtime in the event of an overhaul or breakdown Prevent and also plan costly corrective maintenance interventions Make it possible to decide on corrective maintenance under good conditions Avoid abnormal consumption of energy, lubricant, spare parts, etc. Improving the working conditions of production staff Reduce the maintenance budget Eliminate the causes of serious accidents What is the difference between preventive and corrective maintenance? To summarize, we can say that corrective maintenance solves problems while preventive maintenance seeks to avoid them. Thus, corrective maintenance, sometimes divided between palliative and curative maintenance, occurs when a breakdown occurs on a machine or equipment. Preventive maintenance seeks, by means of checks and routine tasks, to verify that an item is functioning correctly and to identify any faults in its operation before it breaks down. What are the different types of preventive maintenance? There are 3 types of preventive maintenance: systematic maintenance; condition monitoring; predictive maintenance. Systematic preventive maintenance: Preventive maintenance program is carried out according to a schedule established according to the time or the number of units of use (produced). Therefore, even if time is the most common unit, other units can be used such as the number of products manufactured, the length of products manufactured, the distance traveled, the mass of products manufactured, the number of cycles carried out, etc. This frequency of an intervention is determined by commissioning or after a complete or partial overhaul. This method requires knowing: The behavior of the equipment The modes of degradation The average time for good operation between 2 failures Cases of application: Equipment subject to current legislation (regulated safety): lifting devices, fire extinguishers, pressure tanks, conveyors, elevators, goods lifts, etc. Equipment whose breakdown risks cause serious accidents: all equipment ensuring the public transport of people, planes, trains, etc. Equipment with a high cost of failure: elements of an automated production line, processes operating continuously (chemical or metallurgical industries). Equipment whose operating expenses become abnormally high during their service life: excessive energy consumption, lighting by used lamps, improper ignition and carburetion (thermal engines), etc. Condition-based preventive maintenance: Preventive maintenance program is subject to a type of predetermined event (self-diagnosis, sensor information, wear measurement, etc.). Condition-based maintenance is therefore maintenance that depends on experience and involves information gathered in real-time. It is also called predictive maintenance (non-standard term). The highlighting of weak points characterizes conditional preventive maintenance. Therefore, depending on the case, it is desirable to put them under surveillance and, from there, to decide on an intervention when a certain threshold is reached. But the controls remain systematic and are part of the non-destructive control methods. All materials are affected. This conditional preventive maintenance is done by relevant measurements of the equipment in operation. The parameters measured may relate to: Oil level and quality Temperatures and pressures Tension and intensity of electrical equipment Vibrations and mechanical play Etc. Some methods, such as vibration analysis or oil analysis, are very rich in terms of the information collected. Their understanding allows informed decisions to be made, which is the basis of conditional preventive maintenance. Predictive maintenance: Predictive maintenance consists of anticipating future failures on equipment, an object, a system, etc. Concretely, it is a question of anticipating a breakdown or a malfunction thanks to the accumulation of a set of data. Booming in recent years, predictive maintenance has had several advantages. It avoids, for example, the immobilization of a broken-down production system (with the resulting financial repercussions). Read also 6 steps to implement the work order process. So, predictive maintenance makes it possible above all to anticipate breakdowns and offers the possibility of intervening while avoiding a much more expensive repair. With predictive technology, maintenance costs are reduced by 10 to 40% and the number of breakdowns is halved. The savings generated result from several consequences: Reduced breakdowns and therefore equipment downtime Extending their lifespan Improving the reliability of equipment and therefore optimizing production Better spare parts inventory management A reduction in maintenance costs. Preventive maintenance operations Inspections: Monitoring activities consist of periodically noting anomalies and carrying out simple adjustments that do not require specific tools or stoppage of the production tool or equipment. Visits: Monitoring operations which, as part of systematic preventive maintenance, take place according to a determined frequency. These interventions correspond to a list of operations defined beforehand which can lead to the dismantling of components and immobilization of equipment. A visit may result in corrective maintenance action. Controls: Compliance checks against pre-established data followed by judgment. Control can: Include an information activity Include a decision: acceptance, rejection, adjournment Lead, like visits, to corrective maintenance operations Monitoring operations (checks, visits, inspections) are necessary to control the evolution of the real state of the asset. They are carried out continuously or at intervals that may or may not be predetermined, calculated over time, or the number of used units. Conclusion Start getting the most out of your assets and save money by pursuing a preventive maintenance strategy. Additional benefits: better organization and ongoing operations. Although the adoption of preventive maintenance measures requires budgeting for regular service activities, in an industrial setting, it's usually worth it, especially since when an industrial operation is shut down for unscheduled repairs, it can quickly lead to production stalling or even loss of revenue. Read also 10 steps for CMMS implementation.

In facility management, most maintenance tasks are categorized as 'reactive' or 'preventive'. Knowing the difference between the two is important because the most successful facilities sectors maintain a healthy balance between reactive and preventive maintenance. Too much reactive maintenance can stress and overwhelm your team. Therefore, it is important to create a program that emphasizes preventive maintenance and minimizes the possibility of reactive maintenance. In this blog, we explain the difference between reactive and preventive maintenance and their long-term cost-effectiveness. Reactive vs. Preventive Maintenance Maintenance is an important part of keeping equipment running efficiently for as long as possible. Maintenance inevitably involves downtime and expense, so maintenance is sometimes postponed in hopes of maximizing production and profits. This avoidance can be detrimental in the long run, so it is important to distinguish between preventative and reactive maintenance. Preventive maintenance addresses potential problems before they occur and reduces the likelihood of unexpected equipment failures. Preventive maintenance involves cleaning, replacing parts, and inspecting equipment properly to identify problems and then fix them before they become bigger problems. Preventative measures are proactive and can improve equipment longevity and safety outcomes. Reactive maintenance occurs after an equipment failure, often unexpectedly. Unexpected equipment failures can lead to increased costs such as more expensive repairs, overtime payments to repair equipment, and unplanned downtime. Preventive Maintenance Preventive maintenance software is a strategy that teams and managers employ before a failure or outage actually occurs. The main goal is to reduce the likelihood of failure or deterioration of equipment, components, or spare parts. To perform this type of maintenance, the team must consider the history of the equipment and track its previous failures. This paves the way for determining how often equipment is likely to fail and require repair/maintenance. Preventive maintenance is a planning strategy for maintenance operations as it is based on well-established maintenance facts, reports, equipment history, and needs of the organization working as efficient equipment maintenance software. With preventive maintenance as part of the CMMS functionality, companies can easily organize their maintenance tasks and ensure continuous productivity. There is no doubt that preventive maintenance is one of the most popular and effective maintenance methods. However, this may not always be the right choice, as each organization has its own idiosyncrasies. Sometimes the cost of preventive maintenance is much higher compared to other possible methods. What Are The Different Types Of Preventive Maintenance? There are 3 types of preventive maintenance: Systematic Preventive Maintenance  Preventive maintenance is carried out according to a schedule established according to the time or the number of units of use (produced). Even if time is the most common unit, other units can be used such as the number of products manufactured, the length of products manufactured, the distance traveled, the mass of products manufactured, the number of cycles carried out, etc. This frequency of an intervention is determined by commissioning or after a complete or partial overhaul. Condition-Based Preventive Maintenance Preventive maintenance is subject to a type of predetermined event (self-diagnosis, sensor information, wear measurement, etc.). Condition-based maintenance is therefore maintenance that depends on experience and involves information gathered in real-time. It is also called predictive maintenance (non-standard term). Conditional preventive maintenance is characterized by the highlighting of weak points. Depending on the case, it is desirable to put them under surveillance and, from there, to decide on an intervention when a certain threshold is reached. But the controls remain systematic and are part of the non-destructive control methods. All materials are affected. This conditional preventive maintenance is done by relevant measurements of the equipment in operation. Predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance consists of anticipating future failures on equipment, an object, a system, etc. Concretely, it is a question of anticipating a breakdown or a malfunction thanks to the accumulation of a set of data. Booming in recent years, predictive maintenance has had several advantages. It avoids, for example, the immobilization of a broken-down production system (with the resulting financial repercussions). Predictive maintenance makes it possible above all to anticipate breakdowns and offers the possibility of intervening while avoiding a much more expensive repair. With predictive technology, maintenance costs are reduced by 10 to 40% and the number of breakdowns is halved. Is Preventive Maintenance Cost Effective? Preventive maintenance has long been the most popular maintenance strategy for manufacturers. In industrial maintenance, 60% of companies associate preventive maintenance with increased productivity and over 60% associate preventive maintenance with reduced downtime and increased safety. It has long been believed to provide better cost savings than reactive maintenance. While preventive maintenance still involves machine downtime, it is scheduled for a more convenient time and preferred over unplanned reactive maintenance, where the cost and time until the problem is diagnosed and repaired is unknown. Benefits of Properly Implementing a Preventive Maintenance Program: Reduce maintenance costs Depending on the type and complexity of the company's equipment, maintenance costs can be one of the largest financial drains. Preventive maintenance can help avoid this problem by reducing the likelihood of catastrophic failure or equipment degradation. Additionally, companies can now benefit from predictive maintenance software. These systems create regular maintenance checklists and help coordinate company-wide maintenance schedules. Early detection of faults One of the most basic preventive maintenance tasks is dismantling and thorough inspection of equipment and plant installations. While this is the most effective way to clean and polish your equipment from the inside out, it can also help identify some hidden flaws that surface diagnostics might miss. Production lines can benefit from early detection of problems as they are the cause of prolonged downtime. Regularly replacing dirty or partially damaged parts can eliminate many major defects in the long run. Managers can upgrade or install new functional software to realize automatic diagnosis and error detection. Additionally, some CMMS products can perform maintenance checks of an entire facility in a single cycle. Some systems are even building IoT infrastructure to incorporate device performance data. A single administrator can spot vulnerabilities before they cause significant damage. Reduce downtime For maintenance operations, both static systems and running machines must be partially or completely shut down. Preventive maintenance is almost always faster and uses fewer resources than other maintenance methods. Most modern operating systems, such as production lines and electrical equipment, include performance management sensors that identify specific problem areas. In this case, instead of shutting down the entire system, these problems can be isolated and fixed. With predictive maintenance, you can schedule maintenance work at convenient times, such as when employees leave the building or when the day's operations are over, reducing disruptions to production and efficiency. Longer asset life Every piece of equipment has a finite useful life after which it needs to be repaired or replaced to varying degrees. Companies typically purchase such assets after determining their potential operation and potential production. Most companies already factor in repair or replacement costs. Still, preventative maintenance can provide an extra layer of protection to prolong the life of your equipment. A preventive maintenance program ensures equipment is performing according to the manufacturer and consumer specifications. Challenges of Preventive Maintenance: May exceed expectations With preventive maintenance, there is still a risk of over-maintenance. Some failures are less dangerous to your operation than others. If you dedicate resources to avoiding every single problem, you're probably wasting resources on PMs. Finding a balance between proactive error prevention and reactive remediation efforts is critical. If a preventative maintenance program is too extensive, it can lead to serious financial waste. In some cases, you should test components, parts, or even entire machines for possible failures. Unexpected failure Certain components and parts may fail randomly such that preventive maintenance cannot permanently prevent the failure. In such cases, it may make more sense to think about effective ways to deal with the consequences. You should not base the frequency of preventive maintenance calls on the usual metric of mean time between failures. Instead, the lifespan of the component should be considered when making this decision. Continuous training for technicians Another downside of some preventative maintenance systems is that field technicians don't always keep their knowledge and training up to date. The bottom line is, if your maintenance professionals don't understand the need for preventive maintenance, or aren't adequately trained to perform it, they won't be able to do it properly. High upfront costs When you first implement a preventive maintenance program, it can cost more to service equipment and assets on a regular basis than to wait for a power outage. Small businesses may find the initial cost of deploying a CMMS for preventive maintenance prohibitive if they have a limited budget for asset management and equipment maintenance. Since facilities are regularly inspected for maintenance, you may need to invest in the latest tools and equipment to properly carry out the repair work, which will undoubtedly add to your overall business expenses. Reactive Maintenance Reactive maintenance is the strategy of returning equipment to normal operating conditions only when it fails. This means there is no regular maintenance or repair schedule to reduce downtime. Also known as breakdown repair or repair. Under the right circumstances, reactive maintenance can be a good strategic approach. For example, you might have a facility that has low maintenance costs and is not essential to its operation. Or you may have planned to replace the machine after a failure, eliminating the need for proactive maintenance. Reactive maintenance is a cost-effective approach as it requires minimal maintenance personnel and less budgeted repair costs. But it shouldn't be used as your long-term strategy. This can lead to increased repair costs, unplanned downtime, production delays and lost revenue. It is recommended to allocate only 10% of the total asset inventory to reactive maintenance. [cta title="Don't let equipment failures add to your costs!" text="Stay competitive with WorkTrek CMMS software!" link="https://login.worktrek.com/Account/Register?_gl=1*fpersd*_ga*MTcwMjE1OTkzNy4xNjU0NTA3NTI2*_ga_8N6446P9LX*MTY3Mzk2ODEzNS4yNi4xLjE2NzM5Njg4MDAuNDguMC4w"] What Are The Different Types Of Reactive Maintenance? In addition to various maintenance strategies, asset-intensive companies can also choose a strategic approach within this strategy. For example, preventive maintenance (PM) and condition-based maintenance (CBM) are forms of proactive maintenance strategies. Reactive maintenance is an umbrella term that includes the following types of maintenance: Emergency Maintenance Emergency maintenance is performed on equipment or machinery that plays an important role in your production. This type of reactive maintenance is never planned and is usually a last-minute response to an immediate outage. Emergency maintenance also takes precedence over other business processes, which can cause unplanned delays. Breakdown Maintenance Similar to contingency strategies, breakdown repairs are unplanned events. It refers to an asset that fails suddenly and requires extensive repair work. This can lead to high repair and technician costs, as well as costly unplanned downtime. Running equipment to failure can cost organizations 10 times more than routine maintenance. Corrective Maintenance Corrective maintenance is a form of maintenance performed on an asset before it fails completely. For example, machine defects can be noticed during production. Rather than waiting for the inevitable machine failure, this part will be fixed immediately. Corrective maintenance is the closest thing to preventive maintenance in a reactive strategy by responding to problems before they escalate. Run-to-Failure Unlike the unplanned outage maintenance approach, run-to-failure maintenance is a planned strategy. This is done when the asset is consciously instructed to run until it fails. This allows a plan to be made to repair equipment without unduly delaying production. Or, in some cases, spare parts have been purchased to replace aging equipment should it fail. Is Reactive Maintenance Cost Effective? Reactive maintenance can be a fundamental part of any maintenance strategy, but when used alone it is only cost-effective for selected assets, such as: Short-term assets. Available assets. Long-lived or unmaintainable assets. Small capital assets. Non-critical assets. For most machines and systems, purely reactive maintenance is much more costly and the least efficient type of maintenance in the long run. That's because reactive maintenance can lead to unplanned inefficiencies and disruptions that often occur even at the most inconvenient times. Reactive maintenance is best used as a small part of a maintenance strategy once more efficient types of maintenance have been implemented. Benefits of Reactive Maintenance: Reduce investment cost Reactive maintenance saves you money that would normally be spent upfront on preventive maintenance and labor costs. However, relying solely on reactive maintenance and completely ignoring preventive maintenance could be bad for your business in the long run. Fewer staff required With reactive maintenance, your main concern is to fix problems as soon as they arise. This way you don't need a huge team of technicians to manage the device all the time. For preventive maintenance, you must have at least two technicians in the facility to conduct timely inspections to catch problems early. This also translates into extra salaries, increased team size, and labor costs. No planning required Preventive maintenance requires planned machine downtime for inspections, parts replacement, and other maintenance activities. There is no planned or planned equipment downtime and reactive maintenance. However, this may lead to unpredictable equipment failures in the future. Reactive Maintenance Challenges: Overtime is more expensive Late orders, damaged reputation, and lost sales are common consequences of unexpected delays in manufacturing runs. Additionally, the equipment can break down at inconvenient times when personnel and parts are scarce. In such cases, businesses may have to pay extra for after-hours assistance, commuting, and emergency parts. Unexpected shutdown of equipment Plant downtime is a major disadvantage of reactive maintenance, which can lead to plant shutdowns or production interruptions lasting several days. Downtime is especially problematic in manufacturing because it can lead to layoffs or even entire plant closures for an unknown period of time. Employees work overtime In addition to the initial financial loss that reactive repairs typically entail, you may also need to pay overtime for those responsible for the associated equipment. For example, if one or two employees use down machines more than others, they may need extensive knowledge of the broken machine when investigating repairs. Reactive vs. Preventive Maintenance - Conclusion In maintenance management, reactive maintenance and preventive maintenance are usually opposites. Choosing a plan for your business that fits your functions and needs can be a difficult choice. Maintenance costs make up a significant portion of operating costs. Many unpredictable and uncontrollable situations arise, resulting in additional costs that are difficult to predict in advance but are closely related to maintenance. But your equipment is the heart of your business. Neglecting to maintain your equipment can cost you a lot of time, money, and sometimes even your business. Maintenance management today is very different from that of spreadsheets, notebooks, pens, and paper. Businesses want to keep their existing equipment for as long as possible, they want to stay ahead of the competition, and of course, they don't want to suffer injury, equipment failure, or failure. Is maintenance management important? If you consider your business important, maintaining your equipment and assets is equally important. You can't do it without equipment.

It is common for novice maintenance workers to confuse work requests with work orders. However, there is a distinct difference between the two terms. A work request represents a call to perform maintenance work on a specific asset. Technically, management can approve or deny this request. Alternatively, a work order is an authorization assigned to planned maintenance work to be completed. Once submitted and approved, a work request becomes a work order. They are approved by the maintenance manager or maintenance planner. What is a Work Order A work order is a paper or digital document which provides all the information regarding a maintenance operation. In fact, it represents the first step to be taken following the receipt of a request for intervention or based on a pre-established preventive maintenance schedule. Since a work order management does not complete its life cycle after the activation of the intervention it prescribes, it is good practice to regulate its management within company processes through a specific procedure. For this reason, the work order is included in the maintenance process descriptions that give rise to organizational procedures. Learn more about work order and how to use it. What does Work Order management include? A well-structured work order management should include at least the following details: Name and surname or department of the person requesting the intervention Name and surname of the person who authorized the work Which asset, machinery, or plant it refers to, and its location Purpose of the intervention Description of the problem Type of surgery Priority level Name and surname of the technician to whom you have been assigned (it can be an internal or external resource) Prerequisites for completing the objective (e.g. expected spare parts, required tools, documents, notes, checklists) Estimated date of start and end of work Given these premises, it is clear that the correct compilation of a work order, its management before, during, and after the intervention, as well as its archiving and the ability to analyze it, play a fundamental role in making maintenance processes more efficient within a company. The use of CMMS maintenance software such as WorkTrek makes it easier and in many respects automatic to manage the work order throughout its life cycle. It also allows you to plan the intervention efficiently, coordinating all the parties involved and adding all the necessary documentation with a click. But the greatest benefit is undoubtedly the traceability of all operations which unequivocally contributes to making maintenance processes more orderly, precise, and efficient. Types of Work Orders There are at least two types of work orders that differ based on the very reason they are created. Work order generated by an intervention request: the first case is a response to a breakdown or anomaly. We, therefore, speak of corrective maintenance intervention. The work order management is generated following the receipt of an intervention request from a person who is usually external to the maintenance team. Work order generated by a scheduled maintenance action: The second type is generated by a preventive action and is therefore prior to the occurrence of a failure. In this case, therefore, we will not have any request for intervention, but only a maintenance action planned during the creation of a maintenance plan, such as a time deadline for example. See also, work order guidelines. Work Order Workflow As we said, the life cycle of a work order does not end with its creation. In fact, we can identify at least 5 fundamental steps that coincide with as many phases of each operation. Work order creation It is the phase following the receipt of a request for intervention or the drafting of a maintenance plan. In this second case, relating to a preventive or scheduled maintenance operation, the work order will be created in advance or automatically (if we have CMMS maintenance software). Work order assignment and scheduling It is the phase in which we assign the task to a resource (which can be internal or external, in case we rely on a service provider). Once assigned we can add it to the calendar, taking into account the availability of the technician and our needs. In the event of a corrective maintenance intervention, it may be necessary to reschedule some work orders already scheduled to make room for what we are adding. In this case, if you have a CMMS, the calendar and all work orders involved will be moved and updated automatically. Carrying out the intervention In this phase of the life cycle of a work order, the assigned technician or supplier receives a notification and can consult the work order to access all the information contained therein, from the location of the asset to the checklists that we have added to the work order. Closing the work order Once the intervention has been completed, the assigned technician or supplier adds the costs of the operation to the work order, fills in and signs the report and, if necessary, updates it with new notes. If we use CMMS maintenance software, these operations will be carried out digitally simply from your mobile phone, including sending the signed report. Work order archiving The last step involves the archiving phase of the work order. All the information contained in the work order is entered into the maintenance management system. A CMMS software is able to process this information automatically, adding it to the asset history without requiring any additional intervention on the part of the manager. Learn more about workflow for work orders. What Is a Work Request? A work request is a document that notifies a facility manager when maintenance is required for a particular facility. Customers and maintainers will sometimes submit them after finding out that something doesn't work properly. Reports can be submitted manually on paper or through digital platforms such as computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS). Maintenance personnel ensures that facilities, equipment, and grounds are kept in good working order management at all times. By responding to work requests, these individuals play an important role in keeping the organization's stakeholders productive, comfortable, and safe. If requests are not managed well, they can become a burdensome backlog that hinders an organization's productivity. Once the maintenance department is significantly behind schedule, getting the mean time to repair (MTTR) back to normal levels can be challenging. Therefore, maintenance teams must prioritize work orders through an overall maintenance strategy and workflow before scheduling work orders. Consider reading also, what is CMMS. Types Of Work Requests Depending on the type of industry, company size, and size of the maintenance team, job requirements can be categorized in different ways. Below are a few different types of maintenance requests. By requester type Tenant Requests: A/C malfunctioning, toilets running, drywall repairs Operator Demands: machine stoppages, high scrap rates, fluid leaks Employee Requests: moving furniture, changing office lighting, carpet repair By institution category School requirements: toilets, classrooms, laboratory maintenance Parking Requests: lawn, landscaping, sign restoration Industrial supplies: maintenance of blast furnaces, boilers, food conveyor belts Categorize by priority Discretion (important but not mandatory): paint office, move furniture, upgrade cubicles Non-Discretionary (Mandatory) Emergencies (related to protecting life or preventing loss of expensive assets): chemical spills, power outages, sidewalk deicing Urgent (related to timeliness of required work): toilet hot water restoration, air conditioning repair, urinal operation Routine: preventative maintenance, routine cleaning, mowing Irregular: in addition to urgent and urgent work, this includes planned special projects Learn more about how to implement a work order management process. Elements Of An Effective Job Request The more detailed the documentation, the higher the likelihood that the operations manager will approve the maintenance request. Effective job requirements contain the following main elements: Inquiry – Maintenance technicians, customers, tenants, and department members within the organization can submit them. Problem – Through digital or analog documents, the requester identifies the main issues requiring service. Examples of typical facility issues include vehicle maintenance, landscaping, snow removal, carpentry, and leaking faucets. Location – If the organization has multiple facilities, the request should identify the specific facility or area that requires maintenance. Priority – Prioritization is based on the extent to which the reported issue impacts the bottom line, stakeholder well-being, or the overall security of the organization. While tenants cannot assign priorities, internal organizers should assign high, medium, or low priority to each document. Estimated budget – Maintenance technicians sometimes include cost estimates in requirements documents. This simplifies the planning of maintenance work and the procurement of spare parts. Estimates also help manage approvals, accounting, and financial records. See also our blog on maintainability, definition & explanation. [cta title="If you want the success of any maintenance action, you should try a WorkTrek!" text="Book a WorkTrek demo to see how a CMMS can help your maintainability." link="https://login.worktrek.com/Account/Register?_gl=1*fpersd*_ga*MTcwMjE1OTkzNy4xNjU0NTA3NTI2*_ga_8N6446P9LX*MTY3Mzk2ODEzNS4yNi4xLjE2NzM5Njg4MDAuNDguMC4w"] Difference Between a Work Order And a Work Request The two terms are similar and can often be confused with each other. Work request: A work request is usually generated by personnel who are not part of the maintenance staff. This is not a work order, but rather a pre-creation stage. It consists in signaling a fault or anomaly (this is called corrective maintenance). An intervention request can be generated through traditional means (such as a telephone call, a message, or an email) or through the appropriate intervention request form via CMMS. Work Order: Represents the step following the issue of a request for intervention, through which the request is taken on board by organizing the intervention. It is managed by the supervisor, a maintenance manager, or a member of staff. Correct management of work orders and work requests using CMMS maintenance software guarantees a substantial reduction in intervention times and total traceability of all operations. It also simplifies the reporting of costs and working times. Being able to manage the work order at every stage of its life cycle, including archiving, ensures access to a company information asset of the highest value: being able to work on this data, through statistical analysis and customized reports, allows us to make informed and data-driven decisions to improve processes and guarantee the highest levels of efficiency and production.

Work orders are the engine of your maintenance operation. They provide energy for your team and make it easier to move work from point A to point B. So, this article will teach you how to master the maintenance work order, know the format for writing it, as well as the process and procedures involved in order for your business to run smoothly. What is a work order? A work order is a document that contains all the details of a maintenance task and describes the process to accomplish it. It can include information such as who approves the work, the scope, who is responsible for it, and the work plan. Work orders are essential to the operation of a company's maintenance department. They assist everyone from maintenance managers to technicians in organizing, assigning, prioritizing, tracking, and executing critical tasks. When done correctly, it allows you to collect information, share it, and use it to complete tasks as efficiently as possible. Work order vs work request Although a work order and a work request look the same, there are a few key differences between them. Non-maintenance personnel uses a work request to notify the maintenance team of a task. When equipment breaks down, a machine operator, for example, can send a work request. A maintenance manager reviews the work request and adds additional details, schedules the assignment, and assigns it to a technician. The work request has been transformed into a work order. What are work orders used for? To standardize workflow and create a simple and fast process for scheduling, assigning, and tracking work while documenting resources and tracking performance. Work orders are primarily used in the construction industry for service requests, but can also be used for products, inspections, and audits. Work orders may not always be referred to as such. For example, in manufacturing, a work order is often called a sales order when a build or engineering is to take place. Regardless of what industry a work order is used in, it is used to track and monitor the status of the job to make sure it is finished on time and within budget. This is true when work orders are used in field service or within an industry that is tasked with regular inspection. In that regard, they act almost like a project status report. 6 steps to ensure you have the best work order process Use software to create and track work orders Any maintenance work order has a life cycle consisting of three main phases: development, completion, and check-in. We can divide these steps into several steps. Understanding each step and providing a solid work order process/procedure prevents projects from getting stuck in one phase and becoming a backlog. Step 1: Identify the mission. Maintenance activities are divided into two categories: planned maintenance and unplanned maintenance. Predictive maintenance includes anything you know about in advance, such as regular checkups, and unscheduled maintenance includes anything you can't predict, like an unplanned outage. Step 2: Submit a repair request. Here you compile job descriptions and send them to the maintenance team for further action. If a computer breaks down, for example, an operator generates a work request and sends it to maintenance. When a task is scheduled, a work order is generated and activated at the appropriate time. Step 3: Prioritize and schedule the order. More often than not, some professions require more time than others. A blown light bulb may not need immediate repair, unlike a damaged conveyor belt. That's why you need to prioritize every work order that comes to your desk. Now is the time to plan after prioritizing. It can be coordinated based on a fixed date, expected maintenance triggers, or dedicated time slots. Setting a deadline keeps everyone accountable and also keeps everyone informed, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks. Step 4: Delegate and complete the work. Now is the time to put those words on paper into reality. A technician is assigned to the work order and carries out the mission. So it can be as simple as a five-minute equipment check-up or as complicated as a multi-day repair job. Step 5: Close and document the purchase order. The work order will be closed until all of its terms have been fulfilled. Managers may be required to sign it to meet the application criteria. When a work order is completed, it is put away. A well-organized work order log is essential for creating asset histories, evaluating previous solutions, planning audits, and other tasks. Step 6: The work order is reviewed. Reviewing work orders provides useful details. They will provide insight into your processes and systems that can be used to improve your business. The log also helps technicians easily identify missing steps or workarounds if a problem reoccurs. After that, work order software gives you the power to monitor and manage every aspect of your work order process. Staff and others are able to submit requests in seconds, and these requests then get automatically routed to the appropriate person to approve and assign work. If you’d rather, requests can even get automatically assigned to the appropriate technician. Work order software also allows technicians to document materials and time spent on a project so that they have proper inventory counts and can better track labor allocation. Most importantly, work order management software can act as a centralized hub for communication—technicians can instantly notify requesting users of changes, updates, and completion of their work orders, and end-users can respond back if needed. Use mobile devices to submit, track, and close out work orders Using mobile devices to track work orders allows field technicians to manage maintenance anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Maintenance and facilities teams often need to look up details, ask questions, or send a note on status while on the field—providing your team with the tools to do this allows them to become more efficient. Encourage users to always submit a work order Your work order process is only going to work if everyone follows it. Oftentimes, requesting users will be tempted to submit a work order through a different means (verbally, pen and paper, etc.) than what’s outlined, or technicians will skip a step or two in the process. Encourage users and technicians to follow the outlined process even for small tasks like changing a light bulb. This creates consistent behavior, which will lead to streamlined processes in the future. In addition, tracking every work order creates a maintenance history for each asset. This can be used when justifying new equipment or more staff, or to just simply look up how something was fixed in the past. Establishing a work order process for your maintenance and facilities teams can help you organize and prioritize tasks so that your team is as efficient as possible. Guide for Crafting an Awesome Work Order Process Developing an effective work order process extends beyond a mere sequence of steps. Explore these tips and best practices to enhance the optimization of your work order system. Embrace Digital Solutions: Bid farewell to the era of paper-based record-keeping. To ensure the seamless functioning of maintenance operations and stay competitive, leverage the capabilities of work order management software. Implementing Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) software can automate the work order process, maintaining a digital record. This allows team members to submit requests, receive mobile alerts, document and review tasks, and manage inventory, all within a unified system. Prioritize Detail Inclusion: Embed ample details in each work order to empower your technicians with precise instructions for accomplishing the task successfully on the first attempt. These details should encompass: A comprehensive problem description, specifying its location, severity, and the part of the asset requiring repair. Identification of the specific assets in need of repair. Detailed checklists outlining the tasks for repair, potentially including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for specific tasks. A list of required resources. Health and safety prerequisites. The specified completion date. By adhering to these practices, you can elevate the effectiveness of your work order process, fostering efficiency and accuracy in your maintenance operations. Conclusion Work orders are the cornerstone of great maintenance. When properly managed, they provide the team with the consistency and structure it needs to succeed. A well-designed maintenance work order process facilitates the establishment of a preventive maintenance program and the response to unscheduled maintenance. Thus, roles have been described, workflows have been improved, tasks have been monitored and information has been well documented. The final and most important piece of the puzzle is selecting the best methods and procedures to manage work orders. When it all comes together, the operation will be able to master the basics of maintenance while looking for new ways to grow and thrive.