From reactive to reliable : building Maintenance Excellence

A leading manufacturing company sought to elevate its maintenance operations to meet rising expectations for product quality, reduce operational costs, and enhance efficiency. Partnering with PDM, they successfully developed and implemented a unified vision and framework for Maintenance Excellence, tailored to their unique needs across multiple factories. 

The client is a top-tier global industrial manufacturer with multiple production facilities across Europe. This organization operates in a highly regulated sector where reliability, compliance, and efficiency are critical. Their commitment to operational excellence positioned them as a benchmark player in industrial manufacturing. 

The challenge 

The client faced fragmented maintenance practices across factories, inconsistent quality standards, inefficiencies in scheduling and resource planning, and unclear prioritization of work orders. These challenges hindered operational efficiency and risked non-compliance with HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality) standards. 

 

PDM’s approach 

PDM supported the development of a comprehensive vision for Maintenance Excellence, addressing the core question: “Where do we want our maintenance organization to go?” The emphasis was placed on improving reliability engineering, data & knowledge management, and work order management. This included the following: 

• Maturity assessment: Using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), each factory was assessed across five levels: Ad Hoc, Repeatable, Defined, Managed, and Excellent. This provided a clear benchmark of where each site stood. 

• Collaborative redesign: PDM facilitated workshops with Maintenance Managers to share experiences and introduce best practices. A standardized yet flexible framework was created, including: 

• Unified work processes and flowcharts 

• Common planning definitions, especially around work order priority 

• Standard CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) configuration 

• Instructional videos and documentation 

• Reliability engineering: A structured framework was applied to analyze equipment reliability, integrating criticality, maintenance cost, failure modes (FMEA), and risk matrices to design optimal strategies (e.g., condition-based or usage-based maintenance). 

• Data & knowledge management: Naming conventions, documentation standards, and cross-site technical improvement meetings fostered consistency and shared learning. 

• Validation & early implementation: Concepts from workshops were tested on the shop floor to confirm feasibility. This often triggered early-stage adoption, embedding changes directly into daily operations. 

“The standardized prioritization model helps us act faster and more consistently across all sites” 
—Senior Maintenance Engineer 

 

Results and impact 

Initial implementation already demonstrated increased planning efficiency and work order clarity. Gradual improvement in maintenance effectiveness metrics, with early signs indicating reduced unplanned downtime and improved resource utilization. 

Prior to intervention, maintenance activities were reactive, siloed, and inconsistent. The introduction of a maturity-based roadmap and actionable tools brought structure and cohesion. We were able to provide candid insights into: 

• The real fragmentation across sites 

• Cultural barriers to change 

• How a pragmatic, phased implementation paved the way for sustainable improvements 

Through a tailored and collaborative approach, PDM helped this client standardize maintenance practices, enhance internal alignment, and initiate a cultural shift toward continuous improvement. The foundational work now supports further rollouts across remaining sites and continuous refinement through metrics and benchmarking. 

 “We now speak the same language across departments, which streamlines everything from planning to execution” 
—R&D Manager 

 

Want to transform your maintenance strategy? 

Get in touch with PDM to discover how our expert-driven frameworks and proven methods can help your company achieve Industrial Excellence. efficiently and sustainably.