Backlogged repair projects and preventative maintenance that is pushed to the back burner is the Achilles heel to many maintenance departments. The problem is that once these “to-do” lists start to pile up, they snowball into an almost insurmountable job.
Sometimes the reason is budgetary, but if it is due to simply being complacent, there is no excuse. Keeping up with preventative maintenance is imperative for every facility and keeps the work on track and prevents it from piling up.
For instance, even state parks have issues with repair projects that have been pushed aside or not done in a timely manner.
“Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia have their share of national parks and historic sites with backlogged maintenance and repair projects. The National Park Service says deferred maintenance is necessary work on infrastructure such as roads, visitor centers, trails, and campgrounds that has been put off for more than a year. Aging facilities, increasing use of park facilities, and insufficient maintenance funding contribute to growth of the backlog, according to the NPS website.”
When this happens, the work is more intimidating than it would be if it'd only been kept up with in the first place. Preventative maintenance is one of the most important aspects of any maintenance department and things are made so much easier with a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Software) program because you have the ability to schedule your preventative maintenance as far in advance as you wish.
Instead of waiting till the work piles up then scheduling it to be completed, you simply schedule the work to be done so that when the date arrives, it's automatically sent to your employees to do. This helps with scheduling conflicts and makes everything less intimidating.
In the case of the state parks, many of the issues with the backlog was due to budgetary constraints. However, even with a limited budget some things can be completed if there is more time to do it and this is where the Computerized Maintenance Management Software is helpful.
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No matter what type of maintenance department you manage, keeping up with your repair projects won't pose as big of a problem later on in the year. MaintenanceCare.com can help!