Maintenance

Control Objectives for Maintenance

(a) To ensure that all production equipment and machinery is cost effectively
maintained in working order;
(b) To prevent/minimise any disruption to production caused by the failure of
equipment, plant and machinery;
(c) To define and implement a structured and planned approach to
preventative maintenance in order to ensure that all relevant devices are regularly
inspected and serviced;
(d) To ensure that adequate and appropriately skilled maintenance staff are
employed to fulfill the defined maintenance obligations;
(e) To provide a prompt and effective response to emergency maintenance
problems during working hours;
(f) To ensure that preventative maintenance work is conducted at a time to
avoid undue disruption of production processes;
(g) To ensure that the maintenance programme does not contravene any
current supplier/manufacturer warranties and service conditions;
(h) To ensure that all maintenance work in conducted to the required
standard and complies with any prevailing safety regulations;
(i) To ensure that the performance of external maintenance contractors is
monitored and confirmed as being effective and acceptable;
(j) To ensure that all maintenance costs are accurately identified, justified,
recorded, authorised and accounted for;
(k) To ensure that all spares and materials used during maintenance are
correctly accounted for; and
(l) To ensure that maintenance costs are adequately monitored and that the
appropriate action is taken with regard to troublesome or costly pieces of
production machinery.

Risk and Control Issues for Maintenance

1 Key Issues

1.1 What measures are in place to ensure that all production equipment
and machinery is maintained in working order?
1.2 Has management defined, documented and implemented a suitable
maintenance plan which identifies the servicing needs for all key
equipment?
1.3 How is management assured that all the intended maintenance work
is correctly conducted?
1.4 How can management be certain that adequate and appropriately
skilled maintenance staff are provided?
1.5 What mechanisms minimise the disruptions caused by the failure of
machinery during production runs?
1.6 When appropriate are external suppliers and maintenance
contractors utilised to conduct regular servicing and emergency repairs (and
is their performance monitored for effectiveness and value for money)?
1.7 Are all machines and equipment maintained to the required
standard (and how is this evidenced)?
1.8 How can management be assured that all maintenance costs (labour
and materials) are accurately identified, justified, authorised and correctly
accounted for?
1.9 Is regular and accurate information on maintenance costs and
machine performance provided, and what action is taken by management in
respect of persistently faulty equipment?
1.10 Is management made aware of the need to replace or upgrade
production equipment, and what is the evidence that such replacements are
fully examined, justified and authorised to proceed?

2 Detailed Issues

2.1 Are machine failures and operational problems promptly reported to the
appropriate staff to enable effective action to be taken?
2.2 What measures prevent equipment being overlooked for maintenance
purposes?
2.3 Are maintenance requirements documented and differentiated between
items to be serviced by internal staff and external contractors/suppliers?
2.4 Is a preventative maintenance plan documented and in place, and how can
management be sure that it is adhered to?
2.5 Is equipment under the suppliers warranty adequately identified so that all
maintenance is handled by either the supplier or manufacturer?
2.6 What measures prevent unauthorised or unqualified staff from tampering
with or servicing production equipment?
2.7 Is preventative maintenance conducted out of normal working hours (or
during re-tooling or production set-up periods) in order to avoid any undue
disruption of production processes?
2.8 Is the performance of key pieces of equipment subject to effective
monitoring so that potentially disruptive faults can be anticipated and countered?
2.9 Are accurate and up-to-date servicing records maintained for each piece
of key production equipment?
2.10 Are effective and workable contingency arrangements in place (and
tested) in the event of the failure of a key piece of machinery?
2.11 How can management be assured that any devices utilised in continuous
manufacturing processes are operating correctly and receive the necessary
maintenance attention?
2.12 Are all claims against suppliers for persistently faulty equipment
effectively pursued and compensation sought?
2.13 Are maintenance staff suitably trained to deal with the range of production
equipment in place, and how is this confirmed?
2.14 Are maintenance staff resources adequate to ensure appropriately skilled
coverage during holiday periods, etc.?
2.15 Are out-of-hours maintenance activities suitably justified and authorised?
2.16 Are maintenance activities (both internally and externally resourced)
subject to monitoring for justification and performance purposes?
2.17 How would management be made aware of any unnecessary or unjustified
activities?
2.18 Does management conduct appraisals of the performance of external
service contractors and take remedial action when necessary?
2.19 What measures ensure that claims are pursued against external
maintenance contractors in the event of unsatisfactory or delayed service
provision?
2.20 Where safety and other regulatory implications apply, how can
management be certain that the required maintenance standards are achieved?
2.21 What mechanisms ensure that relevant production equipment is correctly
calibrated, configured, and operating at the optimum level recommended by the
manufacturer?
2.22 Are purchase orders for spare parts and maintenance consumables
suitably justified, authorised and accounted for?
2.23 Are stocks of maintenance parts accounted for and regularly verified (and
what prevents pilferage and other losses occurring)?
2.24 How is the accuracy of data input from other systems (i.e. external
contractors charges from the accounts payable system) confirmed?
2.25 How is the accuracy of data output to other systems (i.e. overtime hours
worked by the maintenance team for payroll calculation purposes) confirmed?