Archive for March, 2009

Best Practices (2)

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

The first hurdle in establishing anything remotely superior in terms of practices, or correction of established methods in any plant, remains the too often shoddy quality of information derived from inaccurate, biased, incomplete or even lost data.

In a recent discussion regarding the age-old approach of first dealing with high maintenance cost assets, the sad realization that these could only be identified through subjective impressions of personnel left us perplexed: the problems of old are still alive and well.

Simply put, you can not manage what you do not measure, and measuring (metrics or performance indicators) can fall short of the target if the proper controls were never established from the start (or some time in the past).

© 2009 by François Gagnon

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“Best” Practices

Monday, March 30th, 2009

The benefit of wielding several languages can sometimes be found in the details of how another culture considers an expression or statement that pervades our culture to the extent where we no longer question it! Take “Best Practices”, for instance…

The French language instantly applies a caveat to that now sacred cow of a buzzword: it becomes Exemplary Practices. We immediately get a different sense of importance as that critical nuance gets introduced, since Best and Exemplary ring altogether different bells.

The problem with Best can be readily summed up: “Best” for the people who use it, in their business, industry, context, environment, management style, CMMS or EAM, may well be far from the bull’s eye for YOUR plant. Sadly, “Best” may be a lie! 

“Exemplary”, on the other hand, avoids the pushy arrogance of stating “this is the way you should also manage, work, implement, or execute”. Instead, it gently introduces itself as an example of methods that work for certain people in their very specific circumstances.

Thus, the reader may concur that “exemplary” may well be much better than “best”! An odd conundrum, to say the least!

© 2009 by François Gagnon

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