Course Overview

Have you ever wondered why some maintenance teams consistently achieve high equipment reliability and operational uptime—while others face repeated breakdowns, delays, and rising maintenance costs?

The difference is often not the equipment itself, but how effectively maintenance work is planned, scheduled, and controlled.

The Complete Course on Maintenance Planning and Scheduling by TransforMentors Academy is designed to transform maintenance operations from reactive firefighting into a structured, proactive, and performance-driven system. The programme equips participants with practical tools, planning frameworks, and scheduling strategies used in high-performing maintenance organisations worldwide.

Over ten intensive days, participants will develop the skills needed to effectively plan, prioritise, coordinate, and optimise maintenance activities. The course covers best practices in work identification, job planning, resource allocation, shutdown planning, backlog management, and scheduling optimisation. It also integrates the use of CMMS tools, maintenance KPIs, and performance reporting systems to ensure data-driven decision-making.

Through real-world case studies, interactive exercises, and practical applications, participants will learn how to improve workflow efficiency, reduce equipment downtime, and maximise asset reliability. By the end of the course, they will be able to implement a fully structured maintenance planning and scheduling system that drives operational excellence and long-term asset performance.

Agenda

Day — 1 The Business Value of Maintenance Planning

• Understanding the purpose, scope, and strategic importance of maintenance within industrial operations
• Exploring the role of structured maintenance planning and scheduling in improving asset reliability and operational performance
• Examining the economic and operational consequences of poor maintenance planning, including downtime, cost escalation, and reduced asset life
• Understanding how effective planning contributes to improved productivity, safety, and resource utilisation
• Exploring the key roles involved in maintenance systems and how coordination improves overall performance:
  • Planners
  • Supervisors
  • Technicians
• Analysing how collaboration between maintenance roles drives efficiency and reduces operational disruptions
• Case Study: Evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of maintenance planning in an industrial manufacturing plant and identify key value drivers

Day — 2 Principles and Functions of Effective Planning

• Understanding the role, responsibilities, and competencies of a maintenance planner in modern industrial organisations
• Exploring the key characteristics that define effective maintenance planning, including:
  • Clear scope definition
  • Appropriate level of job detail
  • Accurate estimation of labour, materials, and time
  • Logical sequencing of tasks
  • Structured feedback and continuous improvement
• Examining how planners balance reactive maintenance demands with preventive and predictive work requirements
• Understanding the end-to-end maintenance planning workflow, from job identification to execution and review
• Analysing the importance of communication and coordination between planning, operations, and maintenance teams
• Case Study: Review and analyse examples of successful maintenance plans to identify best practices and performance drivers

Day — 3 Work Identification and Work Order Management

• Understanding the process of identifying, requesting, and classifying maintenance work within an organisation
• Exploring methods for effective work identification, including operator reports, inspections, condition monitoring, and failure reporting
• Applying prioritisation techniques using risk assessment, asset criticality, and operational impact analysis
• Understanding the structure and standardisation of a maintenance work order for consistent execution and reporting
• Examining the importance of accurate and timely data feedback to improve planning accuracy and maintenance decision-making
• Strengthening communication between operations, maintenance, and planning teams to ensure effective workflow management
• Exercise: Create a sample maintenance work request and define the complete information flow from identification to execution and feedback closure

Day — 4 Developing and Managing Job Plans

• Understanding the essential components of a complete maintenance job plan, including scope, tasks, resources, and safety requirements
• Creating structured and standardised job plans to ensure consistency in execution and reporting
• Developing reusable job plans for recurring maintenance activities to improve efficiency and reduce planning effort
• Applying methods for estimating labour hours, materials, tools, and equipment requirements accurately
• Ensuring alignment between job plans and maintenance strategy, including preventive and corrective work
• Strengthening the planner–technician feedback loop to improve job plan accuracy and execution quality
• Using continuous improvement principles to refine job planning based on field feedback and performance data
• Exercise: Develop a detailed job plan for a preventive maintenance task, including steps, resources, time estimates, and safety considerations

Day — 5 Coordination with Materials, Parts, and Storeroom

• Understanding how material management directly impacts maintenance efficiency, equipment uptime, and overall plant performance
• Exploring the importance of timely availability of spare parts in reducing delays and improving schedule compliance
• Explaining the process of parts kitting, including grouping all required components, tools, and consumables for a specific maintenance job
• Understanding staging practices where kits are pre-positioned near job sites to improve execution speed and reduce downtime
• Examining coordination between maintenance planners, storeroom personnel, and procurement teams for effective parts availability
• Reviewing common challenges such as stockouts, poor inventory data, incorrect specifications, and long lead times
• Applying quality control practices to ensure correct parts are issued and meet technical requirements
• Strengthening communication and workflow integration between planning and materials management functions
• Exercise: Design a kitting checklist and staging plan for a high-priority maintenance job, including parts verification, staging location, and timing requirements

Day — 6 Scheduling Fundamentals and Weekly Planning

• Understanding the concept of maintenance scheduling and its role in converting planned work into executable activities
• Exploring the importance of scheduling in improving labour utilisation, equipment uptime, and maintenance efficiency
• Developing a forward-looking maintenance backlog to ensure readiness of work before execution
• Building structured weekly schedules based on priorities, resource availability, and operational constraints
• Coordinating effectively between maintenance and operations teams to minimise conflicts and production disruptions
• Understanding the importance of schedule compliance as a key performance indicator (KPI) for maintenance effectiveness
• Reviewing and analysing weekly schedule performance to identify improvement opportunities
• Applying structured planning principles to balance preventive, corrective, and emergency work
• Exercise: Develop a weekly maintenance schedule based on given resource availability, prioritised backlog, and operational constraints

Day — 7 Daily Execution and Field Supervision

• Understanding how daily scheduling acts as the critical link between maintenance planning and on-the-ground execution
• Exploring the role of supervisors in ensuring smooth daily maintenance operations and work execution
• Reviewing key supervisory responsibilities, including:
  • Managing day-of execution activities
  • Handling unexpected interruptions and emergent work
  • Maintaining focus on priority tasks and schedule adherence
• Applying techniques for real-time monitoring, performance tracking, and work progress control
• Understanding how to make on-the-spot adjustments while maintaining alignment with the weekly schedule
• Exploring effective communication practices between maintenance and operations teams to ensure coordination and minimal downtime
• Strengthening decision-making at the field level to improve productivity and asset availability
• Case Study: Analyse how effective daily scheduling and supervision improved production uptime and reduced operational disruptions

Day — 8 Managing Reactive and Proactive Maintenance

• Understanding the definitions of reactive and proactive maintenance and their impact on cost, reliability, and asset performance
• Comparing the financial and operational implications of reactive versus planned maintenance approaches
• Developing strategies to reduce unplanned work and improve system reliability through structured planning
• Integrating preventive and predictive maintenance approaches into the maintenance planning workflow
• Exploring the role of Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) concepts in shifting maintenance from reactive to proactive models
• Applying prioritisation techniques to reduce breakdown frequency and improve asset availability
• Strengthening long-term maintenance strategies through proactive work identification and scheduling
• Exercise: Classify maintenance tasks into reactive and proactive categories and design a strategy to progressively convert reactive work into planned maintenance activities

Day — 9 Advanced Planning and Scheduling Applications

• Understanding the role of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) in modern maintenance planning and scheduling
• Exploring key applications of CMMS data, including:
  • Job history analysis for reliability insights and failure tracking
  • Backlog analysis to prioritise and manage maintenance workload effectively
  • KPI reporting to monitor planning efficiency and maintenance performance
• Applying data-driven decision-making to improve maintenance planning accuracy and effectiveness
• Discussing planning considerations for major maintenance events, including:
  • Shutdowns
  • Outages
  • Turnarounds
• Understanding coordination challenges and resource optimisation during large-scale maintenance events
• Examining the integration of capital projects and reliability improvement initiatives within the maintenance planning framework
• Strengthening alignment between maintenance, operations, and engineering functions for major event execution
• Exercise: Develop a simple outage plan and associated resource schedule for a maintenance event

Day — 10 Performance Metrics and Continuous Improvement

• Identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure maintenance planning and scheduling effectiveness
• Understanding essential KPIs such as schedule compliance, backlog health, wrench time, and planning accuracy
• Reviewing auditing methods for evaluating the effectiveness and consistency of the maintenance planning function
• Exploring leadership roles in building a strong planning and scheduling culture across maintenance teams
• Strengthening communication strategies between planners, supervisors, and operations teams to improve execution efficiency
• Developing structured roadmaps for continuous improvement in maintenance planning and scheduling performance
• Applying best practices and lessons learned to improve reliability, efficiency, and organisational performance
• Creating a culture of accountability, performance measurement, and proactive maintenance management

Learning Outcomes

By attending The Complete Course on Maintenance Planning and Scheduling, you will be able to:

• Understand the strategic role of maintenance planning and scheduling in improving asset reliability, operational efficiency, and overall organisational performance
• Apply the core principles of effective maintenance planning, including job scoping, estimating, sequencing, and documentation
• Develop and manage detailed job plans that clearly define labour, materials, tools, and safety requirements
• Coordinate effectively with materials, procurement, and storeroom functions to ensure timely availability of spares and smooth workflow execution
• Build practical weekly and daily maintenance schedules that balance resource capacity, backlog priorities, and production demands
• Integrate preventive, predictive, and Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) strategies into planning processes to minimise reactive maintenance
• Use Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) to track work orders, maintenance history, backlog trends, and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Measure and continuously improve planning and scheduling performance through KPIs, communication practices, and leadership-driven maintenance control systems

Who Should Attend

The Complete Course on Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is ideal for organisations and professionals seeking to improve maintenance efficiency, reliability, and coordination across operations. It is especially beneficial for:

• Maintenance Planners, Schedulers, and Supervisors
• Reliability, Production, and Operations Engineers
• Maintenance Managers and Team Leaders
• Technical professionals involved in asset management, work control, or CMMS administration
• Maintenance Coordinators and Shutdown/Turnaround Planners
• Operations and Plant Engineers