Craft Interference in Maintenance - Causes, Costs and Solutions, 1992 Engineering Conference Proceedings

The modification of a strict craft maintenance organization to include multi-crag maintenance may be necessary to improve productivity in the Pulp and Paper Industry. To meet competitive pressures, companies will be forced to analyze the cost of such organizations. Once the losses from a traditional craft organization are know, it will be management’s responsibility to implement the needed flexibility. While no canned solution exists, there appear to be several logical steps which must be taken.

First, there must be a period of education during which labor and management are made aware of the financial impact of the current maintenance organization on the company. This education should include the impact of competition, the need to reduce expenseto meet the increasing demands of the stockholders, and the changing role of the hourly work force in the more socially aware 1990’s. Once the need is clearly understood, it will then be a joint effort by labor and management to arrive at an agreeable organization and implementation plan.