Maintworld Magazine 4/2021

PARTNER ARTICLE
Benchmarking
maintenance
cost in a vacuum
It is very common that a company or a plant tries to benchmark
its maintenance cost. The maintenance cost/ton or maintenance
cost/unit is typically the benchmark of most interest.
BUT THE EFFORT to benchmark the
maintenance cost/unit produced is quite
futile if it is the sole focus. Why? First,
because the maintenance cost is extremely
hard to compare between plants
due to variability of the following:
• Company definition of maintenance
cost
• Local tax laws
• Currency exchange rate variations
(If comparing internationally)
• Company practices (and ethics)
• The maintenance debt
• Difference in production flow
• Difference in equipment selection
and engineering before plant
start up
• The age of the equipment
Second, the maintenance cost by itself
is not very interesting or even very relevant.
Perhaps it can be compared with
baseball pitches or ice hockey slap shots,
which are roughly the same speed.
A good pitch or slap shot is a tad over
100 mph. Many are obsessed with measuring
the speed of a pitch or slap shot,
but is it relevant? A little bit, but neither
baseball nor hockey is about fast pitches
and hard shots, it’s about winning the
game. Similarly, the name of the game for
any company in the world is one thing,
profit! That is why companies exist.
A paper mill in Canada had one of the
highest maintenance costs ($ Mtce cost/
38 maintworld 4/2021