Qualities & Qualifications of A Maintenance Incharge

Total Plant Maintenance (TPM) concept is a well suited policy for large manufacturing or processing plants. Instead of spreading maintenance to a number of departments, it is better to have a single point responsibility with a Maintenance In charge supervising all activities. This can help better pooling of resources and deployment of manpower. The inter departmental rivalry can be reduced and multitasking ability can be cultivated under this concept.

Being a team leader, Maintenance In charge (MI) should posses certain qualifications and qualities. He should have the over all view of the electrical,mechanical,instrumentation maintenance requirement of all the equipments under his supervision. Some of the most vital qualities we should look forward to are:

Engineering Maintenance Skill: The MI should have hands on experience in mechanical, electrical, instrumentation maintenance. These three are the basic maintenance requirement of any large plant. He should be able to judge the time requirement for carrying out the maintenance jobs and deploy enough manpower for carrying out the same.

IT Skill: Now-a-days tendering, procurement etc are being done online. The MI should have knowledge in the preparation of purchase request, purchase order etc using software packages like SAP. On line recording of consumption of store & spares help in the auto generation of purchase request. Timely availability of spares can considerably reduce the shut down time and production loss.

General Knowledge in NDT: Some of the jobs can not be done departmentally and required to be out sourced. Non Destructive Testing (NDT) of materials,welding etc is usually done through external agencies who posses qualifications and experience in their field. A general knowledge of these methods is desirable for MI, to make sure that appropriate testing has been conducted.

Human Resource Management: By Human Resource Management (HRM), I do not mean recruitment of people. Being a leader of a team, MI should be able to resolve ego clashes of subordinates and make them understand the value of their contributions in the maintenance jobs. In isolated places like Off shore Oil & Gas Processing complexes, some times he has to act as a counsellor for the employees and help them to reduce the mental stress due to work overload and prolonged isolation from their dear and near.

Companies while recruiting MIs should give importance to the above requirements and a person possessing above qualities shall be appointed for the post.