The Maintenance Dictionary

A plea for common maintenance terminology

Sandy Dunn
Director, Assetivity
Why do we need common terminology?
So we can understand each other
Why do we need common terminology?
So we can understand each other
Why do we need common terminology?
So that we can compare our performance with
others
Some Definitions of Availability

The ability of equipment or a process to perform its

required function at a stated instant or over a stated
period of time
The proportion of total time that an item of
equipment is capable of performing its specified
functions, normally expressed as a percentage. It
can be calculated by dividing the equipment
available hours by the total number of hours in any
given period.
The state of being available
Present or ready for immediate use
 More Definitions of Availability

Inherent Availability = MTBF /MTBF +MTTR (Mean Time

Between Maintenance, Mean Time To Repair) Corrective
Maintenance only. Thus excludes preventative or scheduled
maintenance and logistic delay time (paperwork). This could be
used when there are adequate number of spares, no delays in
obtaining a spare, adequate trained personnel, few admin
delays.
Achieved Availability = MTBM/ MTBM + MTTRactive (Mean
Time Between Maintenance) Thus does not include logistic and
admin delays
Operational Availability = MTBM / MTBM + MDT (Mean
Down Time) This reflects the real world. Also brings spares
optimising and business systems into the fray.
 Even More Definitions of Availability
Source: Tomlingson, P D, Mine Maintenance
Management, Kendall Hunt Pub Co, 1994
TOTAL
TIME
The total number of hours
available in a year (i.e. 24
hours per day, 7 days per
week)
SCHEDULED TIME - MAINTENANCE TIME
PHYSICAL AVAILABILITY =
SCHEDULED TIME
UTILISED TIME
MAINTENANCE AVAILABILITY =
UTILISEDTIME + MAINTENANCETIME
SCHEDULED
TIME
The period of time that an
item is programmed to work
(e.g. Continuous, 12 Hours /
day Monday to Friday etc.)
UNSCHEDULED
TIME
The period of time that an
item is not programmed to
work (e.g. Off Shifts.)
The period of time during
which an item is not being
used for its intended function,
due to physical availability in
excess of requirement.
IDLE
TIME
UTILISED TIME
The period of time that an
item has resources allocated to
run an item
MAINTENANCE
TIME
The period of time that an
item is required for
maintenance.
The period of time where an
item is unable to be used as
intended due to delays.
OPERATING
DELAYS
OPERATING
TIME
The period of time where an
item is being used for its
intended function
The period of time where
PREVENTIVE preventive maintenance is
MAINTENANCE being performed on an item
TIME (only where this time occurs
during scheduled time).
The period of time where
BREAKDOWN breakdown maintenance is
TIME being performed on an item
The period of time where
modifications are being
MODIFICATION
performed on an item (only
TIME
where this time occurs
during scheduled time).
Yet More Definitions of Availability

Equipment Time

Active Time Inactive Time

Uptime Downtime Free Time Storage Time

Source: Maintainability, Availability, & Operational

Readiness Engineering Dimitri Kececioglu, Prentice Hall
Yet More Definitions of Availability
Equipment Time

Active Time Inactive Time

Uptime Downtime

Alert Time Maintenance Time

Reaction Time Preventive Maintenance Time

Mission Time Corrective Maintenance Time

Modification Time

Delay Time

Supply Delay Time

Source: Maintainability, Availability, & Operational
Readiness Engineering Dimitri Kececioglu, Prentice Hall
Administrative Delay Time
 Yet More Definitions of Availability
Equipment Time

Active Time Inactive Time

Uptime Downtime

Source: Maintainability, Availability, & Operational Maintenance Time Modification Time Delay Time
Readiness Engineering Dimitri Kececioglu, Prentice Hall

Preventive Corrective
Maintenance Maintenance
Time Time

Replacing Aging
Inspection Time Servicing Time Minor Overhaul Major Overhaul
Units Time
Yet More Definitions of Availability
Equipment
Time

Active Time Inactive Time

Source: Maintainability, Availability, & Operational

Readiness Engineering Dimitri Kececioglu, Prentice Hall
Uptime Downtime

Maintenance Modification
Delay Time
Time Time

Preventive Corrective
Maintenance Maintenance
Time Time

Item Adjustment- Fault Logging

Preparation Failure Checkout
Obtainment Calibration Correction Cleanup Time Restoration
Time Isolation Time Time
Time Time Time Action Time

Remove Remove and

Repair in
Repair and Repair with
Place
Replace Spare
Are you confused yet?
Where does standard terminology come
from?
Where does standard terminology come
from?
The Plant Maintenance Resource Center (www.plant-
maintenance.com/terminology.shtml)
Maintenance Resources
(www.maintenanceresources.com/ReferenceLibrary/CMMS/Mai
ntGlossary.htm)
Idcon (www.idcon.com/article-
categories.htm#MaintenanceDefinitions)
Reliability Center, Inc. (www.reliability.com/glossary.htm)
Lincoln Technology
(www.lincolntechnology.com/terms/acronyms_definitions_a2i.a
spx)
European Federation of National Maintenance Societies
(EFNMS)
(www.efnms.org/efnms/publications/13defined101.doc)
Where does standard terminology come
from?
ANSI/IEEE 762 1993 :Standard Definitions for Use in Reporting Electric
Generating Unit Reliability, Availability, and Productivity
BSI BS 5760: PART 2 1994 Reliability of Systems, Equipments and Components
Part 2: Guide to the Assessment of Reliability
CNS C5155 Data Processing Vocabulary (Part 14: Reliability, Maintenance and
Availability)
CNS B8006 Glossary of Terms for Reliability (General)
JIS X 0014 Glossary of Terms Used in Information Processing (Reliability,
Maintenance and Availability)
AS 2529:1994 Collection of Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Data for
Electronics and Similar Engineering Use
SEMI E10 Guideline for Definition and Measurement of Equipment Reliability,
Availability, and Maintainability (RAM)
SAE J 1213/2 Glossary of Reliability Terminology Associated with Automotive
Electronics, Information Report; October 1988
MOD UK DSTAN 05-63 Guidelines for Classifying Incidents for Reliability
Estimation of Tracked and Wheeled Vehicles Issue 1 (10.84)
EN 13306:2001 Maintenance terminology
Where to from here?
The Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals
(SMRP) has convened a task group to improve the SMRP
benchmarking program. Its tasks include:
Perform gap analysis on existing SMRP benchmarking
program.
Establish the recognized standard for maintenance and
reliability benchmarking and best practices.
Establish common definitions and terms.
Provide a roadmap for bridging the gap between
current practices and best practices.
Develop a recommended implementation plan
SMRP is developing definitions for 38
metrics
6 Metrics are Currently Available for
Comment and Review
Stocked MRO Inventory Value as a Percent of RAV
Total Downtime
Scheduled Downtime
Unscheduled Downtime
Rework
Annual Maintenance Cost as a Percent of RAV
How can you get involved?
Go to http://www.smrp.org/BP/index2.php, and
download the documents for the metrics currently
available for comment. A sample (for Rework) is
included as an attachment to this paper.
Take the online survey (also accessible from
http://www.smrp.org/BP/index2.php) to give
feedback on these metrics and definitions.
Conclusion
Put an end to confusion
Set aside National parochialism
Lets work with SMRP to develop a single, global
maintenance dictionary that we can all use