Original Date: 05/01/2000
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Prior to 1994, Northrop Grumman Defensive Systems Division’s (DSD’s) preventive maintenance (P/M) practices involved manually documenting equipment maintenance records on five-by-eight inch cards. This approach was prone to errors as the cards were often misplaced or difficult to locate amongst the thousands of maintenance records. Manufacturers’ maintenance recommendations were often unavailable. These factors ultimately resulted in frequent equipment breakdowns and inhibited the ability to quantify operating and replacement costs. To resolve this situation, Northrop Grumman DSD implemented a Facilities P/M system that incorporates manufacturers’ maintenance interval recommendations and tracks P/M efforts for all equipment logged into the system.

The Facilities P/M system uses a Maintenance Management System database to automate the process of recording P/M information. The system tracks all maintenance requests for service, enables the scheduling of maintenance based on manufacturers’ recommendations, and maintains the maintenance information for use in cost-benefit analyses. Furthermore, the P/M system inherently provides organization for the entire P/M effort at Northrop Grumman DSD.

Since being implemented, the Facilities P/M system has resulted in numerous improvements in Northrop Grumman DSD’s P/M practices including accurate records; additional data to support equipment upkeep and replacement actions; improved manpower scheduling; increased equipment life cycles; and reduced maintenance order backlogs. The company estimates its current maintenance costs at 94¢ per square foot. The amount of square feet per maintenance employee increased from 32,007 in 1995 to 38,708 in 1999, and the percentage of backlogged work orders per month dropped from 19.7% to 0.33%.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.