Course Overview

Best Practices in Maintenance and Reliability connects maintenance activity with the performance a site aims to achieve. Built around the five pillars of the SMRP Body of Knowledge, the course brings together Business and Management, Manufacturing Process Reliability, Equipment Reliability, Organization and Leadership, and Work Management. Participants explore how these areas support one another in a coordinated maintenance and reliability program.

The focus is on practical decisions: aligning maintenance with business priorities, choosing suitable equipment care strategies, preparing and scheduling work, developing team capability, and interpreting performance measures. Participants examine how operating context and equipment behavior inform maintenance choices, including the role of condition monitoring and structured analysis. The course provides a basis for assessing current practices and shaping improvement priorities that connect technical work, people, and organizational goals.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Relate the five SMRP pillars to an integrated maintenance and reliability program.
• Connect maintenance priorities with production, cost, safety, and business objectives.
• Evaluate how operating practices and process performance influence equipment reliability.
• Compare maintenance tactics using asset functions, failure modes, and operating context.
• Select appropriate condition-monitoring approaches for defined equipment care needs.
• Assess work identification, prioritization, planning, scheduling, execution, and closeout practices.
• Calculate and interpret selected maintenance and reliability performance measures.
• Identify team development and change-management actions that support improvement priorities.

Practical Application

Apply the learning to build a shared direction for maintenance and reliability development.

• Purposeful maintenance strategies: Connect equipment care decisions with asset functions, operating requirements, and the value the site expects from its equipment.
• Coordinated work delivery: Review how work preparation, resource planning, and maintenance-operations agreements support consistent execution.
• Informed performance decisions: Use clearly defined measures to discuss results, compare practices, and select improvement priorities.
• Shared improvement priorities: Bring technical actions, team capability, responsibilities, and business objectives together in maintenance improvement planning.