LCE Partners with MTA Bus Support Fleet Services

LCE Partners with MTA Bus Support Fleet Services

LCE Partners with MTA Bus Support Fleet Services

The Issue

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Bus Support Fleet Services (SFS) recognized a lack of maturity in their maintenance organization and the need for a more granular approach to managing their diverse fleet of assets and associated inventories. The SFS organization did not include a Maintenance Planner/Scheduler discipline and recognized inefficiencies in the lack of sufficient corrective and preventive maintenance job plans.

A gap analysis performed by the LCE Team illuminated many high-priority issues including the following:

• SFS Work Orders did not include job plan information.
• All PM Work Orders utilized one of only two separate checklists (One for light vehicles, and one for heavy vehicles.)
• The checklists were universal and did not take into consideration vehicle type, make, model, vehicle attachments (i.e. snowplow or generator) or any detailed technical inspection criteria.
• There was no common asset inspection process; no lists of required tools or parts; no safety advisories; and no post-maintenance procedures to confirm the work was done correctly.
• Lack of a Planner/Scheduler role to coordinate between maintenance disciplines.
• Lack of clarity on Asset Registry.

MTA Buses’ SFS wanted to create a Maintenance Planning position inside their department and develop vehicle-specific maintenance procedures, processes, and systems to create a repository of preventive maintenance job plans and to instill the Maintenance Planner philosophy into their wider organization.

The goals of this effort included:

• Building a Maintenance Planner culture.
• Enhanced forecasting for preventive maintenance-related parts and materials.
• Improved reliability, availability and longevity.
• Better analytics and data processing related to failures.

Our Solution

The LCE Team utilized their collective expertise to transfer the skills and capabilities in maintenance planning, work management, fleet management and supporting information technology to the NYCT Bus organization. The project focus was on implementing a basic maintenance planning approach and building organizational capability to sustain and continuously improve maintenance execution to deliver the desired results.

The solution includes the following:

• Provide assistance in finalizing the Maintenance Planner job requirements to achieve the stated Maintenance Planning and related business objectives.
• Integrate the Maintenance Planner and other key stakeholders into the Work Management work stream activities to further train and “coach in” the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to implement proactive maintenance planning and execution.
• Partner with SFS Leadership to form a Work Management Focus Team comprised of LCE Consultants, Maintenance Leadership/Supervision, Maintenance Planners, SPEAR 4i Experts, and selected Maintainers. This team, under the leadership of the LCE Consultant, reviewed and developed the work management processes, RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Contribute, and Informed) Matrices, Step Definitions, and Metrics required to complete all deliverables.
• Evaluate the Asset Hierarchy in SPEAR 4i to determine modifications in asset configuration that may be needed to effectively enable maintenance planning and develop recommendations and implementation approach for approved changes.
• Develop a criticality ranking process based upon objective asset risk management variables. This process prioritizes the criticality of all SFS assets and allows the organization to focus attention where it has most impact.
• Execute a thorough evaluation of all job plans and ensure that results in job plans being optimized and improved.
• Develop new job plans where none previously existed. Ensure job plans contain maintenance directives, technical tips, reference guides, needed parts and any additional comments helpful to maintenance execution.

The Results

The project was completed to the satisfaction of the NYCT Bus SFS project team and recommended for a Phase 2 follow-up.

About LCE

Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) provides consulting, engineering, information technology and education solutions that deliver lasting results for private industry, the Department of Defense and other government organizations. The quality, expertise and dedication of our employees enable Life Cycle Engineering to serve as a trusted resource that helps people and organizations to achieve their full potential. Founded in 1976, LCE is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina with offices across North America and experience around the globe. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube for company updates.

For more information on LCE’s Integrated Logistics Support Services,
please visit the Life Cycle Engineering website.