The maintenance and reliability books worth your time

The Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook by Richard 'Doc' Palmer is by many in industry regarded as the closest thing we have to an industry standard for maintenance planning and scheduling. Although it is a very long book, and I don't agree with all of it, I do always recommend people to get a copy. Even if you just read the first few chapters it will be worth your investment.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is world-renowned for good reasons. This book is about how to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any manufacturing type industry around the world. What I really like about this book is the focus on the underlying management principles and not so much the shiny tools and practices. Kanban, 5S, one-piece flow etc. will not make your company great. Adhering to the 14 management principles consistently and in the long run, will.

Ramesh Gulati, also known as the Reliability Sherpa, is one of the best known authors in our industry. And his book Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices is one of the most frequently recommended books. It's a good all round start if you want to improve your knowledge in the area of Maintenance and Reliability.

Make more money in the manufacturing business – but not through cost-cutting and employee layoffs. This book clearly describes how you can turn common sense into common practice to achieve superior manufacturing performance and low-cost production. Presenting the best practices of the best manufacturing companies in the world, this book describes proven models for achieving world-class performance.

Initially developed by the aviation industry, RCM has become fundamental to the practice of maintenance management and is now in use at thousands of organizations around the world. This book by John Moubray is probably one of the most authoritative books on what RCM is and how it can be applied. RCM is in many ways the gold standard when it comes to methodologies to developing Preventive Maintenance programs and Moubray's book is essential reading. I don't agree with Moubray's statement that RCM should be applied to all equipment and systems in a plant. Overkill and impractical in my view, but this book is still a must have.

Where Mac Smith's book differs significantly from Moubray's RCMII is that Mac Smith clearly states that that full in-depth RCM should be applied only to the 20% of your equipment that cause 80% of your problems. He then proposes accelerated methods to deal with the well-behaved equipment – the 80% of equipment that cause 20% of your problems. I think there are other processes to deal with the well-behaved systems (like PMO or library / template strategies), but this is still a highly recommended book on RCM.

If you are remotely interested in improving reliability or the topic of Defect Elimination you have to read this book. And it is an easy read as it's written as a novel. James Emery is struggling to balance his various roles as husband, father, and plant manager for Modern Products Manufacturing. When an accident occurs at the plant, leaving people seriously injured, James feels responsible. The accident is the impetus to drastic changes in both James' personal life and his career. The story is based on the experience of Winston Ledet and his research that led to the creation of the Manufacturing Game.

Situations and systems are easier to change than the human condition – particularly when people are well-trained and well-motivated, as they usually are in maintenance organisations.