Maintenance work supervisors and service department foremen are apprised of the budgeted service or maintenance allowance by individual recipient cost centers while the distribution or scheduling of the work itself is left to their discretion.
One major problem, however, rests with the question of how much maintenance work or repair work is needed in a department. The answer thereto may reach the executive management group for either a decision or perhaps even the original responsibility for the type and amount of maintenance work required.
For at the time the factory was laid out and the machinery installed, a maintenance program should have been planned. The size of the maintenance department, the type or class of workers (carpenters, plumbers, electricians, pipe fitters, masons, millwrights, machinists, etc.), and the kind of equipment and tools are greatly influenced by the early decision.
On the other hand, experience indicates that such maintenance work objectives are lacking in many companies due to management’s own lack of interest as well as alleged difficulties encountered in planning, measuring, and controlling the maintenance function.
Many organizations engage the services of outside firms for part or all of their maintenance. This practice does not negate the need for careful planning and control of maintenance cost.
What General Maintenance and Repair Workers Do?
General maintenance and repair workers generally fix and maintain machines, mechanical equipment, repairs buildings, paint, repair floors, work on plumbing, electrical, and air-conditioning and heating systems.
Work Environment
General maintenance and repair workers often perform many different tasks in a day. They could work at any number of job locations. They may work inside a hotel, industry or hospital, or be responsible for the maintenance of multiple buildings, such as those in an apartment complex or on a college campus. Service department supervisor are apprised of the maintenance allowance by individual recipient cost centers.
