organizing maintenance rooms

We have a dozen maintenance rooms at various projects we want to organize so that they are all alike and maintenance staff from one community can find same layout at every building.

Any suggestions or preferred templates at creating an organized maintenance room?

thx,
Martin

I just sent a message to Mark Cukro to see if he could give some guidance!

I will be glad to help and I just have a few questions so I can reccomend the best solution. Are you attempting to control inventory, be more efficient with time or a combination of both? Each one requires a different level of work, manpower, and resources.

This is an example of before and after.

WOW that looks great... I wonder why maintenance shops always look so unorganized, it can be a nightmare on inventory. I would think an organized maintenance shop will increase productivity and decrease over spending in inventory.

The difference an organized shop can make in operations is really remarkable and far too often overlooked. It is nice to see someone take such pride in their workplace. This team certainly has a sense of ownership.

I have worked with a few Maintenance Supervisors who are always surprised when I come on site and look at their shops and then tell them what I would like to see: I learned this from the President/CEO I work with - start with a detailed inventory. You can't organize what you don't know you have. Then get the materials you need to make the shop more efficient. That includes proper shelving (labeled) and bins to store items (labeled.) There must also be a metal/fireproof cabinet that holds chemicals with the MSDS sheets that can be locked.

Every shop should have assigned areas: a place for Plumbing Supplies; HVAC area; Appliance Repair; Electrical Supplies, including your Lock Out Kit, etc.; and whatever else category you need for performing repairs and turns. Every category should have an inventory list hanging with a notebook so Techs can put notes on what needs to be ordered as they use up inventory. I suggest color coding the shelving areas (because I am a visual person. It's nice to know that Blue shelving is for Plumbing, for example.)

Every shop should have Buckets with pouches READY at all times so the Maintenance Tech can grab and go. Each Tech MUST learn to return it READY to go, so he/she needs to replace items as necessary.

Every shop should have a desk with working phone, computer accessible to the property management software (in a perfect world); file cabinet that contains all the items that Inspectors require annually. A microwave is always nice, too!

I totally agree. The cleanliness and organization of a shop is a direct reflection of the importance placed on service by a company and how it is relevance is viewed. When a property or company has a very clean and organized shop there will no doubt that the service team and management takes pride in what they do.

There are several standard color code systems depending on the industry and the most important thing is the consistency in maintaining the standards.

1st, clean everything. (all hands on deck)

2nd, purge the unnecessary and get rid of what is not used often. There should be no mystery parts, boxes, or anything that “we might need someday” unless you know with certainty it is extremely difficult to find and/or cost prohibitive.

3rd, invest in good shelving not in 2 by 4’s and plywood.

4th, get several sizes of bin boxes so parts of different sizes can be stored correctly.

5th, choose the system you want to follow and be sure and take before and after photos