Getting industry support for the skills and maintenance crisis is critical but even more critical is to get support from outside of industry, the general public, business and governmental leaders if we are going to see long lasting change and have the volume of talent pools developed to deal with the current exodus of the Boomer workforce.

After conducting several tours of employers with new technical workers, want to share some suggestions so that more employers do not make the same mistakes I have witnessed.

Not sure if you know but I am helping guide some workforce development efforts and working with some carefully screened talent and putting them through an accelerated training program to help area businesses have a better selection of workers. This has been a wonderful experience for all involved and allowed me to do more than talk about the Maintenance Crisis but actually do something to solve it.

Recently several news and blog posts have discussed with over 13 million unemployed US workers not able to locate a job the question of whether there is a skill shortage hoax or does employers truly have challenges to fill the estimated 3.5 million open positions.

What do you think?

Is it really a hoax? Are companies attendng job fairs, advertizing for vacancies with no jobs to fill? According to NAM 82% of companies can not find qualfied talent.

With this marking the 10 year anniversary of the penning of the Maintenance Crisis Song, we ask our supporters to help spread the word by sharing the Maintenance Crisis Song.

Just woke to a wonderful email this morning from Len Bradshaw, the editor of Australia's Asset Maintenance Management Journal. To help Aussies fight the Maintenance Crisis, Len is featuring the song and linking several of the genres in his online publication this month.

In the quest to FIX-IT FORWARD to develop a pipeline of skilled technicians, we need more to get in the battle and do the face the face in the trenches combat to win young hearts and minds of future generations.

Have you heard the Maintenance Crisis Song?

Below are just some of the few places it has been played:

You might have reactive maintenance zombies if:

Your CMMS System is not producing scheduled work.
You don't have a Maintenance Planner.
You haven't formally trained your workforce.
The UPS or Fed-Ex driver has worn tire treads in your loading dock area.
Over 60% of your work is unscheduled.
You have more downtime than uptime on critical money making machines.
Your company is so lean that you do not have a future workforce developed.
Run to failure is the company mantra.

This blog is not for everyone. Especially the faint of heart, the self satisfied and the too lazy or too close minded to consider new ideas and approaches.

If you are too sensitive to read the unflinching truth about the bad, and the ugly sides of maintenance profession, and steps to convert the maintenance function to good and productive, this blog may not be for you.

Growing versus Aging Businesses

Growing organizations that want to grow and advance need consultants to show them proven pathways, avoid pitfalls and help accelerate successful outcomes.

Maintenance zombies are everywhere. Here's one tactic for keeping them out of the CMMS. Set up a CMMS three-pile process.

After you have performed, documented, and collected a month's worth of work on your company's critical equipment, set up a Friday-afternoon maintenance staff meeting. Once you have assembled your team, print out all of the activities that your department has performed on critical equipment.

Put that stack of completed work orders on the conference room table and start the process of setting up three stacks of work orders.

In light of the recent zombie-like attacks by people in Miami under the influence of "bath salts," along with Hollywood’s resurrection of the creatures in film, where the dead run amuck, causing alarm, attacking citizens, consuming the innocent, and converting more along their death march to dominance, we have realized that we have a much bigger calamity to contend with in industry. Yes, we have our own maintenance zombies to combat.