Work Order

A Work Order (WO) is a structured, auditable record within a CMMS that documents all details of a maintenance task—including asset ID, work type, failure code, labor, parts, timestamps, and narrative—serving as the primary system of record for asset history and reliability data.

In shop floor maintenance, WOs are generated via three paths: Emergency (EM) for reactive failure repairs, Routine (RT) for impending failure symptoms (e.g., from vibration/thermography), and Preventive (PM) for automatically scheduled tasks based on master plans. They are executed via mobile devices to capture real-time data (photos, barcode scans, parts issuance) and closed only after confirming findings, labor, parts, and follow-up actions. This process ensures accurate asset history, enables reliability metrics like MTBF, and supports root cause analysis by linking failure codes to RCM failure modes.

• ⚠️Incomplete Closeout Data: Missing or generic failure codes, incorrect labor hours, or bulk end-of-shift closures corrupt downstream metrics (MTBF, recurrence analysis).
• ⚠️Reactive Overload: High volume of Emergency WOs indicates a lack of predictive/preventive strategies, leading to uncontrolled downtime and costs.
• ⚠️Failure Mode Disconnect: WOs recording only 'replaced bearing' without linking to RCM failure modes (failed component, problem, cause code) prevents root cause analysis and bad actor identification.