Prioritizing Maintenance Work Orders Efficiently

Within most organizations, work orders are prioritized in the system by team members as they see fit. However, this method is not realistic in the long run as members are bound to rank their work orders as the top priority, leading to inaccuracies in ranking and prioritizing maintenance work orders. Productivity and time management are usually at stake when work orders are all over the place and prioritized randomly within the system.

Resolving problems associated with prioritizing work orders

1. Standardize rules and establish guidelines: Maintain consistency by selecting a set of rules to be followed while prioritizing work orders. This will help identify those orders that need immediate action and those that can be attended to later.

2. Using technology: Have a solution so that your team can view historical work order data and the current backlog in the system. This can help avoid unnecessary work orders and resolve issues with prioritization and resource allocation.

3. Assess criticality: Creating a criticality matrix for assets helps clarify which maintenance work order is more important for the organization. Moreover, by assessing risks related to an event’s chance of taking place and its consequences, you can identify which order needs the most priority.

4. Evaluate your resources: Finally, identify the resources you have readily available that can help complete your orders. Doing so will help you understand the materials needed for maintenance and how you can avail them in advance.

Prioritization is key

With work orders being prioritized efficiently, your company can become more productive and manage work orders quickly to reduce the backlog. If you’re interested in learning more about how our software can help organize your work orders, read one of our resources below, or book a demo with us to see how NRX can help you better understand your work orders!