How can a plant reduce time lost searching for drawings and manuals?
Define which document is authoritative, connect it to the right asset and make it accessible to the people performing the work.
What to look for
Select a critical system and follow several real maintenance tasks. Ask technicians to find the latest drawing, manual and applicable procedure, noting delays, inconsistent IDs and uncertain revisions. Compare the records against field labels and the management-of-change process.
Practical next steps
- Identify the owner and authoritative location for each key document.
- Resolve conflicting revisions through the site’s engineering approval process.
- Connect approved records to asset IDs and test access in the field.
A searchable repository is helpful only when its contents are trustworthy and updates have an owner. Do not treat a retrieved document as current until its status is confirmed.
Run a time-to-find exercise
Choose several representative maintenance jobs in one critical system. Ask technicians to locate the drawing, manual and procedure they would normally use. Record where they looked, the time required, whether access worked at the job location and how they confirmed revision and applicability. Do not include sensitive details in results without the site’s approval.
Fix the sources of delay
- Authority: identify the approved source and document owner for each record type.
- Identity: resolve mismatches among field tags, equipment IDs and drawing references.
- Access: check permissions and field availability, including mobile or offline needs where applicable.
- Change: define how approved updates, superseded revisions and replacements are handled.
Repeat the exercise after improvements using comparable tasks. Track both retrieval time and whether the right, approved document was found; fast access to an obsolete drawing is not success. If records conflict, use the site’s engineering and change-control process to resolve the conflict.
Explore the assessment
See how KANE approaches this work and what an engagement includes.
View the related assessment →Related answer: What should an asset register contain to support maintenance?