Why does our maintenance backlog keep growing?
A backlog grows when new work arrives faster than the team can complete it, but the number alone does not reveal whether the plant is becoming less reliable. Separate risk, age and readiness before setting a reduction target.
What to look for
Start by separating safety and production risk from routine work. Group orders by craft, age and readiness, including those waiting for scope, parts, access or an operating window. Remove true duplicates with documented approval; do not close work merely to improve a metric.
Practical next steps
- Compare work created and completed each week, and identify which work is aging.
- Review high-risk overdue jobs with operations and assign owners for missing prerequisites.
- Protect planning time and schedule a realistic amount of ready work alongside emergency capacity.
A smaller backlog is useful only if critical work is actually completed. Review repeat failures, new emergency work and schedule compliance alongside the count.
Find the constraint before setting a target
Compare new and completed work orders over several weeks, using the same definition each time. Separate work that is ready to schedule from work waiting for parts, engineering, access or a shutdown. Also look at estimated craft hours: ten large jobs can require more capacity than fifty small ones.
Ask whether emergency work routinely displaces the schedule, whether job plans and materials are ready, and whether the backlog contains duplicate or obsolete requests. Verify cancellation with the responsible owner and document the reason.
A practical weekly review
- Review overdue high-risk work first and agree on interim controls through site procedures.
- For each blocked job, assign one person and a date to resolve its constraint.
- Compare incoming hours with available craft capacity, including realistic allowance for emergent work.
- Look for repeat failures that generate new work faster than permanent fixes are completed.
For example, a hypothetical backlog of 100 work orders might include 30 awaiting parts and 20 awaiting an operating window. Scheduling alone will not release those jobs; the team must address the reasons they are blocked.
Explore the assessment
See how KANE approaches this work and what an engagement includes.
View the related assessment →Related answer: How should we prioritize maintenance when everything feels urgent?