Planned maintenance readiness checklist

1. Confirm the job scope

Owner: maintenance planner. Identify the machine and work order, the work to be completed, required parts and quantities, skills, tools and expected duration. Keep the latest scope available to everyone preparing the job.

Record: work-order reference, machine identifier and the current requirements. If the scope changes, review the affected prerequisites again.

2. Check spare parts staging

Owner: stores person. Compare the required part numbers and quantities with the reservation and the items at the staging location. “Available in stock,” “reserved” and “physically staged for this job” are different confirmations.

Record: part identity, quantity, reservation reference, staging location, confirmer and time checked. A barcode scan records a check at that moment; it does not guarantee the part stays there. If another repair takes the part, the planned job needs revalidation.

3. Confirm the technician’s availability

Owner: maintenance supervisor. Confirm that the assigned technician has the required qualifications and is available for this job’s window. Being on shift is not the same as being available: the technician may already be handling a breakdown.

Record: assigned person, qualification check and confirmed time window. Reconfirm if the technician is reassigned.

4. Confirm production handover

Owner: production supervisor. Confirm the machine and release window against the current production plan. Record the agreement so maintenance does not rely on an earlier schedule that production has since changed.

Record: machine, agreed window, production confirmer and time checked. A window agreement does not establish that safety isolation or physical handover has been completed.

5. Recheck before supervisor approval

Owner: authorised maintenance supervisor. Review what is confirmed, missing or out of date. Resolve any gaps through the plant’s approval process before releasing planned work. Continue to follow the plant’s separate safety, permit and isolation requirements.

Record: readiness decision, supporting confirmations and unresolved items. Set evidence freshness rules for the job; an arbitrary time limit is not proof of readiness.

A simple record your team can use

For each prerequisite, capture these fields in your existing work-order system or a shared record:

• What must be ready, and for which work order?
• Who is responsible for confirming it?
• What evidence supports the confirmation?
• When was it checked, and what change would invalidate it?
• What needs to happen next if it is missing?

Keep “not confirmed” separate from “confirmed unavailable.” Both need attention, but the follow-up is different.

Example: a bearing is used for another repair

A bearing was reserved for a planned CNC service. Before that service begins, stores issues it to an emergency repair on another machine. The earlier readiness confirmation is now outdated.

The useful next action is specific: stores confirms a replacement bearing and its staging location, then the supervisor reviews the job again. The readiness check does not decide whether an unsafe machine should continue running.

Where Schdul fits

We’re developing maintenance readiness software to bring these checks together using existing maintenance and inventory records alongside team confirmations. The first prototype is in development; supported integrations and operating rules will be established with pilot factories.

If you plan maintenance, manage stores or approve machine handovers, tell us how your team handles one recent job. We’re equally interested in processes that already work well.