Unplanned downtime rarely comes from a machine failing without warning — it usually comes from maintenance work that was never properly planned, scheduled, or resourced in the first place. The Maintenance Planning and Scheduling training course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy was built to close that gap, giving maintenance personnel the practical skills and strategic knowledge to plan, schedule, and coordinate maintenance operations effectively.

Drawing on industry best practice, asset management principles, and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), the course helps participants raise productivity, cut downtime, and extend the working life of critical equipment.

Who Should Attend?

• Maintenance planners and schedulers.
• Maintenance and reliability engineers.
• Operations and production supervisors.
• Asset and facility managers, and technicians moving into planning roles.

Programme Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the role and responsibilities of a certified maintenance planner.
• Build preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Plan and schedule maintenance work efficiently, and manage backlogs.
• Optimize the use of manpower, materials, equipment, and CMMS tools.
• Integrate safety and regulatory compliance into planning processes.
• Track performance metrics to support continuous improvement.

Module 1: The Maintenance Planner's Role in Asset Reliability

• Introduction to maintenance planning and scheduling.
• Objectives and benefits of proactive maintenance.
• The planning workflow, from request to execution.

Module 2: CMMS and Digital Planning Tools

• An overview of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems.
• Key CMMS functionalities planners rely on daily.
• Data entry, reporting, and using mobile tools and dashboards.

Module 3: From Work Request to Work Order

• Reactive versus proactive work request systems.
• Prioritizing work based on criticality.
• Creating, reviewing, and scoping work orders.

Module 4: Building the Job Plan

• Developing detailed job plans — scope, labor, parts, and tools.
• Using standard jobs and maintenance task libraries.
• Estimating time and resources, and coordinating with stores and procurement.

Module 5: Scheduling and Cross-Team Coordination

• Building weekly and daily maintenance schedules.
• Gantt charts and critical path methods.
• Managing backlogs, emergency work, and scheduling meetings with operations.

Module 6: Preventive and Predictive Maintenance Strategy

• Developing preventive maintenance (PM) programs.
• Using condition-based monitoring for predictive maintenance.
• RCM and FMEA principles, and integrating PM/PdM into job plans.

Module 7: Safety, Compliance, and Documentation

• Integrating safety into maintenance planning.
• Regulatory requirements such as OSHA and ISO 55000.
• Job safety analysis (JSA), permit-to-work systems, and audit trails.

Module 8: Measuring Performance and Driving Continuous Improvement

• Maintenance KPIs — wrench time, schedule compliance, and backlog.
• Analyzing maintenance data to spot trends.
• Root cause analysis and the planner's role in reliability and availability.