Key points
- Reliability reaches margin, delivery and safety. Ask for numbers, a trend and a named owner, not adjectives.
- Five questions cover the size of the loss, the top causes, data consistency, repeat failures and how a fix will be measured.
- A useful answer names the number, the trend, the owner and the decision the leadership team is being asked to make.
Why reliability belongs in the boardroom
Plant reliability shows up in gross margin, on-time delivery, overtime, safety incidents and the working capital tied up in buffer stock. It is one of the few operational issues that touches all of them. Yet most executives receive it as a verbal update, if at all.
You do not need to become an engineer to ask good questions. You need to ask for the same things you would ask for about sales or cash: a number, a trend, an owner and a decision.
1. How much of our planned time did we produce in?
Ask for availability, or overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) if the plant already tracks it, for each line, over the last three months. A good answer gives the figure, the trend and the definition of planned time. A red flag is a figure that changes definition from month to month, or a plant that cannot give one.
2. What are our three biggest losses, and what does each cost?
Losses should be ranked by cost, not by how often they are mentioned. A strong answer says something like "changeovers on Line 2 cost about this much a month, and we have a fix in trial." A weak answer lists everything that went wrong last quarter.
3. Do all shifts record stops the same way?
Reliability data is only as good as the reason codes behind it. If night shift uses "other" for half its stops, the analysis is blind to the biggest problem. Ask how many reason codes exist, who maintains the list, and how often it is audited.
4. How much of our downtime is repeat failure?
Separate one-off breakdowns from failures that keep coming back on the same equipment. Repeat failures usually point to a maintenance plan that does not match the wear pattern, a spare part that is always late, or a procedure that is not followed. A good answer gives the share of repeat failures and the equipment at the top of the list.
5. What would we need to believe to fund a fix, and how will we know it worked?
Every reliability investment should come with a before-and-after measure agreed in advance, and a date to check it. A strong answer names the baseline, the target, the review date and the person accountable. If the answer is that the project will "improve reliability," the proposal is not ready for funding.
How to use these questions
Ask the questions in order, and ask for the answers in writing before the next meeting. Over two or three quarters, the quality of the answers will tell you whether the plant is in control of its losses or reacting to them. If you want a structured way to start, the 30-day method for finding your biggest production losses gives operations teams the data to answer these questions.