Sustainability - zero’s in on the key elements of what it takes to actually gain true long term profitability.  Sustainability provides the opportunity to reap the financial gains by having the reliability improvement initiative become ingrained into the organization’s culture.  Reliability needs to be as much of the culture of the plant as the safety program is.  Safety programs consistently get better and stronger over time, because they are part of the culture.  If the reliability improvement initiative is viewed as a project that is now complete and has allowed the organization to reach steady-state, failure is certain.  In order for changes to be effective, particular attention needs to be given to the elements that increase the probability of permanence.  A reliability improvement initiative will not be effective when it is considered to be a “flavor of the month” project.  Many companies invest in maintenance and reliability improvement initiatives only to find six months later that the same conditions which originally motivated the improvement initiative have returned.  It is imperative to deploy a set of tools that measure compliance with new business practices and procedures.  The old adage “What Gets Measured, Gets Done” is never more apropos than in the area of changing the habits of an organization, particularly an organization responsible for operating and maintaining millions of dollars of capital assets needed to profitably produce a company’s product.  Elements of this facet include;

·          Total Organizational Involvement

·          Knowledge Transfer

·          Leadership

·          Metrics ID and Measurement