On 23 August 2022, the first eight learners to complete the Maintenance Planner Qualification in South Africa were recognised for their qualifications. During an award ceremony held at the Bela Bela Aventura Resort, senior representatives from the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA), Anglo American Platinum and Pragma, gathered with the recipients to celebrate this historic achievement.

This Maintenance Planner Qualification programme provides planners with a formal maintenance planner qualification. The requirement to professionalise the role of a planner was highlighted, and together with industry partners, the CHIETA developed the standard. The Occupational Certificate: Maintenance Planner is registered and accredited through the Quality Council of Trades and Occupations.  It has been directed at NQF Level 5 and carries 261 credits. The average learner can complete the qualification in 18 months. Pragma is the first training organisation in South Africa to be accredited by the QCTO as a skills development partner (SDP) for the Maintenance Planner Qualification.

Unless work is planned and scheduled, I am not interested in that work being carried out. That is the importance I place on our planning fraternity. Paul Krause, Head of Systems, Processes and Integration for Asset Reliability, Anglo American

Anglo American Platinum was one of the first companies to enrol a group of planners. All eight of the first qualified planners are from Anglo American Platinum. During his speech, Paul Krause, Head of Systems, Processes and Integration for Asset Reliability, elaborated on the importance of celebrating this milestone with colleagues as they aim to upskill their whole planning fraternity. He focused on the change in priority that he witnessed during his career and the critical role proper planning and scheduling have in acting as an audit trail. He concluded by saying that you can have the best maintenance plans, but if they are not executed with precision maintenance, you will not reach the desired KPIs.

The main focus of the maintenance planner is to improve the productivity of the maintenance staff and reduce equipment downtime. The planner follows effective maintenance planning and scheduling practices, ensuring that all the resources for a job are arranged and prepared in advance, and that maintenance slots are agreed upon with Production.

It’s all about discipline. It’s all about knowledge. It’s all about understanding how to plan one day after the next. Adriaan Scheerers, CEO, Pragma

Adriaan Scheeres, CEO of Pragma, spoke of professionalising the role of the maintenance planner and how, in the near future, the qualification will become a requirement for someone to be appointed in that role. The impact of IIoT and AI on maintenance is significant, and how work is planned, scheduled and executed is changing. This directly impacts the planner as the role evolves into analytics and ensures that machine learning is applied and intelligent forecasting is done as part of the planning. Furthermore, giving a qualified planner the right technology set can significantly impact efficiency. One properly trained planner can optimise the efficiency of up to twenty artisans, and good planning improves wrench time by 45 - 50%.

All parties are looking forward to the future impact of the maintenance planner qualification on industry. CHIETA Executive Manager, Joel Mmapulane, expressed his gratitude towards Pragma and emphasised the historical “firsts” of the programme they achieved in collaboration with Pragma.

Pragma's Tim Beavon, Course Design and Programme Manager, said the transition of the programme from classroom-based learning to blended learning has resulted in a better and more efficient programme.

The learner and their company see an immediate benefit as newly found knowledge is applied as part of practical application. Success coaches assist learners throughout the course to help them apply their learnings and complete modules timeously. The aim is firstly to continue to optimise and find ways of ensuring that people are competent when they complete the programme and, secondly, get through it in the most efficient time possible.

Currently, the 317 learners enrolled in the programme are progressing well toward completing their maintenance planner qualification. We look forward to adding their names to the MPQ alumni.

If you are interested in enrolling for the Maintenance Planner Qualification, or would like to find out more about it, click here.

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