For Best Results, Certification Should Include Everyone
By Richard M. Sovic, PE, CPE, REM
Vice President of Certification

In two simple sentences, Bradley Schintzius recently communicated to thousands of people an incredibly powerful point. Brad, of the Dexter Corporation special polymers facility in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and Jennifer Gonzalez were interviewed about our Certified Plant Maintenance Manager program for an article that appeared in the August/September issue of MRO Today.

Brad earned the CPMM credential this spring. He’s a big believer in its value — not just for himself, but for his whole organization. He said to the magazine:

"I told our general manager and manufacturing manager we not only need to move in this direction, but for us to do so, all four of my senior mechanics would have to take the CPMM, too. The department needed to be on the same page and understand where we were headed."

What an important message! Brad’s right — the CPMM will be evidence of an individual’s competence. But that individual shouldn’t have to fight to convey to others what he has learned when he returns to work after receiving the training. Ideally, all the key people in a facility department should earn the CPMM so they work in unison. With the same core values, knowledge and skills, their efficiency as a team will soar.

That’s the kind of high-level functioning that catches the CEO’s eye and reminds him just who’s responsible for the smooth operation of his capital assets.

When the CPMM program was developed last year by AFE’s certification board and Engineer’s Digest, we made sure that it would define standards of competence for industrial, commercial and institutional maintenance management. How? By addressing these critically relevant topics in its curriculum:

• maintenance management
• preventive maintenance
• inventory and procurement
• work orders/work flows
• computerized maintenance management
• training and work cultures
• predictive maintenance
• reliability centered maintenance
• total productive maintenance
• maintenance financials/return on investment

The procedure for earning the CPMM is much the same as for our highly respected Certified Plant Engineer program. We can offer you a review course at a conference; you can take the exam there or under certain proctored conditions near your home. You must meet minimum criteria to be eligible, you must pass the test and you must continue to receive training to be re-certified periodically.

So when you consider enrolling yourself in the CPMM course, give some thought to enrolling your supervisory team as well. Ask your employer to allocate training dollars to something that will benefit all of you.

It’s worth the time. It’s worth the investment. Just ask Bradley Schintzius.

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