Can you make reliability improvements without consultants?

Yes it can but it is getting more deficult to find the experience needed for the skills. Companys that have made their 5 year budgets to include growth and retainention of the skills will come out through the econamys downturn in better shape.

Unlike Engneering, Maintenance cost are less tangible, unless there is an in-house reliability team that assist the Mantenance manager to reduce equipment down-time and repair cost. The economic times we are currently in is testing how well upper management has done in this department. Those that have not are now paying through the nose by having to bring in outside consultants - there is a time and place for them. So the correct balance on in-house and out of house must be kept with the future in mind.

Kind of set me up for this one didn't you!
Ok if the question was is it possible without a consultant - a resounding YES
if the question is it probable the answer is a reasonable level No
The first challenge is where does the need for change arise from - is it groundswell or and edict from on high? this greatly affects the answer to terry's question.
The next challenge is also based on the above - how do you make it stick? So many time I've seen a consultant come in and deliver what they say they will and then when they leave - it's back to the old way!
I sat in on a discussion betwen one of the biggest consulting firms and what was then Canada's biggest steel maker. There was the need for improvements in the maintenance practices - what the consultant proposed was a complete make over. They presented the KPIs for the exercise which related to all that they would do. When I asked what the KPIs were for the steelmakers sucess they looked at me funny. At first they couldn't understand that I meant that at the end of the exercise - what KPIs were the steelmaker going to use to measure it's success. Could the steelmaker have made enough changes by itself - NO but they didn't understand enough to lay out the right scope and right measures for the consultant - when new owners came on board they quickly dispensed with the consultants.
Interesting to read Jeff say that the maintennace manager had a normal job to do and also another one leading change.
My experience has been they are one and the same - I'll stop for now but I'll be back

I can share two perspectives, one from being a practitioner leading the change, and secondly as a consultant leading the change through others.

When a practitioner, the challenge was to lift your head out of the daily and weekly reactive chaos to attempt to focus on the larger picture. I used a combination of corporate personnel and outside consultants to help me keep the focus. I am thankful that I chose that route because the insight and learning was invaluable. There's an old saying that "you can't be all things to all people" and by the same token, "you don't know what you don't know". I learned a tremendous amount along the journey and was able to avoid some errors along the path using those resources. Did we still make mistakes? Sure and we learned from them. I'm still learning today. One of the biggest mistakes was the failure to communicate on a much, much more frequent basis to the people involved in the change. The person facilitating the change needs a great structure of support, meaning top down support, and someone they can call a "coach" to bounce ideas off of and to help them keep their head out of the daily struggles. Recognize you are not only doing your normal job but also now adding another completely full time job of leading the change. It's really easy to slip back into the old ways.

The second perspective from the Consultant's point of view is that most people don't have a strategic plan and if they do, it's in their head. You have to get it on paper in the form of say, a Microsoft Project timeline. In this manner, you can set realistic expectations, and combine your efforts with all of the other initiatives going on in the organization. In the end, you only have one bucket of resources at your disposal. The plan helps the organization determine what's achievable. Most importantly, this plan becomes a communication tool to help you get the buy-in for success from those most impacted by the change. I help people put plans like this together all of the time and it will really surprise you when you start listing the steps required. Even in the most basic plans, the number of tasks needed reach 150-200 line items for success. It's easy to get overwhelmed (hence the need for the coach) and you have to focus on eating the elephant one bite at a time.

Cheers,
Jeff Shiver