Lies, Damned Lies, and KPIs: Making KPIs Work for Reliability & Maintenance

By Owe Forsberg, CAMA, CMRP – VP of Consulting

The Purpose of KPIs

Are KPIs used to drive improvement in Reliability and Maintenance (R&M), or simply to make performance look good? When used properly, KPIs are a powerful management tool. When misused, they can distort priorities, encourage bad behavior, and undermine operational goals. 

The Danger of Toxic KPIs

KPIs become toxic when they prioritize narrow goals over broader operational effectiveness. I saw this firsthand in strategic purchasing: the organization focused solely on low-cost raw materials and favorable payment terms, even as those decisions quietly eroded production yield. When I suggested cross-functional collaboration, my manager didn’t hesitate: “My bonus depends on PPV and Payment Terms—so that’s not my problem.” 

That’s the moment you realize the KPI isn’t just misaligned. It’s actively working against the business. 

Another example: a manager once mistakenly over-ordered raw materials and hid the excess in an off-book warehouse to avoid inventory penalties. He wasn’t trying to deceive the company; he was trying to survive the KPI. These behaviors stem from poor KPI design—not from a lack of personal integrity alone. 

The Role of the R&M Manager

The R&M Manager’s job is simple to describe and hard to do well. It’s a process job, but it’s also a people’s job. You have to build the structure, teach the work, and hold the line. That means: 

1. Defining and aligning processes and tasks 
2. Assigning roles and responsibilities 
3. Hiring and developing competent staff 
4. Training and motivating teams 
5. Holding people accountable 
6. Recognizing and rewarding adherence to process 
7. Improving processes using the right KPIs 
8. Driving measurable results

Edwards Deming said it best:“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” 

Lagging vs. Leading KPIs

Lagging KPIs measure outcomes, by telling you what already happened, such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), downtime, and maintenance cost. They’re useful, but they don’t tell you how well the work was actually done. Leading KPIs measure the day–to day behaviors that create those results.  If you only measure cost, people will cut preventive tasks to make the number look good. This can degrade equipment over time and increase the total cost. 

Managing R&M: Focus on Execution

Managing R&M isn’t about fancy dashboards — it’s about whether the core processes are actually being executed. If you want reliability, you have to watch the work, not just the numbers. That means paying attention to: 

1. Leadership and performance management 
2. Work management: planning and scheduling 
3. Preventive and condition-based maintenance (including predictive tech) 
4. Materials and spare parts management 
5. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) 
6. Engineering and reliability interface 
7. CMMS and digital systems 
8. Tool and workshop readiness 
9. Continuous learning and development 

If these processes aren’t executed consistently, no KPI in the world will save you. 

Beware of Vanity Metrics like Wrench Time

Metrics like wrench time or “time-on-tools” is a metric that looks useful until you’re actually managing maintenance; it can be misleading. High wrench time during unplanned repairs is not a sign of efficiency. Planned, scheduled work completed on time is a better indicator of an effective maintenance strategy.  KPIs should measure real value‑added work, not numbers that make the dashboard look good. 

Office Efficiency?

We scrutinize every minute a tech spends in the field, but we never apply the same standard to office work or Gemba walks. If we did, a lot of “busy” work would look very different. 

The point is simple: measure effectiveness, not optics. 

Basic KPIs and Benchmarking 

Before you chase big KPI targets, you need a baseline. Know where you are, watch the trend, and set targets that move the organization forward without pretending you’re something you’re not. A few key benchmarks: 

Choose KPIs based on your current maturity level, strengths, and improvement priorities. 

Activity-Based KPIs Drive Improvement

We hear it all the time: “We’re working on reliability.” But what does that mean in practice? Reliability improves when specific activities get done, on time, the right way. Instead of vague statements, track the things that moves the needle, for example:  “Lubrication routes completed on time,” or “All lubrication tasks documented in Maximo.” If you can’t measure the activity, you’re not improving the process. 

Cascading KPIs from Strategy to Action

KPIs should connect organizational goals to daily maintenance activities: 

• Goals: Improve OEE, reduce $/ton, improve safety 

• Processes: Work management, PM, parts, leadership, training 

• Activities: Scheduled work orders, PM compliance, kitting, RCA 

This is how strategy becomes execution. Without that link, KPIs turn into wall decorations. 

The “Budget Jail” KPI Trap

Comparing maintenance cost across plants sounds smart until you look at asset condition.  A plant that has starved maintenance for years will always look “cheap” — right up until everything fails. That’s maintenance debt, and it always comes due. If a plant with historically low spending has degraded assets, its future budget needs will be higher. Cost goals should reflect asset condition and maintenance maturity—not just comparisons. 

Safety KPIs: Be Honest

Safety matters more than anything else. But if you punish people for reporting incidents, they’ll stop reporting. Then you’re not safer — you’re just blind. 

That’s how you end up with “damned lies” in safety metrics. Honesty is the only path to improvement. 

Final Advice: Keep It Simple

KPIs don’t need to be complicated. They need to be truthful, automated, and tied to real work. Some you review weekly, others monthly, but all of them should support leadership — not replace it. 

The goal is simple: reinforce the right behaviors through consistent follow‑up and positive accountability. That’s how reliability is built. 

At the end of the day, KPIs are only as good as the behaviors they drive. When they’re simple, honest, and tied to real work, they help teams focus, improve, and deliver reliability the right way. When they’re misaligned, they create noise, confusion, and “damned lies.” Keep the measures clear, keep the conversations frequent, and keep the focus on execution. 

If you’re ready to make KPIs work for reliability instead of against it, connect with us let’s build a process that drives results, not just reports them.