Consequences of Mass Retirement

When multiple reliability employees retire within a short period, the effects ripple throughout the organization. The following consequences are both immediate and far-reaching:

• Knowledge Drain: Long-term employees carry with them irreplaceable institutional familiarity—detailed equipment histories, subtle warning signs of impending failures and countless operational insights gained through years of experience. This tacit knowledge, often undocumented, walks out the door with retiring professionals.
• Critical Skills Shortage: Today’s industrial equipment requires increasingly specialized maintenance skills. As experienced technicians retire, facilities are finding that younger employees, while technically educated, haven’t yet developed the hands-on expertise necessary for complex reliability tasks.
• Recruitment Challenges: Finding qualified replacements for retiring reliability professionals has become increasingly
  difficult. The pool of candidates with appropriate experience is limited, and competition for their services is intense. This scarcity drives up hiring costs and extends vacancy periods.
• Productivity Impact: During transition periods, maintenance efficiency often declines. New hires, even when found, require substantial training time before reaching optimal productivity levels. This learning curve can impact equipment reliability and overall operational efficiency.
• Cost Considerations: The financial impact extends beyond just salary requirements. The full cost of replacing retired employees includes recruitment expenses, training investments, potential overtime during transition periods and the hidden costs of reduced efficiency while they are learning.

Field Services as an Alternative

Rather than struggling with traditional hiring approaches, many companies are discovering that field services offer a more flexible and immediate solution. Here’s why this approach is gaining traction:

• Immediate Expertise Deployment: Field service professionals can begin contributing immediately, bringing their expertise to bear on day one. Unlike new hires who require extensive orientation and training, field service teams arrive with both the technical knowledge and practical experience needed to maintain reliability programs.
• Objective Problem-Solving: External consultants bring fresh perspectives unencumbered by “we’ve always done it this way” thinking. This objectivity often leads to innovative solutions and process improvements that might not be apparent to internal teams.
• Streamlined Integration: Field services eliminate the complex HR processes associated with full-time hiring. There’s no need for extensive onboarding procedures, benefits administration or long-term employment commitments. This flexibility allows companies to scale services up or down based on current needs.
• Comprehensive Expertise: Field service professionals typically bring broader experience gained from working across multiple facilities and industries. This diverse background often proves invaluable when troubleshooting complex issues or implementing best practices.

Generally Available Field Services

Today’s field service teams offer a comprehensive range of reliability services, including the following:

• Fluid Sample Collection: Professional sampling techniques ensure accurate condition monitoring results, forming the foundation of effective predictive maintenance programs.
• Program Audits and Consultations: Regular program reviews identify improvement opportunities and ensure alignment with industry best practices.
• Program Set-Up: Expert guidance in establishing new reliability initiatives or revamping existing programs to meet current industry standards.
• Work Order Creation and Management: Development of detailed maintenance procedures and scheduling systems to ensure consistent execution of reliability tasks.
• Advanced Testing Services: Specialized diagnostic techniques, including acoustic imaging for leak detection and vibration analysis for early problem identification.
• Training Integration: While field services can immediately fill expertise gaps, many providers also offer training programs to help develop internal capabilities over time.

Making the Transition
When considering field services as a solution to retirement-related challenges, organizations should:

1. Assess current and anticipated knowledge gaps
2. Identify critical functions that require immediate support
3. Evaluate the mix of services needed (direct support, training, program development)
4. Consider both short-term needs and long-term strategic goals

General Benefits of Reliability Field Services

At the top of the list of field services benefits is the significant reduction in equipment downtime. In nearly all industries, equipment failure can interrupt production and/or negatively affect product quality. Field service professionals conduct routine inspections and maintenance with the goal of reducing this unplanned downtime. This proactive approach allows companies to operate continuously, meet production deadlines and fulfill commitments to customers.

Preventive and predictive maintenance, as practiced by a field services team, is essential in today’s highly competitive climate. Predictive maintenance can involve using tools such as vibration analysis, thermography, and oil sampling and analysis to detect anomalies that indicate potential failure. Preventive maintenance ensures that components are replaced or repaired before they fail. By reducing reactive maintenance and extending the useful life of assets, organizations save money on repairs and replacements.

With regular field service visits, machinery and equipment are kept in optimal condition, leading to a longer operational lifespan. This allows companies to allocate resources to other areas of growth.  

Since outsourced field services personnel can approach the working environment with a fresh set of eyes, they are more likely to spot potential safety issues before an accident occurs. This is especially critical for industries where heavy machinery, high-voltage equipment and/or hazardous materials are used. Regular field service checks can prevent failures that could endanger personnel or lead to environmental damage. Additionally, field services play a critical role in maintaining compliance with regulatory standards. 

Reliability field services contribute to sustainability by minimizing waste and reducing the environmental impact of operations. Many field
service programs also include practices such as eco-friendly lubrication and waste reduction, helping organizations to reduce their overall environmental footprint. 

These professionals are experts with specialized knowledge of equipment diagnostics, repairs and maintenance best practices. They tend to undergo extensive training to stay updated with the latest technologies and industry standards. This level of expertise is especially valuable for companies that don’t have an in-house maintenance team with the same level of technical knowledge. 

Services can be customized to meet the specific needs of the organization, making them highly scalable and flexible. Companies can choose the level of support they require, from periodic inspections and preventive maintenance to full-service solutions that include on-site repairs and asset management. Services can be adapted to handle changes in production demand, equipment utilization and technological advancements, providing a flexible solution capable of evolving along with the business. 

Field services contribute to effective asset management by providing detailed documentation and reports on the condition of equipment. These records are crucial for tracking the maintenance history of each asset, identifying recurring issues and planning future maintenance activities. Asset management data is also valuable for audits, insurance claims and risk assessments, as it provides a clear history of how assets have been managed and maintained over time.

Reliability field services play a pivotal role in supporting companies as they adopt digital tools for asset management. Personnel often use tools such as digital twins and cloud-based platforms to monitor equipment in real-time and predict maintenance needs. This improves the accuracy of diagnostics and the effectiveness of maintenance activities. 

One often overlooked benefit of field services is their role in continuous improvement. Because field service professionals work across multiple facilities, they constantly encounter new challenges and solutions. This exposure to diverse situations enriches their expertise and benefits all their clients through shared learning and best practices.

The Future of Reliability Maintenance

As industrial equipment becomes more sophisticated and the skills gap continues to widen, field services will likely play an increasingly important role in maintaining reliable operations. The combination of immediate expertise availability and flexible deployment makes them an attractive solution for facilities facing staffing challenges.

For many organizations, the most effective approach may be a hybrid model—utilizing field services to maintain immediate operational excellence while simultaneously developing internal capabilities through training and knowledge transfer programs.

The retirement wave affecting reliability professionals presents both challenges and opportunities. While the loss of experienced employees can be disruptive, field services offer a practical solution that can actually enhance reliability programs through the introduction of fresh perspectives and industry-wide best practices. As the industry continues to evolve, the strategic use of field services will likely become an increasingly important element of successful reliability programs   

Al Yates is the vice president of sales and marketing for Eurofins TestOil. He is responsible for leading the industrial and transportation sales team.  In this role, he oversees all the company’s revenue which comes from their oil analysis lab, field services team and training department.