With more than 30 years of practical experience in business and industry—25 of them with PCA—Mark Raspotnik has been involved with the company since its earliest days, helping to develop many of PCA’s best practices models. “I started out as a consultant working with [former VP of Operations] Al Sikes after I was referred to PCA by a consultant—a friend of a friend—who was leading me through some situational leadership activities,” says Raspotnik.

At the time, Raspotnik was already working in leadership positions helping facilities improve efficiency, including setting up maintenance programs, so the move to PCA was a natural step. The fact that his consulting and project management experience covered both manufacturing and service organizations made the fit even better.

When Sikes retired in 2010, Mark assumed his current Director of Operations role as a PCA associate. In that capacity, he says, he provides assistance and direction to PCA field consultants. He also acts as a senior project manager, visiting client sites upon occasion.

Long before that move, however, Raspotnik was a key player in developing many of PCA’s best practices models. “Early on, Al and I had the idea to create a Work Management Model. Together, we fleshed it out, and it’s still used today.”

Raspotnik also helped develop PCA’s Asset Reliability Model and wrote the PCA Maintenance Planner Training Program that is a core component of the PCA implementation process. “A lot of people who call themselves planners are really just parts chasers,” he says. “Through the PCA training program, we convert them to planners where they can add value. A good planner can save a maintenance person 1-1.5 hours per day.”

Interesting Engagements; Fantastic Results

When asked to name some of his most rewarding projects, Raspotnik mentions one in particular. “One of my favorite clients was Colonial Williamsburg Corp. We helped them set up a maintenance management business process, configure their computers, and develop new roles like planning.”

“The costs of maintaining more than 400 historic buildings was getting out of hand. We did an assessment—looked at their current practices, compared them against the best practices playbook, and identified the gaps,” he relates.

“They had bought a computer system, a CMMS, thinking all their problems would go away,” Raspotnik continues. “A computer system by itself, used at a basic level, might net a company a 2-4% improvement. If the organization evaluates its business processes and optimizes them, as we help our clients do, the return is 10-15%. With both the CMMS and business process optimization, the efficiency gain can be 20-25%.”

Another example Raspotnik cites was a successful project on which he worked for Paper Excellence in British Columbia. “One of their mill sites, which was on the wrong side of the probability/failure curve, contracted us to work with them. The project paid for itself in less than a year, and now the mill has the lowest maintenance cost per ton among six sister mills. As a result, we have been invited to perform assessments at three more of their mills.”

When asked what makes PCA different in relation to its competitors, Raspotnik says, “Our differentiator is our participative approach. If we have a client that wants us to tell them what to do, we are reluctant to take the engagement.”

“The name of our game is sustainability—we teach client implementation teams to share best practices rather than do the work for them,” he concludes. “They make the presentations, handle the training, and do the coaching. They become the SMEs – the go-to person. In essence, we are the coaches of the coaches.”