Wrench time is the time maintenance employees spend working with a tool in their hands. It’s one of many metrics that help teams improve operational efficiency in maintenance.

Also known as “tool time,” wrench time refers to the time a maintenance technician actually spends performing a task. It does not include every task necessary to complete a work order, though. Evaluation, travel time, tool selection, and communication are all vital components of maintenance, but they don’t count when measuring wrench time.

There are two kinds of wrench time:

  • Internal wrench time is the tool-in-hand time spent by in-house maintenance technicians.
  • External wrench time is the tool-in-hand time spent by third-party contractors hired for maintenance work.

When combined with other metrics, tracking wrench time can help indicate issues with maintenance processes or equipment. But it can’t provide a clear measurement of maintenance efficiency without additional context.

Why Wrench Time Matters

Tracking wrench time is helpful for maintenance planning because it can help you set and meet important maintenance key performance indicators (KPIs). When you know the average time spent on specific tasks, along with the average time per technician, day, week, or quarter, you can use this information to improve efficiency. For example, you might notice certain technicians are more efficient at specific tasks, or that one maintenance task is much more time-consuming than others.

Mean time to repair (MTTR) is a common efficiency metric for maintenance teams. It’s the average time required to diagnose failures and repair equipment. Improved wrench time can reduce MTTR, which supports key maintenance objectives such as lower downtime and increased operational efficiency.

It’s easy to think of wrench time calculations as the key metric for “actual maintenance work.” However, maintenance planning and scheduling, meeting attendance, inventory management practices, and travel are also essential, even though they’re not factored into the equation.

Ultimately, wrench time matters because it helps teams:

  • Identify process issues
  • Highlight obstacles to efficient work
  • Assign technicians to their ideal tasks

Limitations of Wrench Time as a Metric

Average wrench time measurement can be useful, but it has limitations:

  • It only measures the time technicians spend with a tool in hand, excluding all non-wrench-time tasks necessary to complete work orders (diagnosis, organization, communication, travel, etc.).
  • It doesn’t accurately indicate team productivity. On its own, high or low wrench time can apply to both experienced and new techs. It all depends on the size and complexity of individual tasks, as well as the technician’s work speed.
  • Similarly, managers may place unwarranted emphasis on this metric. With too much focus on wrench time, teams might fall behind on more important goals and KPIs.

How to Measure Wrench Time

There are four popular ways of measuring wrench time, but only one is statistically reliable.

1. Self-Reporting

When maintenance teams report their own time spent working on actual maintenance tasks, it’s known as self-reporting.

Unfortunately, self-reporting can be inaccurate. If workers believe that wrench time impacts pay or perceived performance, they may over- or under-report it.

Teams can improve reporting accuracy with:

2. Day-in-Life-of (DILO)

With DILO reporting, an observer shadows technicians to create a baseline for metrics such as wrench time. But this method also risks inaccuracy.

For example, techs may work differently with someone watching. Also, tasks can vary considerably from day to day. So, other methods may capture a more accurate picture of wrench time.

3. Work Sampling

Similar to DILO, work sampling involves observation. However, with this method, a manager observes the whole plant floor at specific intervals to indicate active wrench time.

Plants can improve work sampling accuracy with repeated tests. Still, managers won’t count any techs traveling to job sites, taking breaks, ordering spare parts, or otherwise off the floor.

4. Statistical Method

Among all methods for measuring wrench time, the statistical method offers the most accurate results.

Other methods extrapolate results based on just a few limited observations. But the statistical method takes place over a longer period of time, observing multiple job types and equipment categories. It ensures the highest amount of total observation time and the best chance of observing all plant technicians.

Still, to draw usable insights from the statistical method, you need the right tools for reporting and analytics.

KPI dashboards, customized reports, and real-time visibility are essential for tracking, analyzing, and improving any metric. The best way to access these tools is with an advanced CMMS like eMaint.

Common Causes of Low Wrench Time

Low wrench time isn’t inherently negative. Sometimes, it indicates that your techs are experienced and efficient. But if low wrench time seems to hinder the efficiency of your maintenance team, it could be due to:

  1. Ineffective resource management: Inexperienced techs may need additional time to review, analyze, and communicate about work orders. You need the right technicians in the right places.
  2. Poor maintenance planning: This leads to downtime, which reduces wrench time. For example, if techs don’t have the right equipment for the job, they lose wrench time. And when techs arrive too early, they may need to wait for equipment access, impacting wrench time. Extensive travel between distant job sites has a similar impact.
  3. Reactive maintenance procedures: Poor planning and a lack of preventive maintenance (PM) strategy leads to unexpected breakdowns, which often take longer to remedy. Unplanned downtime also creates more work for your team on top of everyday tasks.
  4. Miscommunications or unclear expectations: If teams aren’t clear on what’s expected of them, they may misuse or misreport wrench time.

Strategies to Improve Wrench Time

Here are a few different ways maintenance managers can boost wrench time:

  1. Assign the ideal maintenance techs: Proper resource management for each task saves time, energy, and budget.
  2. Use data for planning and scheduling: When a tech completes a job faster or slower than planned, you can use that information to adjust the maintenance schedule in real time.
  3. Follow your preventive maintenance schedule: Proper PM procedures can reduce unexpected failures, helping technicians complete tasks more efficiently.
  4. Focus on continuous improvement: Use the reporting and analytics capabilities in your CMMS to analyze and reassess KPIs.

These strategies can help optimize wrench time and improve productivity.

How eMaint CMMS Supports Wrench Time Optimization

With the right CMMS, your maintenance department can make swift, effective improvements to planning and productivity. You’ll identify obstacles, make proactive adjustments to processes and tech assignments, and boost wrench time to achieve your maintenance KPIs.

Over 7,400 maintenance teams around the world trust eMaint CMMS to help set, track, and achieve maintenance KPIs. eMaint can help your team improve wrench time through:

  • Automated work order creation and updates: Automatically assign the best tech for each task. Ahead of schedule or facing delays? Reassign work orders for optimal wrench time.
  • Inventory management: Schedule and reschedule work orders based on real-time parts availability.
  • PM scheduling: Group PM tech assignments by location to minimize travel time and maximize wrench time.
  • Condition monitoring: Proactive equipment monitoring helps you anticipate problems before they happen, saving time and costs.
  • Live maintenance records: Minimize time required for your techs to gather updated equipment information onsite.
  • Time and asset tracking: Simple in-app tracking streamlines administrative work for your techs.
  • Intuitive reporting and analytics: Get a clear picture of current metrics to create benchmarks and track improvements.

Whether your goal is to reduce MTTR, cut maintenance costs, or improve uptime, eMaint gives you the tools you need to succeed. Try a free trial to see the benefits of eMaint in action.