11th FVI Expert Breakfast

Topic: "Make Maintenance great again" – Why we need marketing to survive.

This session focused on the question: Why is maintenance often the "invisible heroine" (or the scapegoat)? Guests included Max and Camillo from Centralize Consulting (social media experts), who brought an unvarnished outside perspective.

• The "Visibility Gap": Maintenance is only noticed when it doesn't work (downtime). When everything runs smoothly, it is invisible. This is fatal for budget negotiations and recruiting. The message: "He who shouts the loudest gets the resources." We need to learn to celebrate successes, not just put out fires.

• Content is everywhere: Maintenance professionals have the most exciting content in the world (machines, technology, problem-solving), but they don't use it. A simple phone video of a successful repair ("Look what we saved today") earns more respect in the company than any dusty weekly report with MTBF metrics.

• Fear of the camera: Many technicians shy away from the spotlight. The solution: Start small. A photo, a short video without a face, just hands on the machine. Authenticity beats perfection. A shaky video from the machine room feels more real than a glossy image film with actors.

• Internal PR vs. Spam: Oliver (Miele) warned against "spam" in the intranet. Stefan's (Covestro) solution: Target group-specific channels. Not everyone needs to know everything, but production must know why the plant ran so well (thanks to maintenance).

• Corporate Identity (Team Spirit): Kai brought up the example of "uniform." A cool team shirt ("Team Maintenance") creates cohesion and visibility in the hall. It should be recognizable: "Here come the professionals."

Assessment: Marketing is not an end in itself, but a survival strategy

This episode underscores why we should understand maintenance not only as a technical but as a strategic discipline.

• ADAM as a "storytelling machine": To communicate successes, I need facts. ADAM provides the data for the story: "This week we prevented 50 disruptions and saved €100,000 in production value." Without data, it's just a claim; with ADAM, it becomes a business case.

• Attractiveness for Digital Natives: Young talents (Gen Z) are on TikTok and Instagram. If we want to reach them, we must speak their language (video, mobile, fast). A tool like ADAM, which is modern and AI-based, fits perfectly into this story ("We work with the latest tech").

• From basement dweller to hero: Our mission "Operational Intelligence" also means that the maintenance professional appears confident. Those who make their knowledge and performance transparent (through dashboards, reports, videos) transform from a "cost factor" to a sought-after partner of management.

Conclusion: Marketing on your own behalf is not vanity, but a necessity to win budgets and employees. Start talking about your successes – preferably with data to back it up.