If development drags on for 6 months or more, strategies are often superficial and half-hearted. The strategic planning effort is intimidating because the task list and the resources required are substantial. It takes most team members time to understand that the strategic plan is a long-term process, usually covering 2 to 3 years, sometimes more. Even if the resources were readily available, many aspects of an improvement plan will involve shifting the plant's culture and will take several years, regardless of available resources. Experience suggests that the longer the current culture has been in place, the longer the time required to shift the culture.
Some plants never make the shift.
The strategic plan must begin with a clear statement of objectives reflecting the key business benefits of having a strategy. The objectives should clearly describe a vision of the improved maintenance activity and the impact it will have on the enterprise. Performance measures are a necessary tool for tracking the plan's progress and its evolving benefits. They are usually fewer and more focused measures than those used in benchmarking to compare the plant to other sites. Strategic plan measures are accompanied by goal levels representing the improvements being sought by the plan.