# From Reactive to Proactive: Ricky Smith, CMRP

**April 17, 2026**  
**30:30 Min Listen**

## Manufacturing Meet Up

From Reactive to Proactive: Ricky Smith, CMRP | Manufacturing Meet Up  
**[Download episode](https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/forcedn/204191ac-a48c-4bff-aa6d-45d8cd26ae11/S3E2_Full_Show_V1.mp3)**

Most plant managers think they’re doing okay. Ricky Smith, CMRP, has walked enough plant floors to know better. Ed and Alvaro sit down with one of the most credentialed voices in maintenance and reliability to talk about what separates reactive plants from world-class ones.

### Episode highlights:
- Reactive maintenance could be costing you 3x more than it should
- The case for scorecards, formal training, and a clear north star
- What “world-class maintenance” actually means on the plant floor

### Mentioned in this episode:
- [World Class Maintenance Learning Guides](https://worldclassmaintenance.org/learning-guides-library)  
- [SMRP](https://smrp.org/)  
- [Proactive Maintenance Storeroom](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/0f00c7d8-26a3-46b7-b4ee-380ee3aecae7/downloads/Everything%20You%20May%20Want%20to%20Know%20About%20Proactiv.pdf?ver=1775162931566)  
- [5 Whys Root Cause Analysis](https://reliamag.com/articles/5-whys-root-cause-analysis-maintenance/)  
- [Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Best Practices Session 1 (Video)](https://youtu.be/PzN4sT7ACKo?si=SYHau0DJOen13chW)

## Full Transcript

**Ed Ballina**  
I’m Ed Ballina.  
**Alvaro Cuba**  
Hello guys, Alvaro Cuba here.  
**Ed Ballina**  
Welcome to the Manufacturing Meetup Podcast. This is the show where we kick back. We may nurse a beverage or two and talk about what really happens on the shop floor.  
**Alvaro Cuba**  
As you can see, I’ve been in Colorado. So where have you been Ed?  
**Ed Ballina**  
Well, they make the most amazing boots. They’re made in, well, they’re out of Bozeman, Montana. And since I’m wearing all kinds of like camouflage stuff, I thought it would fit today.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
Yeah, it fits perfect, mine is 50 % camouflage.

**Ed Ballina**  
So you only see half of Alvaro. Alvaro is not very wide to begin with, right? So you don’t have to camouflage much.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
Please don’t listen to him.

**Ed Ballina**  
We’re excited to come to you again. And we’re really excited about today’s guest. His name is Ricky Smith. He’s got 30 plus years of maintenance reliability experience. He’s author of a number of books, loads of articles, just got done watching one of his YouTube videos. Folks, one of the best 10 minutes of your time that you can spend if you want to understand maintenance reliability.

**Ricky Smith**  
Well, costs, if you look at maintenance costs of the percentage of replacement asset value, it’s three times what it would cost if you were proactive. It costs you lose a lot of money.

**Ed Ballina**  
I’ll just say I was blown away by the metrics that you showed in your video. I think it was about 10 minutes long. All the KPIs for world class versus breakdown. I mean, numbers are telling.

**Ricky Smith**  
And with the KPIs too is having scorecards. That’s something a lot of companies don’t have. You know, when I was the main supervisor, what I did is I put a screen up where my guys can see it when they walk into the shop in the morning, they on shift, they can look at it and say, this is where we’re at.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
And good benchmarks also help.

**Ricky Smith**  
What they are missing. I tell you, it’s all about the money. That’s what it comes down to.

**Ed Ballina**  
So what are the couple critical things that you do in the assessment?  
**Ricky Smith**  
When the assessment, you look at different categories, you assess the equipment, you assess the technicians.

**Ed Ballina**  
It’s not with me.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
But what do you tell them that other consultants don’t?

**Ricky Smith**  
Yeah. I don’t, you know, I don’t tell them anything that’s not the truth.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
How about management? How about the CFO? Because, you know, plant managers can move, but they need help and they need money.  
**Ricky Smith**  
Well, I usually don’t talk at a CFO. You know, I talked to the maintenance manager or engineering manager.

**Ed Ballina**  
They’re translating what you’re giving them into some sort of metrics so that when the CFO says, why are you spending half a million dollars on this additional a year?

**Ricky Smith**  
What do you think? Start with the five whys first, and the five whys will help you.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
But going back to the assessment, so what are the couple critical things that you do in the assessment?

**Ricky Smith**  
When the assessment, you look at different categories, you assess the equipment, you assess the technicians.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
And training is the best thing. Better than hire somebody to do it. It’s better to take training.

**Ed Ballina**  
So moving on, we have talked a lot about proving the problem and everything you talk and all these tools help them to understand. So it comes the, aha, now I got the problem and even I get the size of the problem.

**Ricky Smith**  
Three things, once they assess the current state of maintenance and reliability.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
Here you have it. Those three, very simple. It seems simple, but you have to go after that.

**Ricky Smith**  
They can Google me on the internet. You know, Ricky Smith, world-class maintenance, Ricky Smith, CMRP, but the CMRP only, otherwise Ricky Smith, there’s millions of them. CMRP and then maintenance and reliability.

**Ed Ballina**  
I would just say he’s easy, really easy to find.

**Alvaro Cuba**  
Thank you for that. I’ve been in the website and guys, go. It’s very simple, very easy. There is the training coming, all the experience. So take advantage of Ricky’s experience and just go for it.

**Ed Ballina**  
Thank you so much for joining us in the manufacturing meetup. If you have enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe.