Industrial organisations routinely invest hundreds of millions—or even billions—of dollars designing and constructing world-class facilities. Yet too often, they spend the first several years after startup building the maintenance capability required to operate those facilities reliably.

The consequences are familiar: reactive work, excessive downtime, inconsistent execution, low wrench time, weak planning effectiveness, and a prolonged path to maintenance maturity.

But what if maintenance excellence could be engineered into a facility before the first asset is commissioned — enabling not just a successful startup, but a more reliable vertical startup?

This session explores how Eli Lilly is embedding maintenance capability into a major greenfield manufacturing program well before startup. Rather than relying on years of post-commissioning trial and error, Lilly is developing a maintenance strategy, work management processes, standard work, workforce capability, governance, and execution discipline in parallel with facility design, construction, and commissioning.

Attendees will learn how leading organisations can accelerate maintenance maturity, reduce startup risk, improve workforce readiness, and establish the foundation for long-term operational excellence from Day One.

What participants will learn:
• How to build maintenance capability during project execution rather than after startup
• How to connect asset strategy, work management, and field execution to deliver intended reliability outcomes
• Practical methods for accelerating maintenance maturity and workforce readiness
• Governance and operating-system principles that support vertical startup and sustain improvements in safety, reliability, productivity, and operational performance