Palmer Planning
Palmer Planning (Richard Palmer and Associates) is a US-based consulting practice founded in 1999 that provides maintenance planning and scheduling training, workshops, and mentoring to industrial organizations. Doc Palmer personally delivers the firm's three training formats and authors the definitive McGraw-Hill handbook on the discipline.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- Headquarters—
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Palmer Planning does
Palmer Planning, legally operated as Richard Palmer and Associates, is a US-based, founder-owned consulting practice that has operated continuously since 1999. The firm is built around Richard "Doc" Palmer, a registered professional engineer with an MBA and CMRP designation who spent 25+ years as a maintenance practitioner at Jacksonville Electric Authority. The company delivers maintenance planning and scheduling training, consulting, and mentoring to industrial maintenance organizations across water/wastewater, energy, pulp and paper, and general manufacturing verticals.
The core asset is the McGraw-Hill published Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook, now in its fourth edition (2019), which functions simultaneously as a thought-leadership credential, a content marketing vehicle, and a royalty-generating product. The firm does not sell software or operate a technology platform; its expertise is methodological. Training is delivered through three formats: two-day public workshops held in cities such as Edmonton and Atlanta priced at $1,199-$1,299 USD per attendee, four-day on-site engagements at client facilities combining a workshop with two days of one-on-one mentoring and a gap analysis report, and exclusive online Zoom workshops for groups of five or more from a single company. Registered website members receive access to articles and conference presentations as a lead-generation mechanism.
The business model is straightforward professional services plus book royalties, with self-serve workshop registration through the website supporting credit card, PayPal, and purchase order payments. Pricing includes early-bird tiers and a $100 multi-registrant discount. The company maintains an international consulting footprint anchored by Doc Palmer's personal delivery, with no disclosed institutional investment, no parent company, and an employee base in the 1-10 range consistent with a solo practitioner model.
Palmer Planning firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Palmer Planning
- Legal name
- Richard Palmer and Associates
- Website
- https://palmerplanning.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Palmer Planning (Richard Palmer and Associates) is a US-based consulting practice founded in 1999 that provides maintenance planning and scheduling training, workshops, and mentoring to industrial organizations. Doc Palmer personally delivers the firm's three training formats and authors the definitive McGraw-Hill handbook on the discipline.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Palmer Planning business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Public Workshop Training: 2-day public workshops delivered in various cities at $1,199-$1,299 USD per person. Includes training materials, snacks, and lunches. Multi-registrant discounts available.
- On-site Training: Custom on-site training engagements typically including 2-day workshop plus 2 days of one-on-one mentoring, concluding with a gap analysis report. Sold directly to enterprise clients.
- Book Sales: McGraw-Hill publishes the Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook (4th edition, 2019). Book serves as both revenue stream and marketing tool for training services.
- Online/Virtual Workshop: Exclusive online workshops for companies with 5+ participants, scheduled at dates/times preferred by the client company.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Public Workshop - Early Bird |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Public Workshop - Standard |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Multi-Registrant Discount |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
Palmer Planning product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Palmer Planning (Richard Palmer and Associates) sells maintenance planning and scheduling training, consulting, and mentoring to industrial organizations. Deliverables include two-day public workshops held in cities such as Edmonton and Atlanta, four-day on-site corporate engagements with mentoring and gap analysis, and exclusive online workshops for company groups of five or more. The McGraw-Hill Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook (4th edition, 2019) underpins the curriculum and is sold separately as a reference text.
Product overview
Richard Palmer and Associates (Palmer Planning) is a consulting and training firm that offers a portfolio of products and services centered on maintenance planning and scheduling. The core offering is the McGraw-Hill published Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook (now in its 4th edition), which serves as the foundational reference for their training programs. The company provides three delivery formats for training: public workshops held in various locations (Edmonton, Alberta; Atlanta, Georgia; and online), on-site training engagements at client facilities, and exclusive online workshops via Zoom for companies with 5+ participants. Additionally, registered members receive access to articles and conference presentations. The company does not offer a software platform but focuses purely on consulting, education, and mentorship services delivered by Doc Palmer.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- 30 maintenance technicians can perform the work of 47 persons with one planner
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Palmer Planning
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments5 records
Palmer Planning technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Palmer Planning partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators7 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Palmer Planning competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Marshall Institute: Provider of maintenance and reliability training, certification (including CMRP prep), and consulting for industrial organizations. Direct competitor in delivering methodology-focused training to maintenance practitioners.
- Allied Reliability Group: Industrial reliability solutions provider offering consulting, training, and staffing services to plants and utilities, with adjacent methodology expertise in maintenance planning and work execution.
- ARMS Reliability: Reliability engineering and maintenance consulting firm offering training and implementation services for asset-intensive operators, overlapping with Palmer Planning's industrial client base.
- Life Cycle Engineering (LCE): US-based reliability and maintenance consulting firm serving utilities, manufacturing, and government; offers similar training, assessments, and implementation services addressing maintenance planning, reliability, and workforce productivity.
- Worldwide Reliability: Maintenance and reliability training and consulting firm serving industrial clients with practitioner-focused programs, comparable in delivery format and target buyer to Palmer Planning's offerings.
- IDCON: Swedish-based reliability and maintenance planning consulting and training firm that delivers similar methodology-driven workshops, on-site assessments, and implementation support to industrial clients worldwide. Closest analog to Palmer Planning in scope and target customer.
- Plant Performance Services (PPS): Operations and maintenance improvement consultancy delivering training and on-site implementation support to industrial facilities, addressing similar planning, scheduling, and reliability challenges.
Emerging players
- Reliabilityweb.com: Industry media and event organizer focused on maintenance and reliability practitioners, hosting conferences (Uptime) and publishing content that competes for the same audience Palmer targets with workshops and articles.
Broad incumbents
- GE Vernova / ServiceMax: Major industrial software and services provider (including APM/asset performance and ServiceMax field service) with embedded reliability and maintenance consulting practices; competes indirectly by bundling methodology with technology platforms.
- McKinsey & Company (Operations Practice): Global management consultancy whose operations and industrial practices occasionally address maintenance productivity and asset reliability for large enterprise clients; broader in scope but overlaps with Palmer Planning's productivity-improvement value proposition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Palmer Planning social profiles
Digital presencePalmer Planning financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Palmer Planning leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Palmer Planning funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Palmer Planning M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Palmer Planning
What does Palmer Planning do?
Palmer Planning (Richard Palmer and Associates) sells maintenance planning and scheduling training, consulting, and mentoring to industrial organizations. Deliverables include two-day public workshops held in cities such as Edmonton and Atlanta, four-day on-site corporate engagements with mentoring and gap analysis, and exclusive online workshops for company groups of five or more. The McGraw-Hill Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook (4th edition, 2019) underpins the curriculum and is sold separately as a reference text.
Is Palmer Planning a public or private company?
Palmer Planning is a private company. It is currently operating.
When was Palmer Planning founded?
Palmer Planning was founded in 1999. It employs 1 to 10 people.
How does Palmer Planning make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Public Workshop Training is the primary driver. The others are on-site Training, book Sales and online/Virtual Workshop.
Who are Palmer Planning's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Marshall Institute, Allied Reliability Group, ARMS Reliability, Life Cycle Engineering (LCE), Worldwide Reliability, IDCON and Plant Performance Services (PPS). Reliabilityweb.com is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are GE Vernova / ServiceMax and McKinsey & Company (Operations Practice).
Does Palmer Planning have an API?
No public API is recorded for Palmer Planning.