Oftentimes, in organizations worldwide, decision-makers ponder over the decision to implement a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for their enterprise. Upon knowing the many benefits, it’s no surprise that one realizes a CMMS is designed to make the lives of maintenance technicians a lot easier.
Apart from lowering costs through reduced downtime, other key reasons to implement CMMS software are: recording of work; scheduling equipment maintenance; tracking of work orders; inventory management; and audit and certification.
Let’s take a look at the biggest reasons for investing in CMMS software:
Stop Reacting and Start Preventing:
The primary focus of CMMS software is to implement a streamlined preventive maintenance strategy rather than a reactive one. This implies, identifying a defect before it leads to a bigger problem, an eventual downtime, or unplanned shutdowns. Thus, a preventive maintenance strategy is focused on fixing a machine before it breaks down, rather than scrambling to fix it afterward.
We now know what a preventive maintenance strategy is meant to do, but what’s the role of CMMS? The CMMS let’s maintenance technicians record a problem as soon as they spot it. For instance, if someone in your facility notices that a machine is making an unusuall noise, they can log it on the spot. Further, you can set time-based or meter reading-based notifications in your CMMS, so you never miss out on doing routine checks.
The Gain in Efficiency and Productivity:
Investing in CMMS software will help your organization become much more efficient. Its implementation facilitates better work planning and maintenance management, resulting in greater efficiency leading to higher productivity.
How does implementing a CMMS result in a gain in efficiency? Reduced paperwork is one example of how efficiency is gained. The time technicians spend on dealing with paperwork (writing up reports, searching for old records, locating missing work requests) would no longer be required. Under CMMS, records are stored in a single centralized database, which makes finding records much quicker and easier. Technicians can then spend most of their time on maintaining assets rather than on paperwork.
Another way implementing a CMMS results in efficiency is that it helps managers prioritize work by allocating technicians tasks optimally, so that they’re focussed on the most critical repairs and maintenance.
Helps Meet Compliance and Accountability Standards:
Another reason to invest in CMMS software is that it helps meet compliance and accountability standards. CMMS software implementation can help your business pass audits and meet certification and compliance standards. Further, a CMMS ensures accountability is fully enforced so that there is no confusion about who is responsible for what work.
Here are some examples:
Compliance:
- Industry certification – Systems run efficiently through a CMMS. Its centralized database of assets and procedures helps in lowering emissions and operating costs. This can have a positive effect on your organization’s eligibility for obtaining ISO or LEED certification.
- Insurance policies – In case you insure your assets, your well-maintained assets qualify you for insurance policy savings.
- Audits – A good CMMS makes the audit process a lot smoother, since the CMMS database stores a permanent record of maintenance and repair activities of all machines.
- Complying with maintenance standards required by prominent organizations – Some large organizations like ‘Boeing’ require that the companies they deal with have a solid preventive maintenance program in place. This is crucial If your business wants to sell products and services to such demanding organizations.
Accountability:
- Access real-time information – In a CMMS all your maintenance information is in one easy to navigate centralized database. The database allows the team leader to easily track information about what work is overdue and what’s in progress, making it easy to follow up on work that’s taking too long.
- Getting automatic notifications – This is to do with the mobility of a CMMS system. The latest CMMS solutions are armed with a mobile app which can be carried anywhere (smartphone or tablet-based) and save time. Maintenance software can automatically send emails and notifications to the right people. This means there’s no forgetting, losing track of paper or miscommunication. There is an efficient allocation of work assignments; the right people are assigned to the right task.
- Generating meaningful reports – An important feature of a CMMS software is its report-generating features. It helps managers analyze the performance of the entire maintenance group. Managers are better able to gauge the benefits of investment in preventive maintenance, since the reports make it easier to analyze overall reduced downtime.
Reduction in Costs and Energy Consumption :
Reduced Cost – A good CMMS solution, through regular tracking and recording of maintenance work, ensures a reduction in – downtime, unplanned shutdowns, and repair and replacement requirements, all of which ultimately leads to the decreased overall cost and higher profitability to the organization.
Reduced energy consumption – Routine regular maintenance and upkeep of assets keeps them working efficiently. Assets remain in good condition, last longer, and consume less energy.
Conclusion
Given today’s competitive business environment and for all the reasons laid out above, its safe to say a Computerized Maintenance Management System is well worth its investment. In a nutshell, having an effective and updated CMMS system provides a competitive advantage, resulting in higher returns on investments.
