Nearly five million Americans need blood transfusions each year. LifeSouth Community Blood Centers is a community nonprofit that saves lives by providing the blood donations to a portion of those in need. To achieve its goals, LifeSouth collects approximately 266,000 blood donations each year, or 728 donors a day, and supplies blood to more than 100 hospitals in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
Now try doing that with broken-down equipment. It just isn’t an option when hospitals and patients rely on LifeSouth to provide blood supplies, and related components and services, on time, every time.
To meet compliance and maintenance needs, LifeSouth relies on Maintenance Connection’s computerized maintenance management software (CMMS). It ensures the organization’s fleet and critical equipment are kept in top shape. LifeSouth’s assets need to be readily available at a moment’s notice, and Maintenance Connection ensures team members address maintenance issues before breakdowns occur. By using Maintenance Connection, LifeSouth doesn’t just save money. It saves lives. “Preventive maintenance is huge,” says LifeSouth facility and asset management clerk Andre Ferraro. “In this work, you don’t want to make any mistakes.”
Save Costs and Maintain Compliance by Going Digital
LifeSouth has hundreds of assets scattered throughout 20 different branches in three states. The equipment list includes 100 fleet vehicles that travel to hospital locations. In addition to its fleet, LifeSouth must maintain all of the equipment needed to process blood donations, which includes centrifuges, incubator agitators, walk-in freezers, plasma refrigerators and more. Last but not least, the organization takes care of the equipment at its locations, which includes HVAC and plumbing systems. And it all must be done in accordance with industry standards.
In the past, all of these assets were tracked with pencil and paper. Maintenance staff, scattered across the organization’s physical locations, did their best to keep up, but it wasn’t enough. “We were having a lot of problems with our vehicles. They weren’t being taken care of,” says Ferraro. “There was no efficient way to keep track of all that.”
Once Maintenance Connection was implemented, vehicle repair costs dropped since each asset was digitally tracked. This allowed LifeSouth to see exactly what needed maintenance and when it needed it. Maintenance Connection ensured the teams did the same for their other non-vehicle assets, too. “It’s definitely cut our costs and saved us a lot of money in the end,” says Ferraro.
Maintenance Connection doesn’t just save money and time. It also helps LifeSouth stay compliant. All of the organization’s equipment is regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), so assets must be properly maintained at regular intervals, with no excuses. “We’re able to keep up to date with all the required maintenance, whether it be weekly, quarterly or annually,” Ferraro says.
A Mobile, Easy-to-Use Maintenance Solution
Now that LifeSouth’s maintenance is preventive and manageable, the organization is implementing the CMMS even further across its maintenance teams. Ferraro is especially excited about MC Express, Maintenance Connection’s mobile application.
“Our guys are out in the field and working hands-on with vehicles and equipment,” Ferraro says. “We don’t want maintenance staff sitting behind a desk all day and closing out work orders.”
MC Express enables maintenance staff to have all work order and asset information at their fingertips. They save time and get more done with the ability to enter or update work orders and track assets right from a handheld device.
That goal is achieved by Maintenance Connection’s ease of use, says Ferraro. She conducts in-house training sessions for staff, stressing to them Maintenance Connection’s ability to get work done.
“It’s so incredibly simple to use,” Ferraro says. “Anybody who can use it will make their job so much easier.”
Watch our Customer Case Study with LifeSouth and see how MC has truly helped them.
Want to learn how your facility can improve work order tracking and asset management? Watch a demo of Maintenance Connection.
