Avoid Wasted Cost & Hassle with Preventive Maintenance Software

There are many examples, or types, of preventive maintenance software. These include:

Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS):

CMMS systems were created to help automate processes and execute preventive maintenance strategies during the operational portion of the asset lifecycle. That said, modern, full-featured CMMS systems often offer EAM-level functionality.

Enterprise asset management (EAM) system:

EAM software provides asset and facility management capabilities throughout the entire asset lifecycle, from acquisition to disposal.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP):

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helps users manage day-to-day business activities, including accounting, risk management, supply chain operations and maintenance. Maintenance data can be included in an ERP system.

Asset performance management (APM):

An asset performance management system can help integrate asset data and improve data capture, integration and analytics for comprehensive, big-picture insight.

Today, there are also many emerging technologies that are being incorporated into asset maintenance operations. These include virtual reality, augmented reality, sensors and 3D printing.

There are many benefits to preventive maintenance strategies. A move from reactive to preventive maintenance can:

• Decrease the number of emergency breakdowns, thereby increasing both operational uptime and asset lifespan.
• Streamline day-to-day maintenance, which can both increase employee productivity and avoid asset downtime.
• Increase return on investment, both immediately and long-term.
• Increase customer satisfaction
• And more.

 

Many activities can be included under the umbrella term “preventive maintenance,” including:

• Cleaning of assets, grounds or buildings
• Asset lubrication to decrease wear-and-tear
• Repair and replacement of parts
• Asset inspections
• Oil changes
• Control adjustments to maximize asset efficiency

 

You create an effective preventive maintenance plan by following these steps:

Get your entire team on board.

This includes decision-makers, technicians, maintenance managers, operators, inventory managers, your IT team and health & safety personnel.

Identify key goals and KPIs.

Here, it’s important to establish both short term and long-term goals so your organization has a clear line of sight when it comes to measuring success.

Consolidate asset and inventory information.

This should include all important asset information that you would like to live in your maintenance scheduling software, including maintenance history, asset history, serial numbers and identifying number.

Determine the frequency of maintenance for each of your assets.

This can be determined based on asset importance, and you can set various triggers based on usage, elapsed time or other important metrics.

Plan technician time.

You need to have a sense of how long it will take technicians to complete work orders. You also have to make sure that there isn’t unrealistic overlap between tasks.

Make sure no assets are missed by your pm coordinator software.
Here, it’s important to go room-by-room and floor-by-floor. Otherwise, it’s easy for assets to be missed,

Train your team.

Effective implementation of a maintenance tracking app or tracking software requires both immediate and ongoing training. This is key, since effective preventive maintenance requires widespread adoption and understanding at all business verticals.

Gather data and adjust as necessary.

Once your software is implemented and your plan is in place, it’s important to use real-time reports and data to track key metrics like downtime and reactive maintenance costs. This is the only way to know if your plans are really working or if you need to change your PM schedule.

Review and make changes to the PM plan.

Once you have enough historical data, continue reviewing and making changes to your preventive maintenance schedule as necessary.

Of course, a comprehensive plan will be much more specific. You will need to talk to an expert to develop a complete preventive maintenance plan.

You track preventive maintenance using a robust tool like a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Having the right system in place is the only way to overcome issues associated with inconsistent tracking (like you’d find with spreadsheets or hand-written notes).

There are four general types of maintenance philosophies, though there is some flexibility when it comes to descriptions and naming conventions. These include:

Corrective maintenance:

This type of maintenance is carried out when an anomaly or flaw is detected. The goal of this maintenance practice is to fix the flaw and maintain uptime. Corrective maintenance tasks may be more cost-effective than preventive maintenance in the short-term, but its short-sighted nature makes it an ineffective long-term strategy.

Preventive maintenance:

Preventive maintenance strategy involves scheduled, forward-thinking maintenance based on key metrics and data points. An effective preventive maintenance strategy can ultimately increase asset life, maximize revenue and decrease equipment downtime.

Condition-based maintenance:

Condition-based maintenance aims to prevent failure through regular asset-check-ups and performance monitoring. In other words, equipment is constantly assessed and maintained, which requires significantly more coordination and manpower than other strategies.

Predictive maintenance:

Predictive maintenance, as the name suggests, aims to preemptively predict asset failures before they arise using data, sensors and IoT technology. Because it relies so intrinsically on data and technology, predictive maintenance comes with a higher up-front cost, and it is not yet feasible for many organizations.

Preventive maintenance is extremely effective at streamlining and improving maintenance operations. Oftentimes, many organizations in asset-heavy industries practice reactive maintenance, whereby they wait for a problem to arise to fix it, rather than addressing the issue proactively. Reactive maintenance comes with many consequences, including out-of-control costs, high downtime, low employee efficiency and shorter asset life. Preventive maintenance can solve many of these concerns by helping organizations predict and address problems before they arise. This can ultimately reduce downtime, increase efficiency and more.

When considering a preventive maintenance software implementation, you must be sure that the software you choose has all the features your business will need. This generally includes:

Preventive maintenance scheduling:

The purpose of a computerized maintenance management system is to facilitate the development of preventive maintenance strategies. To this end, the software you choose must allow you to schedule maintenance tasks, store all relevant information and access your data and related insights.

Mobile capabilities:

Particularly in the wake of COVID-19, many asset and facility maintenance personnel must be able to access their important data and asset information from multiple locations and devices. These users must be sure the software they choose has device-agnostic mobile capabilities.

Preventive maintenance work order management:

Your preventive maintenance software should not only let you view and access work orders but also have all relevant documentation, including asset history, warranty information and repair documentation.

Checklists:

Checklists within your preventive maintenance system can help ensure that all steps of a task are completed while maximizing timeliness and accountability.

Inventory control:

MRO inventory can be one of the most difficult things to track and control — and difficulty finding inventory (along with re-orders) can increase costs, downtime and delays. The right preventive maintenance software will facilitate this inventory management to help reduce these costs and maximize inventory efficiency.

Preventive maintenance software can be used by employees in all verticals and roles, including:

• Operators
• Technicians
• Decision-makers
• Plant managers and your maintenance manager

 

While a preventive maintenance software implementation comes with many business benefits, there are many implementation challenges that you must keep in mind and overcome if you want to maximize your results. These include:

Your company culture and adoption:

For a CMMS to work, you team members must use it consistently and properly. This is often a challenge in the face of stagnant company culture, legacy systems and the “old way” of doing things. Combat this challenge by choosing a CMMS with features and a user interface that your team members want to use and by implementing ongoing training.

Underdeveloped processes:

If you don’t standardize your preventive maintenance processes and policies, you are unlikely to have a successful software implementation. Be sure that roles, expectations and processes for work orders, approvals and other processes are clear and standardized to avoid this concern.

Financial constraints:

There are many costs associated with preventive maintenance software implementation, including the cost of implementation itself and any associated upgrades, personnel or expertise. Consider your budget and your total spending capabilities to be sure that you implement a software that’s within your means.

Data:

For your CMMS to work, all the data within it must be accurate and fully integrated. Be sure you have the processes, integrations and training to make this possible.