You’ve got assets, equipment, and technicians, which means you’ve probably got a maintenance routine. But that maintenance routine could be working more efficiently – and allowing your team more freedom to get things done.
A maintenance management system makes all the difference between a maintenance system that gets the job done and a system that gets the job done right. Here’s what you need to know and why you should already be using a system to improve the way you do business.
The Basics
A maintenance management system, more often known as a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), is a software designed to simplify your maintenance management. It maintains a digital database of your maintenance operations and human resources.
It typically addresses four areas:
- Work orders and descriptions
- Managing inventory
- Managing assets
- Safety
It then collates this data to help the administrator identify patterns, assign tasks, and make smarter judgments about resource allocation.
How It Works
To understand how a maintenance management system works, let’s take a look at the life cycle of a single work order and maintenance task.
It begins when the work order is placed. A machine breaks down, and someone puts in a request to fix it. When that happens, a work order is assigned to a technician and a specific asset.
The work order will include certain data relevant to the task, such as overall downtime, any spare parts used, meter readings, checklist items, etc. When the work order is completed, the technician will update it with additional information.
From there, the completed work order is processed by the CMMS. The asset is put back into circulation, the technician is given a new task, and the CMMS processes the fresh data.
Finally, the data is surfaced when management runs reports to identify trends. This will reveal assets that are unusually labor-intensive, technicians that may take an unusually long time or technicians that are especially productive, and maintenance costs associated with technicians and assets.
That way, when another work order comes in or your team is planning to improve your bottom line next quarter, you can use that data to be smarter about how you use your assets.
What It’s Used For
Maintenance management systems are designed to address maintenance concerns at all stages. However, they are primarily responsible for managing two things: technicians and assets.
A CMMS software solution allows you to see how your assets and technicians perform. That way, you can improve how your technicians handle tasks, see which assets may need to be replaced, and minimize your overall downtime so that your workers don’t need to slow down for unplanned downtime.
A Maintenance Management System That Works
Your maintenance management system should be more than just a tool. It should change the way you think about maintenance. It’s a smarter, faster, more efficient way to ensure that the assets you need are always available.
For more on how a maintenance management system can strengthen your overall practices, make sure to check out our blog for more great posts, like this one on why predictive maintenance is so important.