Month: September 2019

Q: What is asset management?

Asset management is the process of maximizing the value an asset provides to an organization throughout its entire lifecycle, in the most cost-effective manner.

Q: How is asset management different than maintenance management?

Since there are many parts of an asset's lifecycle beyond maintenance, asset management involves contribution from multiple departments, such as asset planning, engineering, production, and accounting, who work together to assess and manage an asset's cost, value, risk, and performance.

Q: What are the components of asset management?

Identification, location, condition, specification, maintenance, and cost.

What is Work Order Management? | Work Order Management Process Explained

Posted: 9/26/2019

A stack of paper work orders that could be reduced or eliminated through work order management with a CMMS

Key Takeaways

Proper work order management allows you to efficiently process and complete work orders
The work order management process covers the entire work order lifecycle, from initial request to closure and analysis
Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software, like FTMaintenance, simplifies and automates work order management

What is Work Order Management?

Work order management is the systematic approach of processing and completing maintenance work orders in a timely manner in order to minimize asset downtime. Work order completion depends on the availability of other maintenance resources such as assets, parts, people, and money.

Importance of Work Order Management

Traditionally, maintenance teams have relied on paper-based work orders to communicate job assignments. Though the work orders themselves may be easy to create by hand, the management of paper-based work orders is labor-intensive and often introduces more problems than it solves.

For example, maintenance staff must interpret bad handwriting, leading to incorrect documentation. Physical copies are liable to get misplaced and lost, resulting in missed maintenance. Stacks of paper clutter up file cabinets and desks, making it difficult to find historical work orders.

Some maintenance teams have advanced to spreadsheet-based work order management, but these systems carry their own limitations. Spreadsheets can only be modified by one person at a time, making it difficult for technicians to see the most up-to-date information. Work orders generated by spreadsheet software must still be printed, bringing along the challenges discussed earlier. Using spreadsheet software may be daunting for staff.

As organizations grow, “old-school” work order management methods quickly become unsustainable and inefficient. Even more so, a renewed focus on operational efficiency has put a spotlight on the functions of the maintenance department. To improve work order management, organizations invest in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Work Order Management Process

Click to download this infographic!

Proper work order management considers the work order at every stage of its life from request to completion. The following sections describe what happens in each step of the work order management process. You will notice how a CMMS makes the work order management process more streamlined and efficient.

Work Request Approval

The need for maintenance work is often communicated through a work request or service request. An approver will review the request and determine whether a legitimate need exists, if enough information is available to create a work order, or if the issue has already been reported. Many organizations use the maintenance request feature of a CMMS to handle incoming requests. If the request is valid, it will be approved and a work order will be created.

Work Order Creation

The creation of a work order signifies that authorization has been given to perform the requested work. Work orders are created from approved maintenance requests, by the maintenance staff, or automatically from a CMMS. Using a mobile CMMS, technicians can create work orders from the field.

Prioritization

A middle-aged male facility maintenance tech with a gas trimmer standing on the lawn of a corporate property

Prioritizing work orders involves determining which work orders are to be completed first. A work order’s priority is typically determined by the criticality of the job or asset. For example, work orders related to safety (of sites or staff) may be given a high priority. Lower priority work orders include routine preventive maintenance or non-essential maintenance requests.

The maintenance team creates standards for what makes a work order high or low priority. Not only will this allow the truly high priority work orders to be completed faster, but when a backlog does occurs, it should consist of low-priority work.

Scheduling

The scheduling of work orders is based on their priority. Emergency work orders are addressed without delay. Preventive maintenance work orders are typically scheduled based on calendar- or runtime-based intervals, or by the asset manufacturer’s maintenance guidelines. However, timing is not the only consideration when scheduling work orders.

Maintenance managers consider the availability of technicians, spare parts and supplies, and tools or other special equipment needed to complete work orders. CMMS software allows you to visualize the maintenance workload and identify how staff can be used most effectively.

Assignment

Every maintenance team is made up of technicians with varying skills and abilities. Work orders should be assigned to the technicians best suited for the job. For larger organizations, technicians may specialize in a particular craft or have training on specific assets.

Small to medium-sized businesses are more likely to use jacks-of-all-trades who can perform a multitude of maintenance tasks. Determining who is best for the job may be done by first-hand experience, but can also be identified using maintenance reports from a CMMS.

Distribution

Once work orders are scheduled and assigned, they must find their way into the hands of technicians. Work orders can be physically handed out, but it takes time to track down technicians. CMMS software features automatic printing to designated printers and automatic emailing to staff. A CMMS with mobile capabilities allows technicians to instantly receive work orders on internet-connected devices.

Execution

A young mechanic executing a work order for the repair of a robotic machine as part of the work order management process

Execution is the act of the assigned technician(s) performing the tasks listed on the work order. A CMMS allows you to track the progress of work orders in real-time so that you can ensure technicians are staying on top of their work.

Documentation

Part of the work order management process is training workers to document all results, both the good and bad. The more accurate information you have, the better off you will be. Technicians should take care to record exactly what was done, how much time was spent, what parts were used, and so on.

Documenting work in a CMMS leads to more accurate maintenance records that can be used to identify areas of improvement and assist in future troubleshooting. Poor documentation leads to inaccurate or flawed reports – as they say, “garbage in, garbage out.” The better your work order documentation, the better you will be able to monitor and track key performance indicators (KPIs) using CMMS maintenance reports.

Closure

Work order closure occurs when all tasks have been performed, all services delivered, and the job is complete. Technicians are now available to begin working on other “open” work orders.

Analysis

Your collective work order history is the foundation for meaningful reporting. Without the reporting functionality of a CMMS, it becomes very difficult to track key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide glimpses into your process. For example, how easily can you calculate the number of work orders that were created or closed using a spreadsheet or paper-based tracking system?

Improve Work Order Management with FTMaintenance

Even the best work orders can fail without a solid system to manage them. FTMaintenance is powerful work order software that simplifies your work order management process. Featuring automated work order creation, assignment, distribution, and closure, FTMaintenance reduces the amount of administrative work involved in accomplishing your every day maintenance activities. Request a demo to see how FTMaintenance can improve your organization’s work order management process.

So You Purchased a CMMS – Now What? | CMMS Implementation Activities (Part 2)

Posted: 9/20/2019

Maintenance worker using CMMS software after CMMS implementation

When properly implemented, a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is a powerful tool with benefits that can be felt throughout an organization. Shockingly, as many as 80% of CMMS software implementations fail, but why?

CMMS implementation can be a long process with pitfalls at every turn. Inexperienced buyers often don’t know where to start or what to do next. The urgency of a project may also force buyers to take shortcuts that create other problems down the line. Our eBook, The Definitive Guide to CMMS Acquisition and Implementation, provides first-time buyers with a systematic approach for implementing a CMMS.

Read Blog Post: Why CMMS Implementations Fail

Implementation covers events that happen both leading up to and following the purchase of a CMMS. Our first article in this series, How to Plan for CMMS Implementation, covers pre-purchase CMMS implementation activities. This article focuses on the activities that take place after software has been purchased.

Post-purchase CMMS Implementation Activities

Purchasing a CMMS is a major milestone in your journey towards improving your maintenance operations. Though it is indeed a time for some celebration, you aren’t out of the woods quite yet. The purchase decision does not mark the end of the CMMS project. Instead, it marks the phase where the “real” work begins.

Perhaps you’ve heard the old proverb, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? That certainly applies here. The goal of this article is not to overwhelm you, but to share our knowledge and experience gained from over 30 years of helping industrial organizations automate their maintenance operations.

The following section describes post-purchase CMMS implementation activities. Software vendors often provide services to assist you during this stage of your CMMS implementation.

Planning Your Implementation

A little planning goes a long way to help your CMMS succeed. You need to put some thought into how you will prepare, configure, and roll out the software. This will determine what activities must be completed, in what order they will completed, and how long you expect each to take.

Review of Current Processes

Implementation starts with a review of your current maintenance management processes. Keep in mind that a CMMS cannot fix poor processes or other underlying problems. Reviewing how you currently manage your maintenance operations allows you to identify areas of improvement and set new policies and expectations. Any process changes should be documented so that everyone knows what’s expected of them and can be held accountable.

Software Installation

Depending on whether you are using on-premise or cloud CMMS, installation will vary. Most CMMS products are hosted in the cloud and do not require a traditional, physical installation on computers. Instead, cloud-based CMMS is accessed through a browser on internet-connected devices.

Power User Training

Power users typically include trainers, maintenance supervisors and managers, and system administrators. These users are more advanced than basic users and are responsible for determining a company’s processes, system usage, and implementation goals. Power users become onsite system experts and help train other users on the software once it is ready for launch.

Data Gathering

Perhaps one of the most significant implementation activities is gathering your maintenance data. This phase involves determining what data will be collected and how. A few questions to ask at this stage:

Where is existing maintenance data stored or located?
Will you be entering hundreds or thousands of asset records into the CMMS?
Will the CMMS be used to track the entire inventory stockroom or only critical spares and commonly used parts?
Who will be responsible for collecting or retrieving the required data?

Before it is entered into the CMMS, take the opportunity to “clean” your maintenance data by removing any duplicate or obsolete data, creating a logical naming convention for assets and spare parts, and adding any new information.

Due to the amount of information to be gathered and cleansed, it is not uncommon for this activity to take a considerable amount of time. Dedicating a little time each day to gathering data will make the task more manageable.

Entering Data into the System

Data can be entered manually by typing it in by hand (data entry), or imported directly into the CMMS (data importation) through vendor-supplied tools or services. Manual data entry can be a lot of work upfront, so if you choose to do it yourself, make sure there are dedicated resources available. It is up to you to decide who will do the job – current employees, interns, or temporary/seasonal workers. Some vendors offer data entry or data importation services.

You should also consider how data will be entered into the CMMS on a day-to-day basis. Will technicians enter their own data into the system? Will an administrative assistant or maintenance planner enter in data at the end of each day?

System Setup

This activity involves setting up initial users with the applicable access rights and permissions. If required, your IT team should also configure any additional security settings on the devices on which the software will be used.

Configuration

Configuration involves tweaking the system to match your company’s workflows and processes. This can include renaming fields according to your internal terminology, determining required fields, enabling system-wide settings, and customizing screens and dashboards.

System Testing

Before rolling the CMMS out to the entire team, the software should be tested. Allow select staff to start working in the software and observe whether their experience matches what you have envisioned. Based on your observation, decide what changes need to be made.

Integration

Integration allows your CMMS to communicate with other business software, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting software. Not all organizations desire integration, but for those that do, more time should be allotted for planning what data will be shared, having the vendor or internal IT staff perform the integration, and testing.

End User Training

The success of end user training may make or break your CMMS implementation. Since your non-management maintenance staff will be the primary users of the software, it is important that they feel confident using the system. Be aware that everyone has different learning styles and different levels of experience using technology, so plan accordingly. Vendors typically offer multiple CMMS training resources, like videos, webinars, and product documentation. It is likely more than one resource will be needed.

Going Live

The go live date is when the CMMS software is formally available and put into use. Remember that no launch is problem-free – it is normal to experience some “growing pains” as users get used to the system. We recommend assigning someone, such as a power user, to be the point of contact for asking for help, reporting problems, and resolving issues.

FTMaintenance Implementation Services

Implementing a CMMS can be a daunting project, but the good news is you don’t have to go it alone. FasTrak provides complimentary CMMS implementation services to help you get FTMaintenance up and running quickly. We also offer professional services that provide hands-on assistance from product and industry experts at key points before, during, or after your FTMaintenance implementation. Contact us to learn more about how we can assist you with your CMMS implementation.

6 Ways Maintenance Teams Benefit from Cloud-based CMMS

Posted: 9/17/2019

Graphics of people, internet, mail, and computers surround cloud graphic for cloud-hosted software.

The popularity of cloud-hosted computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software has exploded since its adoption in the early 2000s, and for good reason. There are many benefits of cloud software, such as quick deployment, little-to-no IT involvement, and data security. Given today’s fast-paced and highly-mobile industrial environments, along with the criticality of maintenance management, maintenance teams experience additional advantages with cloud-based CMMS.

Read Blog Post: On-Premise vs. Cloud CMMS: Comparing CMMS Deployment Options

Cloud-based CMMS Benefits

1. Faster Decision-Making

Cloud-based CMMS provides real-time access to actionable maintenance data, speeding up decision-making and enabling teams to take action faster. Let’s look at an example:

An operator reports a problem by submitting a maintenance request from the field, which automatically notifies an administrator. After approving the request, the administrator creates a work order that defines the appropriate tasks, parts, and skills required to complete the work. Once the work order is created and assigned, a notification is automatically sent to the relevant maintenance technician. The technician views the work order on his mobile device. Based on the data provided on the work order, the technician can prioritize the job and make decisions about how and when to proceed.

2. Guaranteed System Availability

Maintenance operations can be significantly impaired when a CMMS is unavailable. Cloud CMMS vendors provide service that is “always on,” with certain exceptions for routine maintenance or server upgrades. Around the clock system availability means that the maintenance team will have access to maintenance data and functionality anytime of the day or night. This is particularly important for organizations with 24-hour production schedules or mission critical assets.

3. Anywhere Access

Effective maintenance technicians have always been highly mobile, but technology hasn’t always been able to accommodate freely-moving workers. Before cloud CMMS, technicians would have to access the CMMS from a single or limited number of computers, creating bottlenecks and hampering productivity. Cloud technology allows CMMS to be accessed from internet-connected devices like smartphones and tablets. Technicians can log in and use the CMMS from anywhere – whether in an office, on the plant floor, or in another geographic location.

4. Better Collaboration

Cloud maintenance software provides the ability to centralize maintenance data and better equip maintenance teams to share information between co-workers, supervisors, and customers. Leveraging technologies such as email, short message service (SMS), and push notifications, cloud CMMS automates communications about maintenance activities. These notifications enable maintenance teams to complete work faster at higher quality and satisfaction levels.

5. Improved Information Sharing

A web services-based application programming interface (API) shares data between a cloud-hosted CMMS and an organization’s other existing software systems. Automatic data sharing allows the maintenance team to focus on using CMMS without worrying about where else data might be used and how to report the information. An API also reduces the amount of duplicate data entry.

6. Real-Time Equipment Monitoring

An API allows organizations to share data from their existing internet-connected equipment sensors with cloud-based CMMS. Based on the information collected, the CMMS can automatically generate maintenance requests or work orders for the assets, whether those assets are mobile, onsite, or globally distributed. Using real-time data also allows the maintenance team to perform preventive maintenance based on an asset’s actual condition, thereby reducing the amount of unnecessary or unneeded maintenance.

Read: What is Condition-based Maintenance?

FTMaintenance Cloud-based CMMS

If you are considering implementing maintenance management software, cloud-based CMMS offers an alternative to on-premise maintenance software. FTMaintenance is an easy-to-use, yet robust CMMS solution for managing, documenting, and tracking maintenance activities. Flexible CMMS pricing and deployment options make FTMaintenance the perfect fit for any maintenance team. Request a demo of FTMaintenance today.

Scaling Your CMMS Software

Posted: 9/17/2019

Ariel view of an industrial factory that can benefit from scaling CMMS software across the organization or to other locations.

Organizational growth can come in the form of new locations, new employees, and/or new products. This growth usually requires you to purchase additional assets and modify your maintenance management process. Therefore, scalability is an important characteristic to consider when selecting or expanding the usage of a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

What is Scalability?

First things first – what is meant by scalability? In CMMS software, scalability is the ability to accommodate and support an increasing amount of data or a growing number of users in a cost-effective manner. In other words, scalability is the ability of the software to “grow” as usage increases without drastically increasing costs or sacrificing performance. A good CMMS has the capacity to handle an increasing amount of users, workload, or transactions without straining the system.

Factors Affecting Scalability

When choosing CMMS software, it’s necessary to think about how the system will support your maintenance operations as they scale up. Selecting a system that gives you the flexibility to grow, rather than one that only meets your current needs, will help you avoid replacing your CMMS in the future. The scalability of CMMS software can be affected by the following factors:

The number of assets maintained
The number of inventory items
The size of the maintenance team(s)
The number of sites where the CMMS is to be used
The level of interdependence between maintenance operations and other departments (e.g., accounting, purchasing, production, etc.)
The desired maintenance service levels needed to improve key performance indicators (KPIs)

How to Scale Your CMMS Software

Provided that your CMMS can accommodate your future needs, you must still determine when and how scaling will take place. As mentioned earlier, organizational growth typically drives the need to scale your CMMS. When changes happen (or are about to happen), it is a good time to assess your maintenance management software needs. Broadly speaking, the process of scaling a CMMS requires you to understand the reason(s) why you need to scale, consider the costs involved, and strategically plan the implementation of any changes.

Understand Why You Need to Scale

Scaling your CMMS software can happen in many ways. First, think about why you need to scale or what business problem(s) you are trying to solve through scaling. Ask questions like:

How many assets do I maintain and track?
Do more people need access to the software?
Are we running out of data storage?
Will the software be expanded to another location?
Am I meeting my maintenance management goals?

Once this information is known, you can identify potential solutions and their related costs.

Understand the Cost of Scaling

The costs related to scaling a CMMS vary by the solution of the problem(s) to be solved. For example, some solutions, like onsite training, require one-time costs; additional software license costs are ongoing. Possible cost drivers include, but are not limited to:

Hardware (additional computers and/or devices, servers and drivers, data storage and memory, printers, scanners, etc.)
Additional CMMS software licenses
IT staff expansion or consulting
User training
Data backups
CMMS software upgrades

Plan Your Implementation

With a list of potential solutions and their related costs in hand, you are almost ready to make changes. Think strategically about your implementation – you shouldn’t necessarily focus on the solution with the lowest cost. Instead, look at your options in terms of risk or the threats they pose. For example, if you anticipate that software adoption will stall your implementation, begin with user training.

Read: How to Increase CMMS User Adoption

Common CMMS Scalability Pitfalls

Although many organizations are able to successfully scale their CMMS to accommodate growing maintenance operations, there are a number if things people tend to overlook during this process. Consider the following to avoid a botched implementation:

Training

Many organizations delay training until the newly scaled system is implemented. When training is delayed, this often frustrates new users as they attempt to navigate the software “blind.” Ensuring those who are going to operate the system and carry out maintenance processes are ready is the key to successfully adding staff and/or locations.

Data Backup

When organizations go from using a CMMS at a single site to using the software at multiple sites, they tend to overlook how they’re going to back up their data. This includes how they will use the backups to recover information during the transition and how long it will take before they can resume operations. Even with single-site implementations, disruptions such as hardware failures or viruses can occur. Therefore, regular data backups can save you from disaster or setbacks.

Differences between Single and Multi-Site Implementation

There are subtle differences that affect implementation at multiple sites versus one. For instance, establishing a proper asset naming convention is crucial when accessing data from multiple locations. Appointing a system administrator provides users with a single point of reference for the software. Ensuring that maintenance data can be easily share with new locations helps them go live sooner.

Expand Your Maintenance Operations with FTMaintenance CMMS

FTMaintenance CMMS software is designed to grow along with your maintenance management needs. Whether transitioning from manual maintenance management methods to a CMMS or upgrading to FTMaintenance from an obsolete system, our consulting services can help you plan your implementation and avoid the pitfalls of scaling a CMMS. Take a tour to learn more about FTMaintenance.

Corrective vs. Preventive Maintenance

Posted: 9/12/2019

At home or in the workplace, there will always be unexpected repairs—like when a falling tree branch breaks a window. You have to install a new window, which is corrective maintenance. Other major repairs may be avoided if the correct preventive maintenance is performed ahead of failure.

For example, you might decide to trim off a dead or overhanging branch before it falls during the next storm and breaks the window, which would be preventive maintenance. Due to budget constraints, miscommunication from management, or limited resources, in some production environments, it may not always be obvious when to use corrective vs. preventive maintenance. We’ll help you make informed decisions by discussing and comparing them both in detail.

About Corrective Maintenance

Maintenance technician performing corrective maintenance repair on an air conditioning unit

Corrective maintenance (CM) is maintenance performed to restore a non- or under-performing asset to an optimum or operational condition. Examples of corrective maintenance include:

Pulling weeds as part of facilities maintenance
Replacing the alternator in a fleet vehicle after it refused to start
Replacing an entire machine in a production line post-failure
Changing a belt on a machine that malfunctioned

Corrective maintenance can fall into two categories: scheduled and unscheduled. Scheduled corrective maintenance is a repair that needs to be made, but doesn’t have to be performed immediately. Unscheduled corrective maintenance occurs when a repair is required immediately due to the failure of an asset critical to production. As you may have guessed, unscheduled corrective maintenance usually takes priority over scheduled corrective maintenance.

While corrective maintenance can get a bad rap, it is a valid maintenance strategy and in some cases, the best type of maintenance to perform. It has advantages such as less planning required, a simplified need-based process, and saving money when maintenance involves a simple process (minimal labor) replacing inexpensive parts.

Read Blog Post: What is Corrective Maintenance?

About Preventive Maintenance

Maintenance technician performing preventive maintenance by inspecting machine with a checklist

Preventive maintenance (PM) is maintenance that is proactively performed on an asset with the goal of lessening the likelihood of failure, reducing unexpected downtime, and prolonging its useful life. Examples of preventive maintenance include:

Changing the oil on a riding lawn mower
Cleaning an air duct
Replacing rusted bolts on a machine
Inspecting a production line asset

Just like with corrective maintenance, there are two types of preventive maintenance: calendar-based and runtime-based. Calendar-based PM is done on a planned, periodic basis, anywhere from once per week to once per year. Runtime-based PM is done based on how long a machine has been operating since the last preventive maintenance task was performed on the asset. For example, you might schedule lubrication of a machine after every 3000 hours of runtime.

Preventive maintenance has a number of advantages, including improved scheduling, lower, more controlled maintenance costs, and less stressful preparation since parts, supplies, and labor are scheduled to be available ahead of time.

Read Blog Post: What is Preventive Maintenance?

Difference Between Corrective and Preventive Maintenance

If you’ve been getting by without a preventive maintenance plan in place, is shifting the focus to preventing machine failure really worth the effort? See the chart below for a comparison of corrective and preventive maintenance.

	Corrective Maintenance	Preventive Maintenance
When Task is Assigned	At time of asset failure	Scheduled prior to asset failure
Cost	Medium to High	Low
Savings	None, often adds to expenses	20% or more per year
Resource Deployment	At time of asset failure	Prior to asset failure Orderly, cost effective Fits into schedule
Pros	Requires less initial investment Requires less planning	Decreases long-term costs Extends asset life Keeps maintenance teams productive Maximizes asset uptime Reduces stress
Cons	Increases long-term costs Interrupts production schedule Schedules maintenance staff inefficiently Increases maintenance staff stress	Requires higher initial investment Requires more planning
Example	Repairing a large-scale printer after the motor burns out	Cleaning ink off the parts and lubricating the printer motor before failure

The recommended balance for maintenance is 80% preventive to 20% corrective. While you want to lean toward preventive maintenance whenever possible, corrective maintenance is still important and will never be eliminated completely. A cost-benefits analysis on all of your assets may help to support the case for scheduled corrective maintenance.

As we mentioned earlier, some corrective maintenance is unexpected and unavoidable, but you should still approach these sudden repair jobs in an organized, systematic way. Ideally, you want to use PM to extend the lifespan of all your assets, but you need to prioritize when you’re just starting out. Begin with the assets that are essential to production.

Ultimately, making decisions about when to use preventive or corrective maintenance depends on your industry, organizational goals, and types of equipment you maintain. However, a CMMS can help to make those decisions easier.

FTMaintenance Helps with Corrective and Preventive Maintenance

FTMaintenance is a CMMS with features such as preventive maintenance task lists, automated work order notifications, and auto-distribution. This powerful software helps organizations take control of their maintenance operations, fostering a shift from an emphasis on reactionary corrective maintenance to more planned preventive maintenance. As a result, more breakdowns are prevented, major repairs and unplanned shutdowns are reduced, and asset life expectancy is increased. Take a tour to learn more about FTMaintenance.

CMMS Cost Justification: Making a Case for CMMS

Posted: 9/11/2019

A middle-aged maintenance worker supervises two younger technicians as they repair a winch motor with a wrench.

As a maintenance manager on the front lines every day, the need for a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is obvious to you. Maintenance software enables your team to become more organized, decreases asset downtime, and increases productivity all while lowering maintenance costs!

But even if you’re confident that a CMMS will have a positive impact, there is still a big challenge to overcome – justifying the cost of a CMMS to upper management and convincing them to pay for it. This conversation can be intimidating, and understandably so.

Before approaching upper management about purchasing a CMMS, it is important to first understand things from their point of view. Putting yourself in their shoes helps you create a well-thought-out argument that the benefits of CMMS will justify their investment.

Maintenance: A Necessary Evil?

Upper management often views maintenance operations as a “necessary evil” whose costs must be minimized, so they are hesitant to invest additional funds into the department. Reinforcing this view is the reality that maintenance expenditures can often be cut or delayed without any immediate negative effects.

Maintenance staff, however, realizes that delaying or avoiding maintenance work will likely result in greater and more costly asset failures in the future. Likewise, a lack of investment in technology, like a good CMMS, will prevent the organization from achieving long-term efficiencies and cost savings.

As you can see, the goals of upper management and maintenance department staff can be quite different. Cost savings like the ones listed are more visible to upper management, but you know that there is more going on than meets the eye. In order to get the funding you need, your goal as the person asking for funding is to help change the perception of maintenance from a cost center to a value creator. This is no easy task, but it can certainly be achieved.

Appealing to Upper Management

Middle-aged business man wearing a white hard hat smiling while standing in a warehouse representing upper management to whom you may need to justify the cost of cmms software.

The goals of upper management and maintenance managers must be aligned to justify the cost of a CMMS.

Justifying CMMS software costs requires a proposal that aligns with the broader goals of the organization. Upper management will naturally view a proposal for CMMS from a financial perspective. Therefore, you will want to show upper management that an investment in CMMS software will have a measureable, positive impact on your organization’s profit. This is typically achieved by either increasing revenues with improved production uptime or by minimizing costs with reduced maintenance inventory and labor costs.

Making a Case for CMMS

Quantify the Benefits

In order to make the strongest case for the purchase of a CMMS to upper management, a proposal will need to quantify (put into numbers) the benefits of the CMMS. To do so, you must make estimations about your current maintenance operations and identify how the CMMS will help you make improvements. For example:

How long does it take to find equipment documentation?
Do you know when assets are due for maintenance?
How much time is spent trying to locate parts in the stockroom?
How many hours of overtime do employees currently work?
What is the cost of lost production when important assets break down?

Identify Areas of Cost Savings

After answering these questions, determine how the software might help improve the numbers. CMMS software vendors can provide you with information about how their features address these key areas. For example, a CMMS can store documents electronically for quick access, reducing the time it takes to locate manuals and troubleshooting guides. Automatic notifications alert the maintenance team when preventive maintenance is upcoming or due. Maintenance reports allow maintenance managers to monitor asset health. Make a list of the areas of cost savings with estimates of savings for each.

Look to the Future

The CMMS cost justification discussion shouldn’t just focus on the present – upper management will want to see the bigger picture as well. Therefore, consider how the savings achieved by the CMMS will impact the maintenance team or other areas of the business. Perhaps the newly available funds will allow for additional personnel or justify other purchases. Upper management may also decide to reallocate funds into research and development, purchase new equipment, update facilities, or schedule much needed training.

Estimate the Return on Investment (ROI)

Ultimately, upper management is most interested in the return on their investment (ROI) and payback period. An estimate of CMMS ROI and of payback time is most easily consumed by upper management, and if well-supported by your proposal, would most effectively lead to a purchase approval. With today’s low-cost Software as a Service (SaaS) subscriptions, the payback period can be as short as a few months.

Justifying the purchase of a CMMS has its challenges, but is definitely worthwhile. According to industry sources, a CMMS can help organizations save 10-15% on maintenance costs annually. While following the advice provided in this article doesn’t guarantee a “yes” from upper management, it should give you a starting point from which to build your case.

Invest in FTMaintenance

Justifying an investment in FTMaintenance is easy. FTMaintenance is a feature-rich, easy-to-use solution that is designed to help your organization increase profits by lowering maintenance costs. Complimentary CMMS implementation services and ongoing customer support empowers maintenance professionals to start improving their operations from day one. Request a demo to see how FTMaintenance can improve your maintenance operations.

What is Asset Management in Maintenance? | All About Equipment Asset Management

Posted: 9/9/2019

Your assets are the centerpiece of your organization. In today’s economic environment, there is no room for downtime, losses in production, or poor quality. Though maintenance teams are recognized for their ability to keep assets running, businesses try to squeeze as much value out of their assets as possible. Therefore, organizations must practice asset management.

What is Asset Management?

Asset lifecycle in asset management: planning, acquisition, operation, maintenance, decommission.

Asset Lifecycle Process

In the finance industry, asset management is related to managing investments. When related to an industrial environment, asset management is the process of maximizing the value an asset provides to an organization throughout its entire lifecycle, in the most cost-effective manner. For this asset management definition, “assets” includes any physical items such as equipment, buildings, vehicles, tools, and property.

Asset Management vs. Maintenance Management

Based on the asset management definition provided, you may have noticed that it sounds very similar to maintenance management. You’re not alone in this observation. Many people use the two terms interchangeably, though they are indeed different.

Since there are many parts of an asset’s lifecycle, asset management involves contribution from multiple departments, such as asset planning, engineering, production, maintenance, and accounting. These groups work together to assess and manage an asset’s cost, value, risk, and performance. Depending on the organization, a single department may be responsible for many of these functions.

Our article, What is Maintenance Management? states that maintenance management focuses on the performance of maintenance activities and the coordination of maintenance resources including parts, labor, and budget. In the graphic above, you can see that maintenance – and therefore maintenance management – is only one piece of the asset management “puzzle.” The following section breaks down asset management into its basic components.

Components of Asset Management

The six main components of asset management are: identification, location, condition, specification, maintenance, and cost.

Identification

The purpose of asset identification is to know exactly what assets an organization is responsible for managing. While this sounds like common sense, in practice it can be more difficult than one might assume. Organizations may operate multiple buildings in a single location or worldwide, containing hundreds or even thousands of individual assets. A production line functions as a single integrated system, but is typically composed of multiple assets working together. Each of these assets is made up of several subassemblies, which can be further broken down into individual parts.

Given its complexity, companies must find an effective way to organize and store this information. Commonly, an asset registry (listing of assets), an asset hierarchy (nested listing of assets), and/or bills of materials are used.

Organizational chart showing how facilities, assets, subassemblies, and parts are organized as part of asset management

Asset Hierarchy Example

Recommended Reading: What is an Asset Naming Convention?

Location

It’s not enough to know what assets you have – you must also know where your assets are located. Organizations that work with mobile assets like vehicles, onsite assets, or assets spread across multiple geographic regions should know where their assets are at all times. Graphic information system (GIS) mapping and global positioning system (GPS) technology help maintenance teams easily locate assets and plan future work with location in mind.

Condition

Knowing the condition of an asset is necessary for maintenance and decommission planning. Condition information is obtained through visual inspections or through direct monitoring with dedicated sensors. Additionally, SCADA systems or similar monitoring systems can help you track asset performance. Asset failure can be reported to the maintenance team via a maintenance request system.

Specification

An important component of managing assets is understanding an asset’s design and specification. The specification provides the boundaries for operating assets at maximum efficiency. Asset specification also drives maintenance procedures and ensures proper part replacement and repair. When unexpected breakdowns occur, knowing how assets should perform helps maintenance personnel better identify the cause of failures and return assets to service within its acceptable range for operation.

Maintenance

Once assets are identified and their locations, conditions, and specifications are known, a basic maintenance care plan can be created. Depending on an asset’s current condition, importance, and risk of failure, different maintenance strategies may be employed.

For example, corrective maintenance may be used on production assets that run infrequently and will be relatively inexpensive to fix in case of failure. On the other hand, highly critical assets – such as those that run constantly and whose failure would result in thousands of dollars in lost production – will benefit from comprehensive preventive maintenance.

Given the complexity of managing maintenance plans on hundreds to thousands of assets, organizations invest in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). As part of a complete asset management strategy, you can use a CMMS to plan, schedule, and execute maintenance activities that keep assets running. Additionally, CMMS tracks asset service history, including the labor resources, materials, and budget used to complete maintenance activities.

Cost

As stated in our definition, the asset management maximizes an asset’s useful life at minimal cost. As they age, assets become more costly to operate and maintain. Therefore, organizations must be able to monitor actual asset performance and identify areas of cost savings. Generally speaking, regular maintenance is cheaper than replacement.

Maintenance costs include how much maintenance is done, what tasks are performed, and what resources (i.e., labor and parts) are utilized. However, all assets will inevitably reach a point where they become more costly to maintain than to replace outright. In this case, it may be better to replace an expensive asset with a more efficient solution.

A CMMS helps you monitor asset management key performance indicators (KPIs) through maintenance reports. Maintenance management personnel can track performance metrics such as downtime, mean time to repair (MTTR), and mean time between failures (MTBF). Additionally, a CMMS makes it easy to track job completion, determine the percentage of corrective maintenance versus preventive maintenance, keep an eye on the backlog, and much more.

Manage Your Assets with FTMaintenance

Maintenance management is necessary for effective asset management, especially in asset-intensive industries such as oil and gas, power and energy, and water and wastewater. Because of its impact on the organization, there must be a system in place for tracking and managing vital asset information.

FTMaintenance computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) stores all of your asset information in one place, allowing you quickly find what you need. Combined with other maintenance management features, you’ll be able to create detailed maintenance plans and make data-driven decisions about the management of your assets. Learn more about the capabilities of FTMaintenance asset management software.