Author: Ethan Wilke

Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) inventory spending accounts for a significant portion of an organization’s maintenance budget – in some cases as much as 45%! To minimize MRO inventory costs, organizations must understand what is happening to stock that is currently on hand. This article provides an overview of inventory control and its relationship to MRO inventory management.

What is MRO Inventory Control?

MRO inventory control, sometimes called stock control, can be defined as the process of tracking and regulating the level of MRO inventory within an organization, from the time it is received to the time it is consumed by maintenance work. It involves knowing what inventory items are available, how many are in stock, where they are located, and their condition (when applicable).

Why MRO Inventory Control is Important

Proper inventory control helps maintenance organizations in 4 key areas.

Inventory Accuracy

Through inventory control, maintenance organizations gain an accurate picture of how many units of an inventory item are in stock. Knowing these quantities helps identify which items are over or under stocked, thereby affecting replenishment decisions.

Maintaining accurate inventory levels also improve the maintenance planning process. When working from accurate stock counts, maintenance planners can schedule maintenance activities according to what parts are currently available or defer maintenance, if necessary.

Productivity

Poor inventory control affects the production of finished goods or the delivery of services. If parts needed for a repair are out of stock, organizations incur unnecessary downtime costs related to asset downtime and idling employees.

In addition, tracking the location of inventory items, along with their quantities, ensures maintenance technicians spend less time searching for parts and more time performing maintenance work.

Procurement and Reordering

Inventory tracked through inventory control activities provides valuable information for making purchase decisions. Continuously counted MRO items reveal an item’s usage and inventory turnover rates, which is used to determine ideal stocking levels. From this, organization’s can set an appropriate reorder point and avoid over or under ordering.

Held Inventory Costs

When done correctly, MRO inventory control helps reduce the amount of money tied up in inventory by allowing organizations to operate on the least amount of inventory that is sufficient to meet maintenance needs. Strict inventory control reduces the number of obsolete items held in inventory, reduces over or under ordering, and minimizes the need for costly expedited shipping if stockouts occur.

Reducing the total cost of inventory keeps the maintenance budget in check, frees up money for other projects, and maximizes an organization’s profitability.

Components of Inventory Control

MRO inventory control involves knowing what items are carried in inventory, their quantities, their location(s), and conditions.

Tracking Inventory Items and Their Quantities

In order to control inventory, organizations need to know what items are in stock and their quantities. There are multiple ways in which organizations audit their stocked inventory:

One way is to utilize cycle counting, where small portions of inventory are counted at a time. Compared to a full physical inventory count, which requires significant manual labor and temporary suspension of inventory activity, cycle counting is less disruptive, requires less labor, and can be performed any time.

Another way to identify and count inventory items is to use an inventory tracking system that stores inventory records and automatically updates stock levels as parts are consumed. Though this approach is more timely and accurate, data entry errors and unaccounted for transactions can lead to inaccuracies from time to time. To remedy these issues, organizations perform occasional physical counts to validate inventory accuracy and implement a barcode system to reduce data entry errors.

Further Reading: What is a Barcode System?

During the identification and counting process, organizations may also identify obsolete inventory which can be scrapped, sold, or otherwise disposed of. Doing so reduces clutter and frees up space for storing necessary inventory items.

Tracking Inventory Item Locations

The inventory control process includes tracking where all inventory items are located. Depending on the size of the organization, inventory items may be stored in one or many locations.

For example, there may a single stockroom, or there may be multiple stockrooms within a facility. Within each storage location are a number of aisles, racks, shelves, and bins. Further, inventory may be kept in other storage locations including cabinets, shelves, carts, vending machines, and cribs.

Location data can also impact how to organize the maintenance storeroom. In an effort to make it easy for maintenance staff to locate parts, inventory items may be organized by type or by the asset(s) on which they are used. Other aspects of an inventory item, such as its weight or size, may dictate the storage solution.

When an inventory item’s location and quantities are known, organizations are better able to assemble kits, repack items into smaller or larger units, and move groups of items from one storage location to another.

Tracking Inventory Item Movement

In addition to tracking MRO inventory items’ stocking locations, the inventory control process also tracks changes in location. For example, it is common for technicians to maintain a “personal” stock of MRO items in a rolling cart, tool chest, or vehicle. If this stock goes unaccounted for, inventory accuracy suffers and leads to increased inventory costs.

Tracking inventory item movement is also important when it comes to tools. Technicians must know whether the tools are available before maintenance work can begin and “check out” tools from a central tool crib (or other storage location).

In either case mentioned above, thorough inventory control tracks where items are currently located and who is in possession of them.

At times, inventory items are moved from one storage location to another. For example, an organization may decide to move a quantity of filters from the main stockroom to another storage location to reduce employee travel time. The organization should track the new location of the filters and the quantity stored there in the inventory management system.

Tracking Inventory Item Condition

Just because inventory items are in stock does not necessarily mean they are fit for maintenance, repair, or operations. The condition of the location in which inventory is stored impacts the integrity of the items stored there. For example, humidity causes moisture to collect on the surface of parts, leading to corrosion and degradation. Damaged parts do not perform to specification, potentially causing more harm than good.

Inventory Control vs. Inventory Management

By now, you may notice some similarities between inventory control and inventory management, and that is true. Both functions involve tracking and managing stock, though there are some key differences.

Earlier in the MRO inventory control definition, it was established that inventory control tracks and regulates inventory that is currently in the facility. In our article What is MRO Inventory Management?, inventory management is defined as “the process of procuring, storing, using, and replenishing the materials and supplies used for maintaining assets at the lowest possible cost.”

As you can see, the scope of inventory control is smaller than that of inventory management. Inventory control is most related to the storage aspect of inventory management, and ignores purchasing and replenishment. It is concerned with stock that is already present in the facility.

By comparison, inventory management involves all aspects of inventory, from tracking item specifications, monitoring usage and forecasting demand, making strategic purchase decisions to replenish stock, and managing vendor relationships. It is concerned with what is currently in the facility, as well as from where and when new stock is ordered. Many inventory management decisions are informed by inventory control.

MRO Inventory Control Tools

Historically, inventory control has been managed with spreadsheets, printed paper files, and modules in accounting software. However, a better and more comprehensive way to manage and improve MRO inventory control – and inventory management – is computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.

A CMMS offers robust maintenance inventory management software capabilities, and allows organizations to maintain visibility of all inventory items across the facility. A centralized system provides real-time inventory data and quick identification of an inventory item’s location, quantity, specification, cost, and more.

In regards to ordering and replenishment, CMMS software offers many benefits over manual systems. CMMS software automatically updates inventory count as inventory is consumed by work orders. Through maintenance reports, organizations can use inventory data to set appropriate reorder points and be notified when it’s time to reorder stock. Some CMMS platforms include purchasing functionality, providing an end-to-end inventory management solution.

Control Inventory More Effectively with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select makes it easy to control your MRO inventory by allowing you to identify inventory items, track stock quantities, and track and manage inventory storage locations. Request a demo today to learn more about FTMaintenance Select.

Effective maintenance management relies on high-quality maintenance data. However, human error causes inaccurate data to be entered into computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software, compromising the usefulness of the information stored within it. Because of this, organizations often implement a barcode system to ensure accurate data entry and lookup. This article provides an overview of the many applications of barcodes in maintenance management.

Applications of Barcodes in Maintenance Management

Barcoding is a versatile technology that enhances many day-to-day maintenance management activities. The sections below describe common applications of barcodes in maintenance environments.

Asset Tagging

Asset tags are barcode labels that uniquely identify physical assets and are directly applied to asset exteriors for tracking purposes. In an ideal scenario, asset tags allow maintenance staff to walk up to an asset, scan the barcode, and perform some action using their CMMS. For example, the system might allow users to look up asset details, view maintenance records, or create a work order for the asset.

Asset tags are useful for organizations that have a large number of assets to maintain. Scanning barcodes reduces human error, ensuring technicians access and record accurate maintenance data for the specified asset.

Because asset tags are affixed to the asset, barcode labels must be able to withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, debris, and vibration without being compromised or lost. Incomplete or missing information invalidates the value of the barcodes. Organizations must choose the barcode printer and labeling materials that best suits their needs.

Read more: What is Asset Tagging?

Tool Tracking

Durable assets like tools are also commonly tracked via barcodes. This is because, unlike equipment assets which are largely stationary (except for vehicles), tools are mobile, shared among staff, and change location often. Barcoded tools allow the maintenance department to monitor exactly which tools are checked out, their current locations, and how many are available in inventory for use.

Tool movement is tracked through a check-in/check-out process using barcodes, similar to borrowing books from a library. When a tool is needed, technicians scan the barcode to check it out, reserving it for use. When the tool is returned, it is scanned back in to its storage location.

Read more: Mastering Tool Management with CMMS Software

MRO Inventory Management

Organizations typically stock hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands (or more) of MRO items within a stockroom. The sheer volume of unique inventory items makes it necessary to avoid misidentifying inventory items when completing work orders or replenishing the stockroom.

When applied to stockroom racks, shelves, and bins, barcode labels are useful for identifying the items stored there. This is useful for verifying parts pulled for maintenance work, adjusting part quantities when making kits, and performing physical inventory counts. Stockroom employees save time by scanning barcodes instead of manually typing numbers into the CMMS.

Alternatively, barcodes might exist in a master binder that lists all inventory items along with their corresponding barcodes. When the location of an inventory item is unknown, employees can look up its location in the CMMS by scanning the barcode information into a search field. The system then identifies the exact aisle, rack, shelf, and bin location of the item.

Read more: What is MRO Inventory Management?

Purchasing and Receiving

Barcodes are a useful tool when used with a CMMS’s purchasing and receiving functionality. When new inventory items arrive and need to be received, employees look up purchase order records by scanning a barcode on the physical PO form. From there, employees then update the status and quantities of incoming purchase order items. Having barcodes in place makes this process much faster and easier, especially when several items are received at once.

Organizations that track vendor item numbers are able to scan the barcode labels on incoming items and match it up with inventory records in the CMMS. Then, organizations are able to generate barcode labels that follow the organization’s internal numbering scheme for tracking and stocking purposes.

Barcoded Documents

CMMS software with barcode capability can generate barcoded paper documents, such as purchase orders and work orders. When these records need to be looked up and updated in the CMMS, all users need to do is click into a search field and scan the barcode. This is a huge timesaver when many items are received at once, or when a batch of work orders is ready to be closed.

CMMS Ease of Use

Depending on the CMMS, barcodes can provide shortcuts to valuable information. For example, clicking through multiple screens takes much longer than scanning a barcode. After the system recognizes the asset (or document), it can take the user to the record details or present the user with a list of options for what to do next.

Even if scanning a barcode only reduces user interaction by one click, those clicks add up over time. After all, the less time a technician spends clicking around in the CMMS, the more time he can spend actually performing maintenance work.

Benefits of Barcoding Technology in Maintenance Management

The applications of barcodes span nearly every major facet of maintenance management. Fortunately, many CMMS software solutions include barcode technology, thereby making it easier to incorporate barcoding into your maintenance process. As this article demonstrates, there are many advantages to barcoding:

• Reduced Human Error: Barcode scanning allows information to be entered into a CMMS using a scanned code instead of manual entry, thereby preventing mistakes and improving the accuracy of maintenance data.
• Increased Productivity: Once fully implemented, a barcode system allows maintenance workers to quickly locate information or take additional action using the CMMS. Wireless scanners and mobile barcode scanning allow employees to stay productive.
• Better Decision-Making: When using accurate data, maintenance organizations are able to make smarter decisions about asset maintenance, inventory purchasing, maintenance schedules, and more. This leads to more efficient operations and lower maintenance costs.
• Improved Return on Investment (ROI): Over time, organizations will be able to grow into using more advanced features of their CMMS. Combining powerful CMMS software with a barcode system provides additional long-term value to the organization, increasing the CMMS ROI.
• Increased User Adoption: Employees are more likely to adopt a system that is easy to use. Barcode scanning provides an easy data entry method for employees of all computer skill levels.

Improve Your Maintenance Operations with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select barcode capability allows for comprehensive management of your assets and inventory, and integrates seamlessly into your maintenance work order management processes. Contact us today to learn more about the FTMaintenance Select barcode system.

Maintenance tasks provide guidance for how technicians perform maintenance work. However, many organizations do not have dedicated maintenance planning resources available. Instead, task writing falls to others within the maintenance team or administrative staff members who do not necessarily have the expertise to write effective maintenance tasks. This article provides tips for writing effective maintenance tasks for seasoned veterans and inexperienced planners alike.

What is a Maintenance Task?

A maintenance task is a small, identifiable piece of work that indicates the action – or actions – one must take to complete a maintenance work order. Maintenance tasks typically include:

• A description of the work itself
• Instructions for completing the task
• A labor craft that describes the required set of skills
• The estimated time to complete the work

The Importance of Effective Maintenance Tasks

Many maintenance teams do primarily unplanned, corrective maintenance (CM) and scramble to “put out fires” while doing little-to-no preventive maintenance work. In such cases, maintenance tasks are seldom used – instead, technicians are sent directly to failed equipment to diagnose the problem and implement a solution. The specific set of tasks performed is documented after the fact, is usually incomplete, and is done through work order notes instead of through formal tasks.

As maintenance teams tire of the chaos caused by unplanned maintenance and transition towards a proactive maintenance strategy, there is a greater need for planned maintenance guided by detailed maintenance tasks. Instead of vague statements, such as “fix the motor”, maintenance tasks break down work into more manageable, “bite-sized” to-dos. For example, fixing the motor may be comprised of multiple tasks including powering down the motor, turning the shaft by hand to assess the bearings, and inspecting for shorts and opens.

Further, studies show that proper maintenance planning and scheduling can increase wrench time by as much as 65%.

How to Write an Effective Maintenance Task

The steps below describe how to write an effective maintenance task in the context of planned preventive maintenance, where tasks are most often used.

1. Identify the Maintenance Problem

The first step in writing an effective maintenance task is to identify the problem to be solved. For example, does the equipment need inspection or a part replaced

2. Identify the Required Action

After you identify the problem, determine what action is needed to resolve it. Effective maintenance tasks will start with verbs – words that make it easy to understand what “to do”.

Also determine whether the action is a single step or comprised of multiple steps. Single-step tasks make it easy for technicians to picture exactly what to do. For example, actions like “clean”, “remove”, and “verify” are fairly straightforward. Multi-step tasks, such as lockout/tagout, require additional explanation in the task’s details, or may be better if broken down into individual tasks.

3. Describe the Task

Once you’ve identified the required maintenance action, flesh out the details of exactly what technicians must do. The work order will already provide details such as which asset is in need of maintenance and by when the work is to be completed.

Task details describe how to do the work. The level of detail depends on the experience and ability of your team. Less experienced or newer technicians might require more detail, sometimes as granular as spelling out how many turns of the wrench are required to tighten a belt. For these cases, we encourage the use of pictures, graphics – even videos! Experienced, veteran technicians typically need less detail, and will know what procedures to follow.

4. Identify the Required Parts and Tools

Along with what work is needed, you should take time to identify what parts, tools, and other supplies (such as PPE)is required to perform the task. Work orders usually include parts and tools in their own respective sections, although they may be included in task details as well.

5. Determine Task Completion Time

Effective maintenance tasks include deadlines that make clear how long work is expected to take. Not only do time estimates keep technicians productive, they help schedulers determine how long work orders are expected to take and where the work fits into the maintenance schedule.

Many organizations simply estimate task completion time based on experience, maintenance history records, or estimations provided by equipment user manuals. Estimates for new tasks may be based on completion times for similar tasks or educated guesses. Advanced organizations that track maintenance employee performance may have real-world data from which to make task completion time estimations.

6. Review the Maintenance Task

After you’ve finished writing a maintenance task, take a break and come back to it later. Examining tasks with “fresh eyes” and a clear mind can help you notice any errors or shortcomings. It also pays off to mentally walk through the steps, making sure that the task is clearly written and requirements are realistic.

The review should also involve asking questions like:

• Do any technicians require any additional training to complete the task?
• Have all safety warnings and necessary precautions been identified and included in the task?
• Are the steps listed in the most logical order?

The answers to these questions provide guidance on any revisions that should be made.

Create a Task Library with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select is a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) that makes it easy for you to create and manage a library of maintenance tasks. Add tasks to reusable preventive maintenance (PM) work order templates or create one-time tasks for specific maintenance jobs. Request a demo to learn more about how to improve preventive maintenance with FTMaintenance Select.

People expect the places they live, work, and interact with to be safe, functional, and well maintained, but rarely think about what it takes to keep properties that way. While much property maintenance work goes unseen, its impact is felt by everyone – from owners and property managers to tenants and guests. This article shines a light on the essential role of property maintenance in preserving real estate value and ensuring a positive experience for all who depend on well-kept properties.

What is Property Maintenance?

Property maintenance is a set of ongoing tasks and actions taken to keep properties – including buildings and their immediate surroundings – functional, safe, and in working condition. It involves maintenance activities that preserve the long-term value of the property for owners and managers, provide a comfortable and safe environment for occupants, and help attract future tenants. The term is most commonly used in reference to residential real estate and hospitality properties, where buildings and grounds are maintained for the benefit of occupants, tenants, and guests.

Building Maintenance vs. Property Maintenance

While often used interchangeably, building maintenance and property maintenance differ in scope. Building maintenance refers specifically to maintaining the physical structure itself – walls, roofs, electrical systems and plumbing – and not the land it sits on. Property maintenance includes both the building and its external features, including land, parking lots, walkways, landscaping, and other outdoor amenities.

Facility Maintenance vs. Property Maintenance

Facility maintenance is similar to property maintenance but differs in how the building is used and by whom. Facility maintenance typically refers to commercial, industrial, or institutional buildings where an owner or organization occupies and operates within the facility – and is therefore responsible for its upkeep. In contrast, property maintenance generally applies to tenant-occupied spaces, where maintenance is often handled by property management teams or third party service providers.

Why is Property Maintenance Important?

Property maintenance is a critical part of real estate and property management, benefitting everyone who interacts with a property. Below are the main objectives of property maintenance.

Maintain Habitable Living Environments

Tenants and residents have the right to live in a space that’s safe, functional, and well-maintained. This includes reliable heat, running water, working electrical systems, and a property home free from major hazards. It isn’t just best practice – in many places it’s the law.

For instance, Wisconsin state law requires landlords to keep rental homes in livable condition. This includes making necessary repairs, maintaining building systems, and ensuring the property complies with all local building and housing codes. In federally subsidized housing, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) enforces similar standards known as the Housing Quality Standards (HQS).

Provide Safety and Comfort

While habitability laws set the bare minimum, good property maintenance goes beyond what is required. Property owners and managers also contribute to tenant safety, comfort, and satisfaction by maintaining clean common areas, responding quickly to maintenance requests, and keeping exteriors well-maintained and attractive. This not only keeps current tenants and guests happy, but also attracts future renters and builds a positive reputation.

Protect Long-Term Property Value

Property managers want to ensure profitability, either through rental income or resale. Property maintenance ensures buildings, grounds, and amenities are kept in good condition, which helps preserve property value or justify competitive rental rates. Performing regular maintenance reduces operating costs by extending building and equipment life, preventing unexpected breakdowns, and delaying the need for major renovations.

Reduce Liabilities

Proactively addressing property maintenance helps reduce the risk of legal action, financial loss, and reputational harm. Property owners and managers can be held liable for tenant injuries caused by poorly maintained infrastructure, inadequate security, and uninhabitable living conditions. They may also face fines and penalties for violating building, health, and safety codes, and risk having insurance claims denied if property damage results from neglect.

Common Types of Property Maintenance

Property maintenance consists of both proactive and reactive maintenance strategies, each serving different purposes for keeping properties safe and habitable.

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is a proactive strategy used to reduce the likelihood of failures before they happen. It typically includes inspections, replacing worn out parts, testing equipment, and addressing minor issues before they become more serious. Maintenance teams usually schedule tasks on time-based intervals, manufacturer recommendations, and equipment usage.

Corrective Maintenance

Corrective maintenance is a reactive approach performed in response to problems after they have occurred. The goal is to restore assets to working condition as quickly as possible. Property maintenance teams typically learn about these issues through maintenance requests submitted by tenants or staff. Common examples include plumbing issues, electrical failures, broken appliances, and malfunctioning HVAC systems.

Learn more about FTMaintenance Select Maintenance Request Software

Protective Maintenance

Protective maintenance is a subset of preventive maintenance that focuses on shielding exterior surfaces and outdoor equipment from environmental wear and tear. It typically involves applying paints, sealants, and coatings to building exteriors to guard against weather damage, rust, and deterioration.  In property maintenance, this extends to outdoor features like patios, retaining walls, and fences, as well as protecting outdoor electrical equipment and other infrastructure through weatherproofing.

Condition-based Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance (CbM) is a proactive maintenance strategy in which maintenance tasks are triggered by an asset’s condition, rather than by strict calendar-based or time-based intervals. It typically arises from visual inspections, checklists, and routine evaluations. For example, periodic roof inspections might reveal early signs of water damage, missing shingles, clogged gutters, or other issues that can be addressed before they get worse.

Capital Improvements

While maintenance teams may not lead capital improvements, they often play a valuable supporting role. During the asset planning phase, they can provide insight about the reliability of existing assets, recurring maintenance challenges, and suggest upgrades that could reduce long-term maintenance costs.

Depending on the size and structure of the organization, maintenance teams may assist with or even carry out certain improvements, like replacing air handling units, renovating common areas, or painting. They may also work alongside contractors by preparing work areas and ensuring the safety of both workers and tenants during the project.

After upgrades are complete, the maintenance team is responsible for tracking the new assets and performing ongoing maintenance and repairs.

Learn more about asset lifecycle management.

Areas of Property Maintenance

Property maintenance covers more than just buildings – it includes all the systems, structures, and other spaces that keep a property functional, safe, and visually appealing. To understand the full scope of property maintenance, it can be broken down into three main categories: building systems, structures, and grounds.

Building Systems

Building systems are the “hidden” components that make up a property. They are interconnected systems that ensure a property’s functionality and safety. Major building systems include:

• Electrical systems: indoor/outdoor lighting, safety systems, and backup power generators
• Plumbing systems: toilets, sinks, hot water heaters, storm drainage, fire suppression, and irrigation. In hospitality settings, this may also include commercial kitchen plumbing and grease traps
• Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC): air handling equipment and climate control units
• Wastewater and water treatment: sewage, stormwater management, and filtration systems
• Elevators and escalators

Structures

Beyond internal systems, property maintenance also extends to the spaces where people live, gather, and use, along with the physical building itself. This includes:

• Interior maintenance: cleaning, trash removal, repainting, and repairing walls, flooring, windows, and fixtures
• Exterior maintenance: siding, roofing, sidewalks, foundations, exterior lighting, and signage
• Other structures: garages, clubhouses, pools, locker rooms, storage sheds, fences, gates, and outdoor stairways
• Back-of-house areas: laundry facilities, kitchens, staff rest areas, storage facilities

Grounds

Aside from building maintenance, property maintenance also focuses on keeping the surrounding land safe, attractive, and usable. Grounds maintenance may include:

• Landscaping: mowing, weeding, seasonal planting and seasonal cleanup, pest control
• Pavement care: resurfacing, sealcoating, pothole repair, lighting, and snow and ice removal
• Perimeter elements: fences, gates, and exterior signage
• Outdoor amenities: playgrounds, water parks, sports courts, walking paths, dog parks, and even golf courses, where applicable

Who is Responsible for Property Maintenance?

Property maintenance is a shared responsibility among several roles, each contributing in different ways based on their relationship to the property.

Owners

As the legal titleholder, the owner holds ultimate responsibility for ensuring a property is well-maintained and compliant. Owners typically hire property management companies or maintenance service providers to handle day-to-day maintenance operations. While not involved in daily tasks, owners retain control by approving maintenance budgets, setting spending limits, and authorizing major repairs and capital improvements.

Property Managers

Property managers are hired by owners to oversee day-to-day property maintenance while working within an approved budget. These responsibilities include responding to tenant maintenance requests, scheduling routine maintenance and inspections, and coordinating repairs with contractors. They also ensure tenants fulfill their maintenance-related responsibilities under the lease agreement.

Maintenance Technicians

Maintenance technicians perform maintenance and repairs according to the needs of the property and as assigned by the property manager. Tasks range from completing service requests to preventive maintenance activities such as performing inspections and replacing worn parts. Their work requires technical expertise in plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and other core building systems.

Janitorial Staff

Depending on the organization, janitorial staff may help support property maintenance by handling routine cleaning and sanitation tasks. Their responsibilities often include trash removal, vacuuming, surface cleaning, disinfecting shared spaces, and occasionally cleaning up biohazards like bodily fluids. By handling these essential day-to-day responsibilities, janitorial workers allow the maintenance team to focus on more technical repairs and maintenance issues.

Tenants

Tenants are responsible for minor repairs and upkeep, outlined in their lease. This may include tasks such as changing light bulbs, keeping units safe and sanitary, and in certain instances, controlling pests. Renters may also be responsible for lawn care and snow and ice removal, depending on the type of property and lease details.

Contractors

Owners or managers bring in contractors for large-scale projects or highly-technical tasks that exceed the capability or manpower of the in-house team. They are called in to perform specialized tasks such as landscaping, elevator repair, or other tasks where having a full-time professional on staff wouldn’t be practical.

Property Maintenance Standards

Property maintenance standards provide guidance and requirements to help property owners and managers maintain safe, sanitary, and livable properties. Whether voluntary or mandated by law, following these standards supports tenant well-being and regulatory compliance.

One of the most widely recognized sets of standards is the International Property Maintenance Codes (IPMC), published by the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC outlines the IPMC’s minimum requirements for maintenance of existing buildings.

In addition to IPMC, property maintenance must also comply with a variety of other codes and standards, including:

• Local housing codes developed by individual cities, counties, and states
• Building codes such as the ICC International Building Code (IBC)
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes including:
  • NFPA 101 life safety code
  • NFPA 70B electrical maintenance program codes
  • NFPA 70E electrical safety codes
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace safety regulations
• Housing Quality Standards (HQS) issued by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• ASHRAE standard 180, covering HVAC inspection and maintenance, published by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)

Property Maintenance Software

Property maintenance operations account for a significant portion of a property’s operating expenses. Given its impact on property value, tenant satisfaction, and potential liability, property maintenance deserves a tool dedicated to manage day-to-day maintenance operations. That’s why many property managers choose to track maintenance activities in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Though many property management solutions include basic work order management functionality, they often lack the depth and functionality needed to support properties with complex maintenance needs. Below are several ways a CMMS enables more effective property maintenance.

Maintenance Request Management

CMMS software provides tenants with access to an online portal to submit maintenance requests directly to the maintenance team. From the CMMS, property managers can review, prioritize, and assign maintenance tasks based on urgency. Features such as automatic notifications and status updates keep tenants in the loop about their requests, leading to higher satisfaction rates.

Learn more about FTMaintenance Select Maintenance Request Software

Asset and Equipment Management

Asset tracking features allow property maintenance managers to store detailed records about buildings, equipment, and other assets in a centralized system, providing a bird’s-eye view of all of your owned assets – and the relationships between them – making it easier to identify what assets you have, where they are located, service histories, and any upcoming maintenance needs.

Vendor Management

A CMMS helps manage the relationship with third-party service providers and parts suppliers. With vendor information stored in one place, maintenance teams can quickly coordinate repairs, source materials, and identify alternative vendors when needed.

Technician Skills and Credentials

In addition to tracking buildings and equipment, a CMMS can store important information about maintenance personnel, including their licenses, certifications, and other qualifications. This ensures work is assigned to technicians with the appropriate experience and credentials.

KPI Dashboards and Reports

Maintenance analytics give you insight into the overall performance and health of your maintenance operation. Using data-rich dashboards and reports, you can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) related to request response times, maintenance costs, and technician productivity – often broken down by building or location.

Mobile Accessibility

Mobile accessibility is an especially valuable feature for property maintenance teams that work across large or multi-building properties. A mobile CMMS solution allows technicians to access your maintenance data from anywhere on your property. They can create and close work orders, review asset maintenance history for troubleshooting, and record preventive maintenance tasks all without returning to a desktop or office.

Protect Your Property Value with FTMaintenance Select

Property maintenance is more than routine upkeep – it’s a proactive strategy that preserves property value, ensures tenant satisfaction, and mitigates risk. From responding to tenant requests to protecting your property investments, effective maintenance plays a central role in real estate success.

FTMaintenance Select is a powerful CMMS solution designed to support the complex needs of property maintenance teams. Whether you’re managing a single rental or a wide portfolio of assets, FTMaintenance Select helps you streamline work orders, manage assets, track vendor activity, and make smarter, data-driven decisions. Request a demo today to see how FTMaintenance Select can support your property maintenance goals.

In addition to their standard maintenance work, maintenance teams must also address service requests from other departments, tenants, or customers. Your ability to properly manage service requests impacts your team’s efficiency and other’s satisfaction with the maintenance team. To improve your level of customer service, consider the following service request management best practices.

Why Following Service Request Management Best Practices is Important

It’s fairly common for maintenance service requests to be communicated through phone calls, hand written notes, emails, or text messages. This type of service request management is disorganized, inefficient, and makes it easy for requests to be ignored or forgotten.

Comparing your service request management practices against best practices helps you identify shortcomings and areas for improvement. While the best practices listed in this article may not apply to every organization or industry, they are intended to help guide the continuous improvement of your maintenance management process.

Service Request Management Best Practices

Below are multiple ways you can improve your service request management process.

Implement Service Request Management Software

As you may have already experienced, trying to manage service requests without a formal system in place is challenging, if not impossible. Service request management software provides a single system for submitting and managing service requests, benefitting both requesters and administrators alike. Maintenance teams commonly use the service request management features of computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software to manage requests.

For requesters, a CMMS provides a direct line of communication with the maintenance team. Requesters submit requests using a simple online form accessed from a web browser or mobile app. Some systems allow requesters to log in to check the status of their requests. Automatic notifications can also be configured to communicate a request’s status to requesters as it changes.

For the maintenance team, CMMS software creates a single channel for receiving service requests, reducing the amount of phone calls, emails, and other interruptions. The request form can be customized to capture the exact information needed to evaluate and prioritize the requested work, reducing the amount of back and forth between the maintenance team and requesters.

By managing service requests within a CMMS along with other maintenance data, you can make better decisions about fulfilling requests including how the work fits in with the rest of the maintenance schedule and who should perform the work. You can also use asset data to see the last time maintenance was performed on the asset, what was done, and decide whether changes are needed to the asset maintenance strategy.

Make Request Submission Easy

Provide requesters with an easy way to submit service requests to the maintenance team. We’ve already discussed using a CMMS for this purpose, but other methods may include using a standalone web form, PDF, or even paper form.

No matter the format, requesters should be able to easily complete the form with ease while also providing you with enough information needed to address the request. This can mean reducing the amount of information the requester has to provide. Some organizations only care to capture contact information and a description of the problem, for instance. Service request management software can automate some data entry based on information such as who is logged in and their location.

Automate Service Request Notifications

Communication is not a strength of many maintenance teams, especially when it comes to following up with requesters. People who need maintenance assistance want their request to be acknowledged and to know how close their request is to being completed. CMMS software automatically sends status update notifications to requesters, providing such transparency. Maintaining good communication builds trust between the maintenance department and requesters.

Notifications are useful for the maintenance team as well. Service request notifications can notify administrators when new service requests have been received, reviewed and approved, or rejected. Many systems automatically route the request to the appropriate administrator based on the asset or location identified in the request. Notifications also alert technicians when they are assigned to service requests (or work orders generated from service requests).

Prioritize Service Requests

Responding to service requests in the order in which they are received is not an effective use of maintenance resources. Managing requests on a “first come, first served” basis causes the maintenance team to focus on minor tasks when more urgent needs exist. Instead, prioritize requests based on their severity. Common priority levels include: emergency, high, medium, and low. Your organization should decide the requirements for each level.

Another way to prioritize requests is by the type of requester. Depending on your industry, you may treat requests from tenants, employees, or customers differently. Similarly, the type of asset may determine a request’s priority. For example, repairing production equipment takes precedence over an HVAC filter change.

Regularly Review Common Service Requests

Reviewing historical service requests in a CMMS makes it possible to look for patterns in what maintenance issues come up again and again. If the same issues arise multiple times, there is an opportunity to reduce them through increased preventive maintenance (PM). Having service request and preventive maintenance data together in a CMMS makes it easy to adjust the maintenance schedule to your needs.

Track Service Request Management KPIs

Maintenance management reports allow you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to your service request management process. Each organization may track different metrics related to their service requests. Examples of common service request KPIs are listed below:

• Average service request response time
• Number of service requests in the backlog (i.e., the number of open requests)
• Customer satisfaction rating
• Total number of completed service requests
• Percentage of service requests completed on time

Stay on Top of Service Requests with FTMaintenance Select

Service requests bring visibility to maintenance needs throughout the organization. Without an effective service request management system, it’s easy for requested maintenance work to fall by the wayside. FTMaintenance Select provides a powerful service request management platform for creating, managing, and fulfilling service requests. Schedule a demo to learn more.

The overarching goal of maintenance management is to minimize unexpected equipment failures in a cost-effective manner. Risk-based maintenance (RbM) is an approach that uses an asset’s risk of failure to allocate maintenance resources. This article provides an overview of risk-based maintenance.

What is Risk-based Maintenance?

Risk-based maintenance (RbM) is a maintenance methodology that uses risk assessment principles to optimize maintenance tasks and the allocation of resources. It involves systematically identifying an asset’s criticality, failure modes, and risk of failure to create a maintenance plan that minimizes the risk of failure.

Using a risk-based maintenance approach, maintenance efforts are redirected from assets with the lowest risk of failure to those assets with the greatest failure risk. High-risk assets vary by industry and organization. Examples include:

• Major systems (e.g., electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.) in buildings and facilities
• Vital production lines in manufacturing plants
• Heavy equipment used in infrastructure construction and maintenance
• Fleet vehicles used to transport goods

Why Risk-based Maintenance is Important

Unplanned downtime is a major cost for businesses. In fact, studies have found that unplanned downtime events cost as much as $250,000 per hour and reduce productivity by as much as 20%!

To minimize such losses, maintenance teams employ a variety of maintenance strategies and techniques, but are pressured to do so at a low cost. This prompts organizations to evolve their maintenance strategies beyond traditional corrective maintenance (CM), time-based maintenance (TbM), and preventive maintenance (PM).

Risk-based maintenance provides organizations with a systematic way to determine the type and frequency of maintenance each asset receives. Instead of wasting time and energy maintaining equipment that doesn’t need it (which can actually do more harm than good), organizations can allocate sufficient maintenance resources to assets whose failures have the most impact on the organization.

Other Ways to Improve Reliability

There are many ways that organizations can improve reliability while also lowering maintenance costs. Risk-based maintenance is just one such approach. Others include:

• Condition-based maintenance (CbM)
• Predictive maintenance (PdM)
• Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM)
• Total productive maintenance (TPM)
• Performing Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Is Risk-based Maintenance Right for Me?

A risk-based maintenance approach might be a fit for your organization if it:

• Relies on highly expensive equipment that is difficult to replace
• Manages a tight maintenance budget or limited maintenance resources
• Owns remote assets that make regular maintenance difficult due to travel requirements
• Runs mission critical equipment where there are no viable alternatives or substitutes
• Wants to improve return on investment (ROI) by optimizing its current maintenance plan

How to Implement Risk-Based Maintenance

Conducting a risk-based maintenance assessment is a systematic process, meaning that there is a generally accepted sequence of steps to follow. The two main parts of this process are: 1) performing a criticality analysis, and 2) performing a risk assessment.

Before we start, it is important to note that implementing risk-based maintenance is a technical process that involves getting input from a cross-functional team including operations, maintenance, engineering, safety, and others.

The following steps outline a simplified version of a risk-based maintenance methodology. Readers seeking a more robust, thorough explanation should refer to the ISO 31000 standard on risk management or the United States Department of Defense standard MIL-STD-1629A.

Step 1: Gather Maintenance Data

 In order to implement risk-based maintenance, you need to gather asset data such as:

• Identity (i.e., asset name and number)
• Acquisition cost
• Age
• Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) history
• Mean Time to Repair(MTTR) history
• Cost of unplanned downtime
• Frequency of maintenance

This information is readily available in most computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software. If you are not familiar with what a CMMS is, read our What is a CMMS? article or view our handy infographic.

Step 2: Determine Asset Criticality

Risk-based maintenance prioritizes maintenance work to critical assets. Criticality is a measure of an asset’s importance to the organization. Critical assets generally affect an organization broadly or represent a single point of critical failure. For example, a boiler is critical to the operations of a facility.

Organizations use a criticality analysis to evaluate the severity asset failure has on the organization. A common tool for performing a criticality analysis is a criticality matrix, like the one shown below. Failure events are ranked on the matrix by severity in multiple categories such as safety, production, and cost.

Since there are multiple ways an asset can fail, each carrying a different amount of risk, you need to set a baseline. Choose one failure event that you deem plausible to occur and that has the most severe consequences. Use the matrix to rate the failure on each category.

(Click to enlarge)

These ratings are used to generate an asset criticality rating (ACR). The ACR can be calculated by multiplying the ranking in each category together, adding the scores together, or simply taking the highest score in any category.  For example, suppose the severity of a failure is rated as follows:

• Safety = 2
• Environmental = 1
• Production = 3
• Equipment = 1
• Cost = 1

Therefore, the ACR would be:

• 6, if multiplying (2 x 1 x 3 x 1 x 1 = 6)
• 8, if adding (2 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 8)
• 3, if taking the highest categorical rating (Production, in this example)

Whichever way you choose, a higher score means the asset is more critical, relative to the others you’ve analyzed. Record this score, as it will be used in a later step.

Step 3: Determine the Likelihood of Failure

Once criticality is known, you determine the probability of failure. As with criticality, rate the likelihood of failure on a scale of 1 to 5 (or use a larger scale if you prefer). The example below uses a 5-point scale, where:

• 1 = Very unlikely to fail (Expected to fail less than once every 2 years, on average)
• 2 = Unlikely to fail (Expected to fail less than once per year, on average)
• 3 = Occasional failure (Expected to fail 1 – 2 times per year, on average)
• 4 = Likely to fail (Expected to fail more than twice per year, on average)
• 5 = Fails frequently (Expected to fail frequently)

Record this score.

Step 4: Calculate the Risk Priority Number

A risk priority number (RPN) is a numerical value that quantifies an asset’s risk of failure. It is calculated by multiplying the asset criticality rating by the probability of failure rating. More advanced calculations also factor in a detection rating, which quantifies the likelihood of detecting an imminent failure before it occurs. For our purposes, we will ignore detection.

The table below shows the calculated risk priority number for 3 different assets.

In this example, the severity of failure was determined by using the highest severity rating score in any given category from the criticality matrix shown earlier. The probability of failure follows the 5-point scale from the previous step.

Step 5: Analyze Your Findings

 Based on the RPN calculations above, we can draw the following conclusions:

• Asset 1 is the most likely to fail, but the consequences are relatively minor. It is possible that reliability issues are due to aging equipment or inadequate preventive maintenance, but further investigation is needed.
• Based on its RPN, Asset 2 carries the least amount of risk. However, while the probability is low, the severity is high. In this case, the failure is worth preventing.
• Asset 3 carries the most risk, according to its RPN. Failure happens on a regular basis and leads to relatively severe consequences. You should prioritize this asset.

Step 6: Prioritize Asset Failures

Risk priority numbers make it easy to compare the risks that failures pose, relative to one another – but which failures require action? One tool that can be used is a risk matrix, like the one shown below.

This grid shows all possible risk priority number scores using a 5-point scale, color-coded by risk level. Find where your severity and probability ratings intersect to determine the RPN and observe the color code.

In this grid, scores in green represent assets with the lowest amount of risk and of low priority. Yellow and orange scores represent assets that are low to medium risk and medium to high risk, respectively. A score in red indicates that asset failure carries high risk and should be a priority for the maintenance team to address.

While the matrix is a useful decision-making tool, it should not replace other evaluation. Recall the RPN for Asset 2 from earlier. Asset 2 has an RPN rating of 5 which, according to the matrix, makes it low priority. However, its severity is rated as a 5. Even if you do not expect this failure to occur, it is still worth trying to prevent, especially if it may cause fatal injuries, destroy the equipment, or create an environmental crisis.

Step 7: Create a Risk Mitigation Plan

Now that you’ve identified which asset failures pose the biggest threat to the organization, it’s time to create a maintenance plan to prevent future failures. The most common maintenance techniques are:

• Corrective maintenance (CM)
• Preventive maintenance (PM)
• Condition-based Maintenance (CbM)
• Predictive Maintenance (PdM)

When deciding which technique to use, consider the following questions:

• What maintenance resources do I currently have?
• What are the manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations?
• How old is the asset and what is its life expectancy?
• What is the cost to replace the asset?
• Is it cost-effective to prevent the failure?
• What is the risk of not preventing this failure?
• What other changes do I need to make to support this strategy?

Read also: Keeping Assets Healthy: A Complete Guide to 4 Types of Maintenance

Step 8: Continuously Improve

Optimizing your maintenance program following a risk-based approach is not a one-time event. You should update criticality and risk ratings as your key asset management metrics improve. After you address assets with the highest risk, you’ll be able to turn your focus to new assets and repeat the process over and over again. This process can also be used to prioritize specific failure events within the same asset group.

Risk-based Maintenance and CMMS

CMMS software enables you to easily collect, store, and track maintenance data required to perform a risk-based maintenance assessment.

In terms of criticality, a CMMS provides access to asset service history, work orders, and historical performance data which help you select assets for analysis. Downtime tracking and maintenance reports provide further insight into the effects of failure. CMMS software also provides useful asset data including:

• The number of failures an asset has experienced
• The amount of unplanned downtime attributed to an asset
• Key performance indicators such as Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), preventive maintenance effectiveness, and work order performance
• Asset maintenance costs

In terms of risk, or the probability of failure, a CMMS provides useful information including historical asset data and measures of reliability such as Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) calculations.

Lower the Impact of Asset Failure with FTMaintenance Select

Risk-based maintenance provides a structured process for allocating maintenance resources to the failures that most threaten your organization. FTMaintenance Select provides a powerful platform for planning, managing, and tracking your maintenance program, enabling you to make data-driven decisions that lower the risk and reduce the consequences of asset failure. Request a demo today to learn more about how to get started with FTMaintenance Select.

Businesses of every size rely on fleet vehicles to conduct business. Whether they’re large semi-trucks or boats that deliver goods, buses and taxis that transport people, or farming equipment that harvests crops, the condition of fleet vehicles greatly impacts the bottom line. Without the right technology in place, fleet maintenance is challenging. This article provides an overview of fleet maintenance management and how it is made easier with computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.

What is Fleet Maintenance Management?

Before launching into a discussion about fleet maintenance management, let’s first examine the broader scope of fleet management. Fleet management consists of actions taken to remove or minimize risks associated with fleet vehicle investment, improve efficiency and productivity, and reduce overall transportation costs. In general, any activity that relates to the value or use of vehicles can be considered fleet management. These activities include managing:

• Vehicle acquisition, sales, leasing and financing, and remarketing
• Maintenance and repair
• Fuel consumption and fuel costs
• Vehicle titles, licenses, and registration
• Electronic Logging Device (ELD) and Hours of Service (HOS) compliance
• Insurance and protection
• Driver safety and retention
• Fleet data collected through telematics systems
• Dispatching and route optimization

Fleet maintenance management is the process of maintaining and repairing vehicles in order to maximize availability, improve performance, and minimize costs. While the primary goal of fleet maintenance is to improve the effectiveness and safety of vehicles, it also has far-reaching effects in other aspects of fleet management. For example, well-maintained vehicles use fuel more efficiently, thereby reducing fuel consumption and costs.

Learn more about the benefits of using CMMS for fleet maintenance management

Importance of Fleet Maintenance Management

Today’s fleet management organizations face many challenges, including an increased focus on driver safety, the digitization of vehicles, fuel price volatility, and tightening regulatory requirements. Meeting these challenges requires

Keeping Drivers (and Others) Safe

A properly maintained vehicle is safer for drivers as well as others with whom they share the road. Drivers feel more comfortable and confident knowing their vehicle has been inspected and will work predictably (barring any unexpected events).

A well-thought-out fleet maintenance schedule reduces the likelihood of breakdowns and accidents. Many common causes of vehicle crashes, such as blown tires, can be prevented through proper fleet maintenance.

Fleet maintenance also helps organizations comply with regulatory requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation related to pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and air quality among other safety issues. These standards help ensure a safe and clean environment for current and future generations.

Lowering Operational Costs

When vehicles aren’t on the road, the organization isn’t making money. Vehicles that experience downtime due to unscheduled repairs, emergency service, or accidents cannot service the organization. This leads to the risk of late deliveries and tarnishes the reputation of the business. Frequent, unplanned maintenance issues also affect the longevity of vehicles, which may require them to be replaced sooner than expected.

Scheduled maintenance activities reduce operational costs by helping organizations avoid more costly repairs. Regular preventive maintenance (PM) is much easier to carry out, cheaper in the long run, and can help catch small issues before they evolve into more serious problems. Further, well-maintained vehicles will have a longer life span, spend more time on the road, and increase fuel economy.

In addition, vehicles that undergo regular maintenance have a better chance of getting good results and safety approvals following inspections and testing, shielding the organization from compliance issues.

Boosting Profitability

Any number of variables can affect the bottom line, but many of them lead back to the quality of fleet maintenance. Managing a fleet of reliable, well-looked-after vehicles helps you maximize productivity and profitability.

Organizations that deliver goods on time and dispatch service quickly, while keeping their employees and others safe, build better reputations and trust with their business partners and consumers. Maximal operations combined with lowered operational costs leads to higher profit overall.

What Industries Practice Fleet Maintenance Management?

Any organization that relies on vehicles to do business engages in some sort of fleet maintenance management. Examples include:

• Trucking companies
• Car rental services
• Construction companies
• Specialty vehicle and equipment contractors
• Farmers
• Home repair and maintenance service providers
• Government and public works
• Mining and natural resources harvesters

Fleet Maintenance Management Roles and Responsibilities

There are many stakeholders who contribute to successful fleet maintenance: fleet managers, drivers, and maintenance technicians/mechanics.

Fleet Managers

Among their many responsibilities, fleet managers are responsible for developing maintenance plans for fleet vehicles such as trucks, boats, and buses. Each type of vehicle requires unique maintenance tasks on specific schedules. The maintenance plan must also be flexible to account for maintenance needs discovered by drivers, through telematics systems, or through other planned maintenance activities.

Drivers

Because drivers spend most of their time in the vehicle, they are the most familiar with how it should function. They are best equipped to notify the fleet manager or maintenance team of any abnormalities, warnings, or signs of wear. Drivers also assist with identifying maintenance needs by performing frequent visual inspections and reporting any issues they discover. If not done automatically, drivers may record mileage for runtime-based preventive maintenance.

Maintenance Technicians/Mechanics

The most prominent role in fleet maintenance management is of course, the fleet mechanic or maintenance technician. People in this role are responsible for performing repairs and maintenance on fleet vehicles.

Mechanics may be internal or external to the organization. Larger organizations may benefit from having one or more dedicated fleet maintenance personnel on staff. On the other hand, fleet maintenance functions may be outsourced to another organization that specializes in fleet maintenance or the maintenance of certain vehicle types or manufacturers.

Fleet Maintenance Management Software

Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is one tool fleet maintenance organizations use to manage fleet maintenance. Using CMMS for fleet maintenance management provides many benefits.

Improve Maintenance Planning and Scheduling

CMMS software stores critical information about vehicle assets, including their related parts and maintenance tasks. With all information together in a single platform, fleet managers can easily view what assets are available for maintenance, which required parts are in stock, and who is qualified to perform the job. Technicians also have access to maintenance history to troubleshoot non-standard maintenance issues.

Scheduling functionality allows you to view upcoming maintenance activities, and decide when work should be done and who will do it. Many systems allow maintenance to be scheduled based on calendar date, runtime (or mileage), or a combination of both.

Streamline Preventive Maintenance Procedures

CMMS software for fleet maintenance management allows for the creation of reusable preventive maintenance (PM) work order templates. These templates allow you to enter the work order details once, and automatically generate future work orders complete with all relevant information. This is especially helpful when creating work orders for recurring maintenance tasks such as inspections.

Reusable tasks also make it easy to create and update maintenance procedures. Providing technicians with step-by-step instructions for performing fleet maintenance ensures that work is performed the same way each time, no matter who is doing it. If changes are needed, updates can be made once and applied system-wide.

Simplify Spare Parts Management

Effective MRO inventory management is a key element of a cost effective fleet maintenance program. A CMMS automates inventory counts, helping fleet managers forecast demand and ensure parts are in stock when needed. The system also stores information about parts suppliers and service providers, making it quick and easy to reorder parts when needed.

Track Employee Qualifications

CMMS software tracks valuable data about your biggest assets – your people! Fleet managers can track auto mechanic certification levels, ensuring that technicians are qualified to perform required maintenance work. In addition, organizations can store employee pay rate information, useful when billing clients for fleet management services.

Quickly Access Maintenance Documentation

Vehicles are complex machinery. Being able to access owner’s manuals and maintenance documentation is a boon to mechanics. A CMMS allows you to create a digital maintenance library containing quick access to important maintenance and safety documentation. In addition, technicians are able to add images and videos to supplement text-based work order or asset documentation.

Make Better Repair vs. Replace Decisions

Fleet maintenance software such as a CMMS system helps fleet managers gain visibility into vehicle condition operations through data analysis and reporting. The software leverages comprehensive data on assets to generate maintenance reports that allow you to assess vehicle condition, justify replacement, or modify the maintenance schedule.

Keep Vehicles Ready for the Road with FTMaintenance Select

Proper fleet maintenance management is necessary for any organization that relies on vehicles, from a small business with a handful of delivery vehicles to large corporations that maintain an entire fleet. CMMS software like FTMaintenance Select is an essential tool for tracking, documenting, and managing fleet maintenance. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how FTMaintenance Select makes fleet maintenance more efficient and effective.

Food and beverage manufacturers must comply with myriad food safety and quality requirements. In addition to regulations required by law, organizations throughout the food supply chain are also required to meet additional food safety standards in order to do business. Safe Quality Food (SQF) is one such example. This article provides an overview of SQF and how computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software can help organizations achieve SQF certification.

What is Safe Quality Food (SQF)?

Safe Quality Food is a food safety management certification used to control food safety risks, and is managed by the Safe Quality Food Institute, a division of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). SQF standards are based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) guidelines, which focus on analyzing and controlling food safety hazards. In addition, SQF incorporates principles laid out in the ISO 9001 standards, the international standards and requirements for quality management systems (QMS).

Originally developed in Australia in 1994 as one set of food safety standards, SQF has evolved into a suite of standards that encompass the entire food supply chain including:

• Food, ingredient, and food packaging manufacturing
• Consumer products packaging
• Animal feed and pet food manufacturing
• Storage, transportation, distribution, and logistics
• Catering operations
• Agricultural packing and farming

Today, SQF standards are recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) as a benchmark certification program for the food and beverage industry. While it is not required by law to obtain SQF certification, many retailers and manufacturers require it from their business partners.

SQF Certification

SQF-certified organizations are ones that have successfully implemented a food safety and quality program that meets SQF standards. Organizations can obtain 3 levels of certification, described below. Note that each higher certification level encompasses all the standards and requirements of that level and the level below it.

• Level 1 SQF certification addresses issues related to basic food safety, and covers Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and Good Distribution Practices (GDPs).
• Level 2 SQF certification covers HACCP-based food safety planning.
• Level 3 SQF certification focuses on food quality as well as food safety.

As mentioned earlier, SQF certification is typically required by an organization’s business partners. They dictate the level of certification needed. Therefore, it is important for organizations to know their firmographic (basic information about their business-to-business partners and vendors), and requirements of other companies with whom they work.

SQF Certification Process

According to the Safe Quality Food Institute, the SQF certification process involves the following steps:

1. Learn about the SQF code
2. Register your company in the SQF assessment database
3. Designate an SQF practitioner
4. Choose the level of certification
5. Obtain proposal from SQF-licensed certification bodies
6. Conduct a pre-assessment (optional)
7. Choose a certification body and schedule an audit
8. Conduct the certification audit

Since the results of SQF certification are tied to food safety, the certification process is necessarily rigorous, taking between 6 months and 2 years. This timeline depends on many factors including existing certifications, level of certification to be achieved, training, dedicated resources, and availability of outside assistance, if necessary.

The Role of Maintenance in SQF Certification

By nature, maintenance activities introduce multiple risks to food safety and quality. For example, employees may contaminate equipment surfaces that touch food. Parts, tools, or debris can fall into product if equipment and openings are not properly covered. Bacteria or pests may make their way into food production or storage areas if not properly managed.

To help their organization meet SQF and other quality management requirements, maintenance departments must carefully plan, schedule, perform, and document maintenance work. These tasks are especially challenging for organizations that rely on manual maintenance tracking systems, which is common in the maintenance industry.  However, the SQF certification process necessitates the implementation of a well-organized maintenance management system, such as computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.

Further Reading: Why Food and Beverage Manufacturers Need to Invest in a CMMS

CMMS and Safe Quality Food Compliance

CMMS software addresses many maintenance management needs of organizations pursuing SQF certification.  Let’s take a look at a few examples from the SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing, Edition 9, Part B, Module 11, Section 11.2 and discuss how a CMMS can be used to meet the standard. The latest SQF codes are available on the SQFI website.

11.2.1.2: Routine maintenance of plant and equipment in any food processing, handling, or storage areas shall be performed according to a maintenance control schedule and recorded. The maintenance schedule shall be prepared to include buildings, equipment, and other areas of the premises critical to the maintenance of product safety.

This standard has to do with preventive maintenance (PM). It says that routine maintenance for food manufacturing assets should be scheduled and documented. CMMS software offers powerful work order scheduling functionality, with the ability to customize maintenance schedules to virtually any date-based or run-time based schedule. When work orders are completed, the system automatically creates a maintenance history for the asset.

11.2.1.3: Failures of plant and equipment in any food processing, handling, or storage areas shall be documented and reviewed, and their repair(s) incorporated into the maintenance control schedule.

This standard addresses how to manage asset failures. In addition to planned maintenance, CMMS software tracks corrective maintenance (CM) events as well. Unplanned CM is carried out in response to failures, with the work order serving as documentation of such failures. Organizations that perform advanced failure analysis may also track asset failures using CMMS failure codes.

The second part of this standard states that the resolution of a failure must be worked into the maintenance schedule. This work usually takes the form of a proactive maintenance technique such as preventive or predictive maintenance (PdM). CMMS software makes it easy to create new recurring work orders and adjust future schedules accordingly.

11.2.2.3: Maintenance staff and contractors shall remove all tools and debris from any maintenance activity once it has been completed, and inform the area supervisor and maintenance supervisor, so appropriate hygiene and sanitation can be conducted and a pre-operational inspection completed prior to the restarting of site operations.

As described earlier, maintenance personnel present a high risk of contaminating food products simply by doing their jobs. Standard 11.2.2.3 addresses issues that may arise after maintenance work is complete. It requires technicians to check the area for any parts and tools involved in the repair, clean any dirt or debris from the asset, and notify another person when work is complete. Organizations may document clean-up procedures by creating PM tasks or attaching relevant documentation to work orders.

Achieve SQF Certification with the Help of FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select allows organizations in the food and beverage industry to maintain their equipment and facility assets while ensuring the safety and quality of food products. It provides a single platform for planning, scheduling, documenting, and optimizing maintenance activities and tracking maintenance resources. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how FTMaintenance Select can help you meet SQF requirements.

When energized equipment needs maintenance, sometimes turning it off is not enough. Lockout/tagout protects maintenance workers against the unexpected release of hazardous energy or asset startup during maintenance activities. This article provides an overview of lockout/tagout and its significance to maintenance.

What is Lockout/Tagout?

Lockout/tagout (LOTO) is a safety procedure related to the control of hazardous energy, as laid out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard Title 29 CFR Part 1910.147. This standard covers “the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees.” Organizations comply with this regulation by establishing and carrying out procedures that ensure equipment is disconnected from its energy source, and stored energy is released, prior to performing maintenance.

Why Lockout/Tagout is Important

Maintaining and operating energized systems has the potential to expose employees to hazardous energy which, if uncontrolled, can cause serious injury or death. Lockout/tagout procedures were created to protect maintenance technicians, machine operators, and others from such outcomes.

OSHA estimates that 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries are prevented each year thanks to compliance with the LOTO standard. Despite the importance of lockout/tagout, LOTO compliance is one of the most frequently cited workplace safety standard violations (as of 2021).

What Different Forms can Hazardous Energy Take?

The lockout/tagout standard identifies the following types of hazardous energy:

• Electrical: The primary energy source for most equipment.
• Mechanical: Energy created through motion and moving parts.
• Hydraulic: Energy created through pressurized liquid and especially useful for heavy machinery.
• Pneumatic: Energy created through pressurized air, commonly used in materials handling and packaging applications.
• Chemical: Energy created through chemical reactions.
• Thermal: Energy created through the release of heat from sources including steam, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and biomass.
• Other: Any other types of energy not already covered.

How Lockout/Tagout Works

As its name implies, a lockout/tagout procedure utilizes both locks and tags. Lockout devices, such as padlocks or hasps, physically keep equipment in an “off” or safe state by holding energy-isolating devices in place. Tagout devices provide visible warnings that inform employees of hazards and indicate equipment may not be used.

When Lockout/Tagout Standards Apply

Generally, lockout/tagout applies any time the unexpected release of energy could harm someone. However, OSHA outlines certain exceptions. During normal production operations, LOTO applies only if:

• An employee is required to remove or bypass a guard or other safety device (also refer to the Title 29 CFR Part 1910.212 standard)
• An employee is required to place any part of his or her body into an area on a machine or piece of equipment

The LOTO standard does not apply to:

• Minor tool changes, adjustments, and other minor servicing activities which take place during normal production operations
• “Routine and repetitive” maintenance activities in which employees are not putting their bodies in harm’s way
• Cord and plug-connected electric equipment for which energy is controlled by unplugging the equipment and the plug is in exclusive control of the person performing maintenance
• Hot tap operations involving the transmission and distribution of gas, steam, water, etc, when service is necessary, the system cannot be shutdown, and employees are protected in some other way

In addition, the 1910.147 lockout/tagout standard does not apply to the following industries:

• Construction
• Maritime
• Agriculture
• Oil and gas
• Power and energy

Organizations in each of these industries are required to comply with other industry-specific standards regarding the control of hazardous energy. Refer to the OSHA website for more information.

What are the 6 Steps of Lockout/Tagout?

The OSHA standard provides minimum requirements for controlling hazardous energy, but provides flexibility for organizations to develop their own lockout/tagout procedures. The lockout/tagout steps below are generally applicable regardless of industry. It assumes that the required personnel have been trained in LOTO procedures.

1. Preparation: Have an authorized employee, who has a complete understanding of all types of hazardous energy that must be controlled, identify energy sources and the means to control them. Notify all employees who might be affected by lockout/tagout that the equipment will be shut down for maintenance.
2. Shut Down: Shut down equipment using its normal stopping procedure.
3. Isolation: Isolate equipment from its hazardous energy source.
4. Lockout/Tagout: Have an authorized employee attach locks and tags to each energy-isolating device so that it stays in a “safe” position.
5. Check for Stored Energy: Look for any stored or residual hazardous energy and release, restrain, dissipate, or disconnect it.
6. Verify Isolation: Verify that the equipment is isolated from its energy source, locked and tagged out, and de-energized. The equipment is now ready for servicing or maintenance.

Lockout/Tagout and Maintenance Safety

Lockout/tagout procedures help you meet regulatory requirements and, more importantly, keep maintenance technicians (and others) safe. Maintenance organizations ensure compliance with lockout/tagout standards by tracking LOTO procedures in their computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software.

CMMS software stores lockout/tagout documentation, making it readily accessible to maintenance employees. LOTO instructions can be included on work orders, reminding technicians of the necessity for lockout/tagout. When maintenance audits  occur, the CMMS provides documentation that LOTO procedures were followed.

Improve Safety with FTMaintenance Select

At times, maintenance technicians are put into potentially dangerous environments. FTMaintenance Select improves workplace safety by storing critical maintenance documentation like lockout/tagout procedures alongside their related asset records and work orders. Request a demo today to learn more about how FTMaintenance Select can help you comply with maintenance safety standards.

Maintenance workers are exposed to safety hazards and harsh workplace conditions on a daily basis. Organizations are legally required to reduce risks to maintenance workers – and other employees – by upholding health and safety standards developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This article explains the impact of OSHA regulations on maintenance operations.

What is OSHA?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a United States government agency created by Congress to ensure safe and healthful work conditions by developing and enforcing standards. This includes setting standards for general industry, as well as industry-specific regulations and other rules. To help organizations meet these standards, OSHA provides training, outreach, and educational opportunities, as well as compliance assistance.

How are OSHA Standards Created?

Developing OSHA standards is a multi-step process that can be initiated by OSHA itself, or in response to petitions from third-parties, state and local governments, nationally-recognized standards organizations, employers, labor relations representatives, or any other interested individuals.

At times, presidential executive orders and subsequent actions prompt the need for new OSHA standards. For example, in January 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing OSHA to take measures related to protecting workers from the COVID-19 virus.

During the initial rulemaking phase, OSHA collects information through symposiums, public discussions, or surveys. Specific committees or organizations may be called upon to help inform recommendations. Once plans are made to propose, amend, or revoke a standard, OSHA invites the public to submit feedback. After reviewing feedback and other data, OSHA creates the final rule that becomes enforceable.

OSHA’s Impact on Maintenance

The primary source of OSHA maintenance regulations falls under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 29, sections 1910 – 1910.1450. Organizations are responsible for putting a system in place that raises awareness of hazards, promotes best practices, and provides a safe and healthful workplace. For maintenance, this can affect what tasks technicians perform; how supplies are stored; and what safety measures must be taken before, during, and after repairs.

While there are many standards that impact maintenance, some of the most frequently cited OSHA safety violations in fiscal year 2021 include: hazard communication, lockout/tagout (LOTO), and machine guarding. Each of these is covered below.

Hazard Communication Regulations

Hazard communication standards (1910.1200) promote chemical safety by requiring that the identities and hazards of chemicals are available and understandable to employees. One form of hazard communication is a material data safety sheet (MSDS).

MSDS documentation tells technicians what to do if chemicals spill, get on their hands, splash in their eyes, or are accidentally ingested. For example, while it may be instinctive to wash an exposed area with water (or drink water if ingested), that’s not always the right thing to do. Safety data sheets also describe the proper way to store and use chemicals.

Lockout/Tagout Regulations

Lockout/tagout (LOTO) regulations (1910.147) cover the service and maintenance of equipment in which unexpected energization, startup, or release of stored energy could harm employees. There are many types of hazardous energy that could be in a machine, including chemical, electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic, and thermal.

Therefore, it is vital for employees to complete proper LOTO procedures. These procedures can be documented in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) for easy access. Failure to follow LOTO procedures can result in serious injuries such as burns, amputations, crushed limbs, or electrical shock.

Learn about the lockout/tagout process in our blog post What is Lockout/Tagout?

Machine Guarding Standards

Machine guarding standards (1910.212) cover guards that protect operators and other employees from machine hazards. Maintenance teams are responsible for fitting assets with proper safety devices and performing inspections on existing safeguards. Checking machine guards should be a part of standard routine preventive maintenance inspections, if they are not already.

OSHA COVID-19 Guidelines

Unlike the previously mentioned standards, which are mandatory, OSHA’s COVID-19 guidelines are recommendations. This guidance is intended to help organizations identify COVID-19 exposure risks to unvaccinated workers or those that are vaccinated but otherwise at risk, such as those who are immunocompromised.  Guidelines cover screening and monitoring, physical distancing, face coverings and PPE (personal protective equipment), and other measures to keep workers safe.

Visit the OSHA website for more information regarding the latest guidelines for COVID-19.

How OSHA Standards are Enforced

OSHA maintenance standards are enforced through compliance audits. First, compliance officers are required to show their credentials to prove they are legitimate. Then they explain why the organization was chosen for inspection. The officer will go over the process, which includes walking around and visually looking at machines, speaking one on one with an employee who can represent the organization in the process, and interviewing other employees.

After compliance officers inspect the workplace for hazards and talk to the employer about their findings, the inspection ends in one of two ways. If no violations are found, the inspection is now complete. If violations are found, the officer may issue citations or fines. Citations provide organizations with the opportunity to fix any violations by a stated deadline. Fines are high and range in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the severity of the violation.

Read More: Why You Shouldn’t Fear Maintenance Audits

How Maintenance Departments Contribute to OSHA Compliance

Maintenance teams contribute to OSHA compliance by establishing work practices and policies that keep themselves and others safe. For example, completing preventive maintenance activities on time creates a safer work environment by keeping facilities, equipment, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in good condition.

Organizations use a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) as part of a larger quality management system (QMS) to document OSHA-compliant procedures and store health and safety information. Maintenance managers may also provide ongoing training when new chemicals are inventoried, regulations are updated, or new assets are installed. When a compliance audit takes place, the CMMS provides proof that you said what you did, did what you said, and can prove it.

Using CMMS Software for OSHA Compliance

Using computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software to document and manage safety information makes it significantly easier to adhere to the OSHA standards that apply to your industry.

CMMS software gives you the tools to implement a safety program based on compliant maintenance operating procedures. Assigning safety-related tasks to work orders provides technicians with step-by-step instructions for completing maintenance jobs in accordance with OSHA standards. Digital maintenance documentation, such as MSDS sheets, images, and videos, can also be attached to maintenance records to provide additional information.

CMMS software preventive maintenance functionality can be used to schedule recurring safety-related tasks such as inspections and calibrations. These activities are especially important for critical fire safety equipment and other emergency systems.

As a maintenance documentation system, a CMMS is a useful tool when preparing for OSHA audits. For example, organizations can store critical health, safety, and certification information with employee records. CMMS software also tracks the completion of tasks such as locktout/tagout procedures, ensuring that you can provide auditors with proof that specific steps were followed and completed.

Finally, CMMS reports provide further evidence that preventive maintenance and critical repairs were completed on time, in a safe manner, and were of high quality.

Prepare for OSHA Inspections with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select allows you to easily document, track, and manage maintenance operations. Consistent use of the system automatically generates the documentation required to satisfy compliance officers from OSHA or other regulatory agencies. Request a demo of FTMaintenance Select today to learn more.

Managing maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) inventory is a balancing act between part availability and inventory costs. Organizations must have parts available for planned maintenance and in case of a breakdown, but not so much stock that it ties up significant money in inventory.

Organizations use various methods of inventory control to optimize the dollar value of their held MRO inventory. This article introduces you to common inventory optimization techniques that can help lower your maintenance inventory management costs.

Methods for MRO Inventory Control

Inventory optimization techniques vary from organization to organization. Methods that work best in one industry or for one type of item might not work well for others. There is no “one size fits all” approach. That being said, organizations often use multiple inventory control techniques at once. In the following sections, we provide an overview of different methods for inventory control.

Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory Management

Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory management is an inventory control technique typically applied to production inventory in industries that employ lean manufacturing, such as the automotive manufacturing industry. The main goal of JIT is to allow organizations to operate at the minimum amount of inventory possible without disrupting production. Depending on the production schedule, parts are ordered to arrive “just in time” to meet a need.

When used for maintenance purposes, JIT inventory management involves identifying local vendors that carry parts the organization can obtain quickly when needed. This eliminates the need for the organization to keep a large supply of parts in stock themselves, thereby reducing overstock and the amount of resources needed to manage inventory.

JIT applies best to preventive maintenance (PM) tasks because they are scheduled and demand is easier to forecast. For example, an organization might decide that there is little need to order air filters far in advance, because they will sit on a shelf for weeks, take up valuable space, and tie up funds. Instead, the filters can be ordered from a vendor shortly before they are needed. Depending on their proximity, the vendor can ship the filters at a more reasonable rate or maintenance personnel can pick the filters up themselves in a pinch.

Reorder Points, Economic Order Quantities, and Other Factors Impacting JIT

MRO buyers often determine inventory order quantities without any formal analysis, leading to a whole host of issues. Over-ordering items ties up money that could be used elsewhere, in addition to cluttering up the stockroom. Under-ordering runs the risk of stockouts, which results in unnecessary downtime and emergency shipping fees.

To optimize stock levels, organizations must know when to reorder and what quantity to purchase. Organizations consider a number of factors, such as reorder points and order quantities to make appropriate inventory purchases.

Reorder point is the minimum quantity an item reaches that triggers an action to replenish stock. This calculation must take into consideration order lead time, current usage, and safety stock. For example, imagine that an organization is trying to come up with an appropriate reorder point for a bearing. The organization must consider:

• How long will it take to receive a shipment?
• Based on current usage, will the quantity on hand last until a new order arrives?
• How much safety stock is kept on hand to protect against unexpected demand?

Once the reorder point is estimated, there still remains the question of how much to order. To do so, organizations determine the economic order quantity (EOQ), which is the ideal order quantity to minimize inventory costs. EOQ considers a part’s purchase cost, quantity discounts, shipping and handling fees, current usage, and holding costs. Decision-makers must consider questions like:

• Is it worth buying more units than needed now to secure a discount?
• Are units used at a rate where purchasing in bulk makes sense?
• Will ordering in bulk cause units to sit on stockroom shelves for long periods of time?

These are the tough decisions organizations face. Fortunately, some of this decision-making can be handled by vendors through a vendor managed inventory (VMI) strategy, described later.

Risks of JIT

While many organizations use JIT successfully, they also assume some level of risk with this inventory control technique. For example, suppliers may run out of parts just when they are needed for maintenance. Parts may become obsolete between orders. Rising prices may make parts too costly to purchase when needed.

Scenarios like these leave the organization in a bind. Overcoming these events creates costs as a result of sourcing alternative parts, identifying alternative vendors, accepting higher prices, and paying for expedited freight.

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Management

Vendor managed inventory (VMI) management is an inventory control technique that shifts some of the responsibility of managing stocking levels from the user (organization) to the supplier. With this method, the vendor supplies and replenishes MRO items on the organization’s behalf. The stocked items, called consignment inventory, are then paid for only when used. Alternatively, the organization may pre-pay for stock that is replenished by the vendor.

VMI is typically used for low-value, high-volume consumable items such as fasteners, tools, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Stock is made available through industrial vending machines that automatically record usage or cabinets where employees are responsible for logging usage on a pull sheet. Vendors periodically check stock levels to determine whether or not parts need to be restocked.

Maintenance organizations use VMI because it eliminates common inventory management problems. Assuming that the vendor is reliable, organizations no longer have to worry about overstock or out-of-stock occurrences caused by improper inventory adjustments, ineffective ordering, and poor forecasting. A reduction in stockouts also leads to a reduction in unplanned downtime because required parts are always on hand.

Though VMI can be effective in any industry, manufacturers that require many part suppliers and face significant losses during maintenance downtime stand to benefit most. This includes organizations in the automotive, oil and gas, food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals industry.

Risks of VMI

Giving inventory management responsibilities to a vendor comes with some risks. A major risk is reliance on a third party. Organizations that use VMI are at the mercy of the supplier and may be forced to live with higher prices, reduced quality, or other issues.

On the other hand, problems may arise if the vendor cannot handle your orders. Orders that are late or inaccurate puts stress on maintenance operations.

Because of these factors, it is important to find a trustworthy vendor, and trust takes time to build. If the relationship with the vendor goes sour, transitioning to another VMI distributor may be difficult due to their importance to your operations, contract terms, or resources dedicated to vendor management.

MRO Inventory Optimization Strategies and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The goal of the methods for inventory control discussed in this article is to optimize on-hand inventory and minimize its associated costs. However, a downside of operating on minimal inventory has been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supply chain interruptions have caused organizations to rethink their “lean” inventory strategy. Due to supply disruptions, part availability and lead times are less reliable, leading to stockouts if preventive actions aren’t taken. Many organizations have increased their stock of critical spares and high-volume parts to combat the uncertainty. Even as day-to-day life appears to be slowly moving back to “normal,” organizations should be careful about operating with too low of an MRO inventory.

Regardless of how organizations manage their inventory, inventory management software can be an effective tool for inventory optimization.

MRO Inventory Management Software

Effective inventory control relies on accurate part tracking. Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is designed to help maintenance teams gain control over their MRO inventory management practices.

CMMS software allows organizations to track important inventory data including a part’s specifications, location, criticality, and quantities. Many solutions also integrate vendor management and purchasing capabilities. Additionally, CMMS software provides maintenance reports that track key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you make smarter decisions about your inventory.

Further Reading: 4 Inventory KPIs to Improve MRO Inventory Management

A CMMS can be used to implement JIT by allowing organizations to track part usage, view parts assigned to upcoming planned maintenance work orders, and identify local vendors. Usage data helps determine appropriate reorder points. Visibility of upcoming maintenance makes it easier to forecast demand. Vendor tracking capability allows organizations to make decisions about where and when to place orders.

A CMMS is also useful when a VMI strategy is employed. Even though managed by a vendor, organizations find value in tracking consumable parts used for asset maintenance history purposes. For example, parts are tracked by work orders so that the organization can tell when a component was last repaired or replaced, what parts were used, and how much was spent on the repair. Other organization-managed inventory is still tracked in the CMMS.

Optimize Your MRO Inventory with FTMaintenance

FTMaintenance supports inventory optimization techniques like JIT and VMI. FTMaintenance is a CMMS solution that allows you to easily manage and track maintenance activities and resources, such as spare parts inventory. Combining robust inventory tracking with vendor management, purchasing, and receiving capability, FTMaintenance is an all-in-one MRO inventory management solution. Request a demo of FTMaintenance today.

Key Takeaways

• A documented preventive maintenance program helps optimize maintenance resources, lower maintenance costs, and avoid costly repairs
• It is not necessary to create an entire “master plan” before implementing preventive maintenance practices
• Adapt the process in this article to fit your organization’s requirements
• Preventive maintenance software, like FTMaintenance, allows you to document your preventive maintenance program and communicate to others

Most organizations recognize the importance and benefits of preventive maintenance, but many are stuck in a corrective maintenance rut. Though maintenance managers may like the idea of preventive maintenance, frequent emergency repairs often leave little-to-no time, money, or labor resources available for preventive maintenance activities.

Even when such resources are available, maintenance managers often become frustrated because they do not know where to start with preventive maintenance. In this article, we discuss the basic steps in developing a preventive maintenance program for organizations just getting their feet wet with preventive maintenance.

What is a Preventive Maintenance Program?

Preventive maintenance (PM) is maintenance that is proactively performed on assets in working condition with the goal of lessening the likelihood of failure, reducing unexpected downtime, and prolonging its useful life. A preventive maintenance program or preventive maintenance plan outlines the processes, procedures, tools, and resources required to carry out preventive maintenance.

Why Create a Preventive Maintenance Plan?

Poor preventive maintenance practices negatively impact the organization. Small PM tasks that are missed, skipped, or ignored often result in unexpected downtime and larger, more costly repairs. Performing low-quality preventive maintenance is just as harmful. On the other hand, over-maintaining equipment that doesn’t need it also leads to unnecessary planned downtime, labor costs, and replacement part usage.

A documented preventive maintenance program solves many of these issues. Mainly, the PM plan holds the maintenance team accountable for performing preventive maintenance activities. It ensures that everyone understands how preventive maintenance will be conducted by outlining the work to be done, how it is to be done, who will do it, and when. As the plan is optimized to use maintenance resources more effectively, it frees up money and personnel for other cost-saving improvements.

Read more about the benefits of preventive maintenance

What Does Preventive Maintenance Look Like?

Preventive maintenance takes many forms. Examples of preventive maintenance activities include:

• Inspections that use an employee’s basic senses (i.e., sight, sound, touch), sometimes with the aid of special instruments, to detect problems.
• Adjustments and Calibrations that optimize or correct asset performance.
• Testing that verifies whether assets are running to specification.
• Replacements of disposable components.

How to Create a Preventive Maintenance Plan

The thought of creating a preventive maintenance plan can be daunting. Many maintenance managers believe that they must develop an entire “master plan” before implementing preventive maintenance at all. However, this is not the case. In a moment, you will see just how easy creating a preventive maintenance plan can be.

The following steps outline the general process for creating a preventive maintenance plan. We recognize that each organization has unique goals for their PM program. The process described here serves as a starting point for developing a preventive maintenance plan, and can be adapted to fit an organization’s requirements. In addition, we invite you to download our infographic that simplifies this process in an easy-to-understand, visually appealing format.

Step 1: Refer to or Create an Asset List

An effective preventive maintenance plan starts with a good idea of what needs to be maintained. As a first step, create a list of all assets for which you are responsible if one doesn’t already exist. Capture key details about each asset such as:

• Manufacturer
• Name
• Internal asset code
• Description
• Location
• Make and/or model
• Serial number
• Acquisition date
• Current usage or age
• Current condition
• Original cost
• Criticality
• Last maintenance event
• Next maintenance event
• Other details as necessary

The asset list creates a point of reference for any preventive maintenance work completed on the asset, and should be updated throughout the asset’s life. Some organizations use spreadsheets to build the asset database, while others use specialized asset management software, like a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Step 2: Identify Which Assets to Include in the Preventive Maintenance Program

With a full list of assets available, you must decide which ones are the best candidates for preventive maintenance. Not every asset benefits from preventive maintenance though – sometimes PM costs outweigh the cost to replace the asset. The PM program typically includes an organization’s critical assets, which can be identified in a few ways.

In most organizations, critical assets are well-known. Larger organizations with rigorous asset management practices identify critical assets through formal cost-benefit analyses, criticality analyses, or return-on-investment (ROI) calculations. Others use asset data stored in a CMMS or other system to identify assets with high downtime, high maintenance costs, or frequent repairs that would benefit most from preventive maintenance.

A less formal way of determining which assets to include in the PM program is to consider each asset and ask questions like:

• How important is this asset to production or to the success of the organization?
• How often is maintenance performed on this asset?
• Is this asset performing to specification?
• How much does it cost to repair this asset versus replace it?

The answers to these questions should make it clear whether preventive maintenance is required.

If you are starting to worry that you won’t have time to create a PM plan for each critical asset, relax. You don’t have to create a PM plan for every asset right from the get-go. Start with a subset of assets, like the one or two most critical assets from the list. Easing into a preventive maintenance program in this way gives you and your team time to adjust to a proactive mindset. You can always expand the program later.

Step 3: Identify Preventive Maintenance Tasks

Once you select the initial assets, you must define what preventive maintenance needs to be done to them. Knowing the scope of work to be done helps with scheduling and resource allocation. There are multiple sources of information from which to draw preventive maintenance information:

• Manufacturer recommendations, included in operation and maintenance manuals
• Maintenance history
• Operators, maintenance technicians, and regular asset users
• Previous preventive maintenance schedules, if available
• Recommendations of professional organizations such as:
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Instrument Society of America (ISA)
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• Preventive maintenance activities to meet compliance and regulatory requirements
• General familiarity with the assets or other cues, such as autumnal seasonal maintenance for facility maintenance

Be sure to determine the parts and materials, tools, skill level required, and best practices associated with each task. Safety considerations, such as lockout/tagout procedures, should also be included. A clear idea of the required resources helps you determine time estimates for each task.

Step 4: Determine Maintenance Frequency

With preventive maintenance, each asset needs to be serviced regularly. PM tasks follow time-based or usage-based intervals. Time-based PM tasks may occur daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Usage-based frequencies can be based on runtime hours, mileage, units produced, or other runtime measurements. Refer to the resources mentioned in the previous step for information regarding a task’s frequency.

Step 5: Create the Preventive Maintenance Schedule

Now that you know what assets need to be maintained, how to maintain them, and how often they should be maintained, you can create a schedule. While you can use any system you like, it’s best to enter PM program data into a maintenance planning tool like a CMMS.

A CMMS makes it easy to enter task information, including frequencies and time estimates. Then, you can create PM work orders that include details such as the assets and parts, appropriate labor resources, priority, and due date. One major benefit of using a CMMS is the ability for the system to automatically alert the maintenance team when preventive maintenance is needed on a machine, reducing the chances of work being missed, lost, or ignored.

Step 6: Train Your Maintenance Team

A well-designed plan and maintenance management system alone cannot make your preventive maintenance program a success. The “real” work is done by frontline technicians, who must know how to execute the plan. Train technicians on how to perform tasks, as well as how to use the tools, instruments, and technology needed to capture and document information.

In addition, create policies around what to do when a PM task reveals an issue. For example, should technicians contact a supervisor, submit a service request, or create a corrective maintenance work order? Do workers have the freedom to resolve small issues as part of an inspection? Also consider a policy for what to do if a PM task isn’t completed.

Step 7: Monitor and Adjust

Your preventive maintenance plan will not be perfect the first time. That is why it is crucial that your team logs their maintenance activities and asset performance in a CMMS. Use this data to track preventive maintenance key performance indicators (KPIs) and generate maintenance reports that will help you optimize your plan.

An effective preventive maintenance program brings visibility to assets that require more attention and leads to scheduling changes. Don’t panic if, at first, maintenance costs go up. Preventive maintenance activities are likely to reveal hidden issues, especially on assets that have been neglected. Also, you may pay more now to avoid larger, more costly unplanned maintenance events in the future.

Also Read: 12 Tips for Improving Your Preventive Maintenance Plan

Step 8: Expand the Preventive Maintenance Program to Include More Assets

After preventive maintenance is off and running with your first set of assets, expand the program. Repeat the steps provided for each new asset until you cover all assets that will benefit from preventive maintenance.

Final Thoughts about Preventive Maintenance Programs

Creating a preventive maintenance program doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, money, effort, and in some cases, a change in maintenance culture to transition from a reactive to a proactive mindset. However, once in place, the advantages of a CMMS-supported preventive maintenance program are well worth it.

CMMS software provides many benefits for preventive maintenance activities. The system allows you to create and maintain a list of your assets and related information, making it easy to identify critical assets. PM task functionality allows you to define the steps that make up a preventive maintenance procedure, including how often the task should be completed, how long the task takes, and who should perform it. Automatic work order generation and notification ensures that employees are aware of upcoming preventive maintenance work.

Read also: How to Implement a Proactive Maintenance Strategy

Create Your Preventive Maintenance Program with FTMaintenance

FTMaintenance is preventive maintenance software that provides all the functionality needed to build a robust, automated preventive maintenance program. It provides a single platform for tracking asset and MRO inventory data, generating PM task lists, and creating preventive maintenance work orders. FasTrak also offers consulting services that help organizations identify the best way to get a preventive maintenance program up and running. Request a demo today.

Maintenance teams are made up of multiple roles that contribute to high-quality asset maintenance. Frontline maintenance technicians are perhaps the most important of these roles, as they execute the maintenance work that ensures optimal uptime and reliability. Because of their importance to the organization, it is important that the maintenance team consists of highly skilled, experienced maintenance technicians. This article helps you identify what makes a good maintenance technician.

Maintenance Technician Responsibilities

Maintenance technicians have numerous responsibilities related to installing, troubleshooting, repairing, and maintaining production and facility assets. These responsibilities vary from one organization to the next. Typically, a maintenance technician’s duties and responsibilities include the following:

• Assisting in the installation of new equipment
• Responding to maintenance requests submitted by other departments, tenants, or facilities
• Responding to alerts and breakdown events
• Carrying out corrective maintenance (CM)
• Repairing or replacing broken parts and components
• Performing routine preventive maintenance (PM) work, including inspections, cleaning, lubrication, and testing
• Performing basic diagnostic tests to detect problems
• Investigating the root causes of equipment failure
• Disassembling and reassembling equipment
• Testing equipment and systems to determine whether repairs are successful
• Reading technical manuals and maintenance documentation
• Documenting maintenance work
• Updating computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software

In larger organizations, the maintenance technician role is more specialized to a specific craft, area, or set of assets. For example, technicians may possess skills related to machining, plumbing, or HVAC. In smaller organizations, the maintenance technician role is more generalized. Technicians are expected to know a little bit about multiple types of systems, tools, devices, and maintenance processes.

Maintenance Technician Skills

Good maintenance technicians possess a range of hard and soft skills that make them successful.

Technical Knowledge

Perhaps the most important skill maintenance technicians can have is technical knowledge.

Good maintenance technicians have knowledge of hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, and electrical systems. An awareness of custodial, janitorial, and sanitation service is useful as well. Such knowledge allows technicians to develop a deep understanding of the assets they maintain and more easily tell when something is “off”.

Good maintenance technicians should also have basic knowledge of the hand tools, power tools, and other devices used to complete maintenance work.

Physical Ability

Maintenance work is physically demanding. Technicians must go wherever maintenance work is needed, whether on rooftops or in tiny spaces, or in extremely hot or cold conditions. Going to and from assets, technicians often lift or drag equipment, repeatedly climb up and down stairs or ladders, work in awkward positions, and carry heavy objects.

In addition to strength and endurance, good maintenance technicians also have finesse. They must be good with their hands, handle tools in a skillful way, and manipulate tools and instruments with precision.

Problem Solving

A maintenance technician’s job requires him to resolve complex problems, work with a sense of urgency, and consider many different variables. Good maintenance technicians are natural problem solvers and take a systematic approach to troubleshooting failures. Below is an example troubleshooting process one might follow:

1. Collect information based on direct observation, information reported by requesters, or documentation stored in a CMMS.
2. Consider the evidence and determine the most likely causes of failure first.
3. Implement a solution.
4. Test the solution. If the issue is not resolved, continue collecting data and repeat.
5. Verify that no new problems have been introduced as a result of the repair.

In emergency situations, technicians may need to install a short-term, stopgap solution.

Attention to Detail

Attention to detail goes hand in hand with other skills, such as technical knowledge and problem solving. Any maintenance professional knows that overlooking small issues leads to bigger problems down the road.  Detailed-oriented maintenance technicians can quickly spot abnormal conditions and performance.

Paying attention to minute details also comes in to play when dealing with safety and compliance issues. For example, overlooking a step in lockout/tagout procedures, hazard communication protocols, or asset reassembly can have life-threatening consequences. Good maintenance technicians ensure their work is compliant with OSHA maintenance standards and any other regulatory requirements.

Communication Skills

Verbal communication skills are necessary to help understand maintenance issues that are reported by phone or in person. To fully grasp the issue at hand, good maintenance technicians must ask the right questions in a way that both parties can understand. They may even provide the requester with clear instructions for resolving the issue. At times, maintenance technicians may also provide verbal status updates to requesters. It is important that requesters know what is going on.

Maintenance technicians rely on an assortment of maintenance documentation to inform repairs. To ensure efficient and high-quality results, technicians must be able to accurately read and comprehend user manuals, owner’s guides, schematics, and other maintenance documentation. Good maintenance technicians also create detailed, accurate maintenance records and update existing documentation when necessary.

Basic Computer Skills

In today’s world, it is essential that maintenance technicians have some degree of computer aptitude. Basic computer skills are required for day-to-day productivity, such as checking email and navigating supplier websites. Good maintenance technicians also need to be proficient in using the organization’s CMMS, whether it’s accessed from a desktop computer, tablet computer, or smartphone.

The Evolution of Maintenance Technician Qualifications

Like many roles, the expectations placed on maintenance technicians have evolved over time. Being a good maintenance technician today requires a wider range of skills than ever before.

For example, expectations of basic computing skills have increased with the prevalence of mobile devices in our daily lives. Whereas in years past technicians were tethered to a permanent workstation, mobile CMMS allows work orders and other maintenance documentation to be accessed within apps or via web browsers.

The digitization of assets has also changed the maintenance industry. Machines have become “smarter” and are able to self-report errors and malfunctions. Troubleshooting is commonly based on integrated computers that display fault codes.

To keep pace with changing maintenance demands, organizations place increased educational expectations on prospective candidates. Today, employers prefer that maintenance technicians have a Bachelor’s degree in a valid technical field or an Associate degree with two years of experience. They tend to favor technicians with an advanced diploma, specialized on-site training, extensive work experience, or multiple certifications.

Empower Your Maintenance Technicians with FTMaintenance Select

FTMaintenance Select is a powerful CMMS platform that empowers good maintenance technicians to perform their best. It provides an easy-to-use system for documenting, tracking, and managing maintenance work orders. Putting all maintenance data in one place, FTMaintenance Select makes it easy to access up-to-date, accurate maintenance data that leads to efficient, effective, and high-quality maintenance work. Schedule a demo today to take your maintenance team from good to great.