A CMMS is the ultimate tool in your maintenance team’s tool belt – a cure for the tedious tasks and daily issues of a maintenance department. While a maintenance technician will see immediate value in a CMMS, the decision to deploy maintenance management software is often determined by individuals not involved in the day-to-day o a maintenance function like Business Owners, Managers or Directors.
In most organisations, management isn’t likely to use a CMMS in their daily tasks; they may not even think the system is necessary. But, as you may have already deduced from the title, a CMMS provides much more value beyond just assisting the maintenance team, it brings benefits across your entire company! So, without further ado, here are Ashcom Technologies Top 4 Big Picture Benefits of a CMMS.
1. Improved Employee Morale
Let’s walk through a day in the life of John your maintenance technician. John spends most of his day repairing machinery – so you can keep producing those components you supply in the automotive sector. In order to start his working day, John must find his first work order. He searches his intray, that folder they are kept in for safekeeping, he even braves the 200-page spreadsheet on his Line Manager’s computer – but no luck; someone must’ve misplaced today’s work orders. Now, poor John has to locate his Line Manager. After searching the sprawling factory wasting even more time and then calling over the P.A., John finally finds them.
Now, with a work order in hand, he can start his day. John heads to the stock room to find the part he needs to begin his work order, but he can’t find it – the storeroom is a mess! He talks to Dave, “Yeah, that part should’ve been ordered a while ago, we didn’t know we were out,” he says. John is getting frustrated, his WO says urgent. With these constant delays, he’ll have to stay late tonight, whilst that means time and a half, he will miss the big game!
Thankfully John is a fictional character but we can feel his pain. A CMMS will help address his negative feelings by giving him back a sense of control. His tasks will be scheduled in the most efficient order and the required resources will be on hand and are easily located. This leaves John with the assurance that he’ll be able to complete his job in a timely and satisfactory manner. It’s not rocket science that a happy employee works better; it’s just smart business.
2. Cost Savings
Speaking of smart business, implementing a CMMS can increase a maintenance department’s efficiency which, in turn, promotes cost savings. According to ReliabilityWeb.com,
“maintenance management generally makes up 40 to 50 % of operational budgets; the savings made possible from increased efficiency and reduction of waste is staggering.”
So how does a CMMS reduce waste? A CMMS will allow the user to schedule preventative maintenance. Now, John’s maintenance tasks become proactive instead of reactive. Just like an oil change extends the life of your car, preventative maintenance extends the life of your businesses’ assets. This means you replace fewer machines and you buy and waste fewer spare parts attempting to put band-aid solutions over faulty machinery.
Preventative maintenance also leads to less downtime. When you maintain a machine properly it’s less likely to break down. It’s pretty simple – decreased downtime equals more uptime. More uptime means more productivity. Producing more in less time equals cost savings. Not to mention a reduction in scrap because your line breaks down less often.
All this and we haven’t even considered because John is more productive and efficient his overtime costs have disappeared. Because our inventory is now under control we have stopped ordering parts we don’t need, our stockholding has reduced and we never have to expedite parts. All saving us even more money!
3. Improved Workflow & Productivity
Our buddy John can speak extensively about workflows. Implementing a CMMS would alleviate him of all of his aforementioned challenges. It eliminates the need to find physical work orders, that information is stored in a CMMS. It eliminates the need to search for inventory because a CMMS can provide a map of your stock room, and it can even order parts when they’re out of stock. It doesn’t just help John either, now Dave, his colleague, knows when and how many of which critical spares he should order.
Good communication is incredibly important to a maintenance team’s success and a CMMS will often act as a communication hub. All important maintenance information whether it be repairs, preventative maintenance, inventory, inventory location, or purchase orders can be managed and recorded within a CMMS. With that wealth of information now readily available, team workflows are executed in a more efficient manner.
4. Maintain Compliance & Track Trends
With all maintenance data stored in one place, management can now easily identify trends and issues occurring in the workplace. The machines causing the most downtime can be isolated and either repaired or replaced. They can identify the parts most commonly used and where employees work most efficiently. A CMMS can also record the historical data of your equipment. If your organization is required to comply with industry standards or is placed into an audit, they’ll have documentation to support compliance.
The ability to look at your organization’s operations through an analytical lens like a CMMS is incredibly valuable. As we head towards Industry 4.0 companies will make more efficient and data-driven decisions, which makes a simple and prudent solution like a CMMS the baseline
for industry 4.0 competency.
There you have it, our 4 Big Picture Benefits of a CMMS; improved employee morale, less costly operations, improved workflows and productivity, and more data to make decisions with. It’s truly incredible the amount of value a CMMS can provide, not only to the employees who use it but the organization as a whole. If you’re a company that wants to reexamine how it can better position itself in a changing business landscape, look no further than a CMMS. John will send his thanks.
Written by Steven Garcia
About Ashcom Technologies, Inc.
Ashcom Technologies has been providing innovative CMMS (Computerized Management Maintenance Software) solutions since 1985. Ashcom was one of the first CMMS providers to develop a completely web-based “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model for more rapid implementation at a lower total cost of ownership.
Our growing client base consists of over 13,000 users worldwide across multiple sites ranging from small & medium-sized organizations to Fortune 500 corporations including manufacturers, service providers, fleet operators, energy and utility companies, health care facilities, universities, municipalities, and facility and property managers, among others.
