How manufacturers can save money with a smart computerized maintenance management system
By Lindsay Walker, marketing manager for NEXGEN
Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is an investment for your company. As the purchasing power of the dollar continues to decline in today's economy, manufacturers are looking for ways to use assets to protect their businesses, but their wealth may not always be physical.
Regrettably, many business owners place very little emphasis on maintaining equipment. Since maintenance keeps the company's assets in working condition and makes the business run smoothly, it's one of the most costly mistakes that can be made.
A smartly deployed computerized maintenance management system will extend the life of the equipment while reducing costs by avoiding unplanned interruptions. Let’s explore…
Asset management
Buying new equipment is expensive. So, ensuring that the assets you already have are well maintained to extend their useful life can make a big difference in your financial results. This also means that the machines will offer their services for long enough for the company to cover its investment in the plant and obtain significant benefits. Therefore, extending the life of existing equipment through effective asset-management software, such as CMMS, can have a significant positive effect on your financial results. The CMMS software helps you use maintenance data to plan repairs and part replacements that keep the machine running optimally. The right CMMS software can help you extend the life of your equipment by keeping track of preventive maintenance and improving the profitability of your equipment by providing valuable information on how to repair or replace decisions.
Inventory management
Poorly managed inventory increases the risk of unnecessary expenses. You may have too many wrong parts and you may not have enough correct parts, which means you won't be able to repair critical equipment when necessary. With a CMMS you can coordinate the availability of parts and devices more effectively, you can manage multiple warehouses, manage parts in stock and out of stock, automatically reorder parts based on availability, and monitor the cost of parts issued and returned based on work orders. An additional benefit of managing your inventory with a facility-maintenance solution is the reduction of express shipping costs through better coordination of parts-availability.
A CMMS also includes a database for all your maintenance tasks, which enables you to identify your current inventory of spare parts and automatically create orders based on current needs. This allows you to be sure that you won't spend extra money on things you don't need.
Productivity
Manually tracking and scheduling maintenance tasks is time-consuming and susceptible to human error. Manually entering data takes a long time and, due to its everyday nature, can cause boredom among workers and create loopholes for mistakes to be made. Investing in CMMS software reduces the time spent on planning, programming and data entry. As a result, the number of people needed to monitor the operation and maintenance of the system is reduced, resulting in lower labor costs.
With the right CMMS, you can increase productivity and avoid these costs as follows:
- Optimize resources through better planning
- Reduce time spent manually compiling reports and KPIs
- Use real-time mobile maintenance to minimize data entry
Downtime
The CMMS plays an important role in reducing costly downtime. With the help of a CMMS, you can set up a cost-effective preventive-maintenance program to enable facility managers to make calculated decisions instead of performing maintenance tasks based on guesswork. This is achieved through a systematic preventive-maintenance plan and a reduction in employee downtime.
With the preventive CMMS, you can plan and schedule maintenance during off-peak hours. As a result, the inconvenience for customers is minimal. In addition, the preventive CMMS includes a system that corrects system errors to identify problems that may cause system failures. This prevents unexpected system crashes that would otherwise disrupt your business.
Reactive maintenance
In the event of an unprecedented equipment failure, you should consider the cost of maintenance personnel, the cost of parts (including express-shipping costs) and the cost of the additional time needed to diagnose the problem. Preventive-maintenance software, such as CMMS, can help you avoid such costly reactive maintenance. Your maintenance team can use the CMMS to perform routine inspections and scheduled maintenance of equipment at the most convenient times.
You can easily calculate the approximate ROI of a CMMS to justify the investment in the software. An online ROI calculator can highlight how a CMMS can reduce costs and provide simple equations that you can use to calculate your annual savings with a CMMS.
Data-driven decision-making
The CMMS provides you with a wealth of data and information that can help you make informed decisions about your maintenance processes. The CMMS generates reports and analyses on maintenance activities, costs and performance indicators. Using this data, you can identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement.
For example, you can identify equipment whose maintenance costs exceed its value options and consider options such as descriptions of repairs or replacements. You can also identify recurring maintenance issues and take preventive measures to address them.
The CMMS is fast becoming an indispensable part of the maintenance industry, providing unparalleled benefits to maintenance companies that offer professional maintenance and facility-management services.
