CMMS Helps Facility Managers Move from Reactive to Proactive Maintenance
Facility managers know when someone has a problem, or something breaks down, their phone number is the one they dial. And some days, that phone never stops ringing. Many facility maintenance teams work the same way they always have—answer the phone, and then fix whatever broke. This reactive system serves a purpose, but it’s not efficient for the maintenance team or users. And it has significant consequences. Moving from reactive to proactive maintenance can keep those phone calls at bay while making better use of the maintenance team’s time and resources. It can feel challenging—almost impossible—to start a proactive maintenance program while you’re putting out fires all the time. But that’s where CMMS software can help. Schedule Preventive Maintenance Tasks A proactive approach starts with preventive maintenance. CMMS software will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. Properly maintained assets perform more efficiently, use less energy, and fail less often—extending their usable life. Preventive maintenance schedules and inspections generated from CMMS software help spot issues before they occur. Regular preventive maintenance tracking programs also ensure equipment is properly calibrated and lubricated when they need to be. Maintenance intervals can be scheduled based on asset or part condition, which triggers a work order just before the point when system inefficiencies or failures begin to occur. Facility managers can also schedule preventive maintenance work for off hours by tracking equipment use time. When a maintenance team establishes and regularly performs PM tasks that contribute to the upkeep of assets, an organization may be able to sidestep serious problems that arise as a result of neglect as well as delay more expensive maintenance. Reduce Costs & Downtime When you use CMMS software for maintenance scheduling, you’ll reduce emergency maintenance issues and unexpected production stoppages. This, in turn, cuts overtime costs for emergency repairs and reduces production losses. CMMS software also helps accurately estimate labor hours for PM tasks, making sure staffing levels match the workload and decreasing overtime costs. This type of labor cost analysis can determine when it’s more efficient to add more staff members instead of paying current employees more overtime. Preventive maintenance software is cost effective and beneficial for organizations of all sizes—lowering costs, improving reliability, and helping with compliance reporting. Find out how MPulse CMMS software can help your facility maintenance team move from reactive to a proactive. Contact us.
Should I Repair It or Replace It?
There comes a time in every asset’s lifecycle when a maintenance manager asks the same question: Should I repair it or replace it? The answer depends on several factors unique to your situation and your organization. If a breakdown has halted production, you’ll likely answer this question differently than if it’s an older piece of equipment at the end of its lifecycle. Either way, however, it’s important to make this decision based on facts, rather than assumptions. What You Need to Know The best decisions are informed decisions. When you’re asking if you should repair or replace an asset, you need to know some key information, such as… Maintenance and operating costs to date Impact on operations or production Safety issues Expected remaining service life Current resell market value Disposal costs Warranty or vendor service contract Efficiency How to Decide This information is the basis for data-driven decision making, which simply means you’re making a decision based on hard data rather than assumptions or guesses. [related-content] Every organization has different criteria for replacement versus repair. For example, one MPulse customer forecasts asset replacement when the cost of maintenance to date reaches 75% of the replacement cost. Another customer has different criteria for equipment based on its value to the production process, replacing assets that are vital to operations sooner than assets that have less of an impact. And some maintenance operations still run assets until they break down and aren’t repairable anymore. Making this decision is a lot easier when you have accurate information to go on. That’s where CMMS software comes in. Why CMMS Software Makes It Easier With each purchase and every work order, CMMS software documents… Labor costs Parts costs Energy costs Purchase price and date Life expectancy Warranty information Replacement costs Other custom data By running a few simple reports, you’ll know which assets cost the least amount of money to maintain and repair. You also can calculate when the increased efficiencies of newer models will pay off in the long run. CMMS data changes the way you make decisions because you have all the information at your fingertips to determine the total cost of ownership. Want to know when it’s time to repair or replace an asset? Contact us. We’re here to help.
Common Maintenance Problems You Can Avoid with CMMS
Maintenance requires the right knowledge and the right tools. CMMS software provides your maintenance team with both. But CMMS software doesn’t just help you fix problems. It can also help you avoid problems in the first place. When it’s your job to fix things, it’s always good to have fewer problems on your list. Five Maintenance Problems You Want to Avoid CMMS software can help you with maintenance problems, like… Missed prevent maintenance tasks. With CMMS software, you can schedule maintenance intervals based on time intervals or asset condition, which triggers a work order just before the point when system inefficiencies or failures begin to occur. Regular preventive maintenance also ensures equipment is properly calibrated and lubricated when it needs to be. Unavailable parts. The number one reason for delayed repairs is unavailable parts. CMMS manages your parts inventory, prevents under-stocking and over-stocking, and streamlines reordering. CMMS software also can determine your current inventory levels and automatically generate purchase orders based on need, reducing purchasing overhead. You also can track parts to stock based on availability. For example, if a part has a three-week lead time, you can adjust stocking levels to make sure it is available when your staff needs it. Miscommunication. CMMS software helps you eliminate lost information as well as reduce confusion and errors. With CMMS software, your employees know what their priorities should be as well as when they’ll need to complete maintenance work around other activities. With automated communication tools, CMMS software also lets the right people know the status of their maintenance requests. Historical information and technical resources. CMMS software automatically records work completed on an asset. Plus, you can link to important documents, maintenance manuals, videos, photos, supplier websites, intranets, and more. All the information is stored with the record, so it’s easily accessible the next time around. Repair or replace. CMMS software gives you hard data about the age of the equipment and the miles, hours, life-to-date repair dollars, and other metrics—so it’s easier to decide when it’s time to replace an asset instead of repair it. You’ll have all the information at your fingertips to determine the total cost of ownership, making your decision much easier. How can MPulse CMMS software help your maintenance team avoid problems like these? Leave a comment or contact us. We’re here to help.
Avoid Sticker Shock with CMMS
MPulse allows customers to avoid sticker shock with our CMMS. Two of the most powerful benefits of CMMS software are information and the insight that information provides about your maintenance operations. Most of our customers discover a few surprises after they implement MPulse Maintenance Software. A common one is when you start to look closely at the numbers for the first time. More often than not, we hear the same thing, “We’re spending HOW much on that asset?” That’s the moment you see the true value of CMMS software and its ability to improve your maintenance operations. Make Decisions Based on Hard Evidence CMMS software changes the game. It’s the best tool a maintenance manager has for gathering, analyzing, and reporting data about your equipment and your team. And by using that data, you can make decisions based on hard evidence, instead of perceptions or assumptions. We call this approach “data-driven management,” which simply means you’re making management decisions backed by reliable data instead of assumptions or guesses. [related-content] Together, CMMS software and data-driven management give you the picture you need to accurately assess how your department is functioning and where you might make changes to improve. With good data to work from, your organization can make good decisions, which will improve its ability to compete effectively and efficiently. Answer the Questions that Matter to You—and Your Boss With CMMS software, our customers find they can answer a lot of questions, like… Is it more cost effective to repair that forklift or replace it? Should I hire another staff member to reduce overtime costs? What are our biggest repair parts expenditures? We can help you set up your MPulse CMMS software to answer the questions that matter to you and your boss. Best of all, the cumulative nature of CMMS data means you can ask different questions in the future—ones you might not even think about today. It’s easy to miss key information when you’re making decisions based on assumptions or guesses. While you may be surprised how much you are spending on certain assets, knowledge is power. Suddenly you see your maintenance operations in a different light, and you can make the changes you need to make it more productive and efficient. Learn more about how MPulse can help you answer your maintenance questions. Leave a comment or contact us.
Improve Relationships Between Operators and the Maintenance Team
The relationship between your maintenance team and the people who operate the equipment they maintain does not necessarily fall into standard professional definitions. It’s crucial to improve relationships between operators and the maintenance team. While it holds some elements of a customer service relationship (the operator needs the maintenance team’s services), it’s also a partnership as one position directly affects the other, and vice versa. The operator-maintenance relationship doesn’t get a lot of attention in many organizations—and that’s to the detriment of both parties. A good working relationship between maintenance and operations personnel benefits everyone, including the organization as a whole. Who’s at Fault? The operator-maintenance relationship heavily influences key areas of any business, including… Prevention of breakdowns PM scheduling to minimize interruptions Prioritizing work based on value to the organization [related-content] Because these responsibilities directly affect productivity, there’s a tendency to want to assign blame when things go wrong. Is the breakdown due to misuse or abuse? Missed PMs? Carelessness? Neglect? Assigning the blame for downtime will cause pointless disagreements and arguments. It’s important to break away from this pattern and refocus on the best ways to prevent failure in the future. How Can We Prevent Failure? The employees who are mostly likely to trigger downtime events are often in the best position to prevent it in the future—no matter why the failure occurred. As the main users, operators have firsthand knowledge about how an asset is functioning. They also can be the source of asset breakdowns or provide insight as to why it happened. Operators often can diagnose their own machine, and they likely can prevent future downtime events. The maintenance team also holds valuable knowledge that can prevent breakdowns—like technical skills, part availability, PM schedules, and historic documentation. Working together to prevent future failures is essential. MPulse customers have found success by promoting… Training between maintenance and operators on the best ways to perform basic functions like start-up or shutdown Providing tools that promote communication—such as service requesting, PM scheduling, and automatic notification features found in CMMS software Building stronger relationships by promoting interaction outside of stressful situations, like participating in joint meetings or even sharing a lunchroom Improving the relationship between operators and maintenance starts with mutual respect and communication. You can help by ensuring all parties understand each person’s role and appreciate the benefits they bring to the organization. How have you improved the relationship between your operators and maintenance techs? Leave a comment or contact us.
Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise CMMS Software
When you’re researching CMMS, you’ll find vendors typically offer two different deployment options: cloud-based or on-premise software. Cloud-based CMMS software (sometimes called web-based CMMS software) is hosted by the vendor and accessible via any device with an Internet connection. On-premise software (sometimes called client-server software) requires you to host the software on your own server and use your own network and hardware. Maximizing your CMMS investment means ensuring you’re getting software that’s going to work for the long term. Here’s what you need to know about cloud-based vs. on-premise CMMS software. Reduced IT spending: Because cloud-based CMMS applications are located elsewhere, maintenance operations no longer need to enlist expensive (and often unavailable) IT support to set up and maintain technology infrastructure. Lower hardware costs: Because a cloud-based CMMS runs on external servers, many organizations have discovered they spend less on hardware in the office, particularly on PCs and internal servers. Always up-to-date: Because cloud-based CMMS software is centrally managed by the provider, you never need to apply software updates. Cloud-based software stays updated to the latest version in real time. Mobilization: Mobile technology is a natural fit for the maintenance industry. Cloud-based CMMS means maintainers can access data anytime and anywhere with Internet-enabled devices, like laptops, smartphones, or tablets. Lower training costs: Improved web-based and app-based user interfaces that mimic popular personal-use applications can minimize the learning curve on hardware and software. Easy scalability: Cloud-based CMMS software makes tasks like adding a new user or expanding reporting capabilities easy, so you can keep up in a fast-changing environment. Data security: No more worrying about hard drive failures or data-loss catastrophes. A cloud-based CMMS system backs up your data and secures it in a professionally managed environment. Plus, you own your data and can access it at any time. While both on-premise and cloud-based CMMS software work, there’s a difference in the long-term costs. On-premise software is a bit like the flip phones of 15-20 years ago. You can still make calls and send texts, but it can’t compete with capabilities of a modern smartphone. Cloud-based CMMS software helps maintenance operations get applications up and running faster while reducing onsite implementation and management costs. Your maintenance team will save time and money getting your CMMS system working—and you’ll be able to get on to the real work of maintaining and repairing critical assets. Contact us for more information.
Maintenance Team Recognition is Long Overdue
Last month, Thomas, a young maintenance tech at a local school district, saved someone’s life. Literally. He was in the right place at the right time with the right training (in CPR). He got a lot of local recognition, all of which was well deserved. And as the news spread about his heroics, more stories emerged about everyday things that Thomas did that also deserved recognition—the smaller, but still important, ways that he makes his workplace a safer and more efficient place. It was refreshing. Maintenance techs know when things go wrong, the maintenance department often gets the blame. But the maintenance teams often don’t get the credit they deserve when things go well. Recognizing the contributions of the maintenance professionals is long overdue. So, how do we change that? It’s Time to Raise Awareness Maintenance often gets overlooked until there is a failure. To combat that problem, maintenance professionals themselves need to raise the level of awareness of what they provide to the organization. We can’t wait for others to notice. We need to advocate for ourselves. [related-content] Tell your story. Look for opportunities to share your projects, goals, accomplishments, challenges, and results. Make sure the people in positions of influence understand what your department does and the benefit your team brings to the organization. Do you want other people to understand the real value of your maintenance personnel? Start by asking what they’re worth when a breakdown has your production line at a standstill. As one MPulse Facebook follower said, “Maintenance is like an insurance policy. You don’t know why you pay for it until you wreck your car.” It’s Time to Reach Out to Others No one understands maintenance like other maintenance professionals. So, we need to work together. Join or start a chapter of a professional association (like the Association for Maintenance Professionals or the International Facility Management Association) in your area. Find out what’s going on at other plants or facilities. Get your staff involved in service clubs and organizations. Encourage your team members to give back to their communities. These outreach activities are great ways to promote what maintenance technicians do and how much people rely on them. Maintenance professionals often complain they don’t get the respect they deserve. So, let’s change that, starting in your own organization. Leave a comment or contact us to share how you make sure your maintenance team gets the credit they deserve.
CMMS Software Security Must-Knows
CMMS data is an organizational asset, and it needs to be protected like any other asset. You don’t hand the keys to your office over to just anyone—and you don’t want unauthorized access to your CMMS software either. As a maintenance professional, your goal should be to prevent unauthorized access, misuse, modification, unintended deletion, or malfunction of your data. Modern CMMS software can help you achieve that goal. Here’s what you should know about CMMS software security. Network Security Security starts with the network. If your CMMS software is hosted internally, your IT team will be responsible for ensuring the security of your network. However, cloud-based CMMS software runs on external servers. If you have cloud-based maintenance software—or you’re thinking about buying it—be sure your CMMS data is backed up and secured in a professionally managed environment. [related-content] MPulse provides a SSAE 16 Type II certified cloud hosting and recovery service. Our goal is to offer solutions that combine certified production deployments with fully tested, disaster recovery services to provide the highest levels of availability, security, responsiveness, and recovery. Single-Sign-On (SSO) / Active Directory Integration for Cloud-Hosted Customers SAML SSO enables cloud-based CMMS software to integrate with security directories that determine who gets access to what computers, networks, applications, and services. SSO offers many advantages for organizations that want to streamline and control access to cloud-based software. For example, with our SSO option, MPulse users can log into their computers once and have immediate access to their hosted CMMS from MPulse. MPulse’s SSO option extends an organization’s internal Microsoft Active Directory to the MPulse cloud environment. This feature supports multiple identity providers (including Microsoft ADFS and Okta) as well as user self-provisioning and custom claims for populating user data. Access Control Within your CMMS database, you’ll want to protect sensitive information by limiting which records your employees see depending on their role in the organization. In other words, you want the right people to have the right access to the right records. MPulse Maintenance Software’s Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) was designed for this purpose—enabling you to reduce errors in data entry, prevent unauthorized users from viewing or editing data, gain tighter control over data access, and eliminate the “data clutter” of unnecessary information. Have questions about CMMS software security? We have answers. Contact us.
Attract Younger Employees to the Maintenance Field
Maintenance is an aging field. With many long-time employees retiring at a rapid rate, finding younger people to fill positions is one of the biggest challenges facing today’s maintenance managers. So, we asked our customers what they’re doing to attract younger employees to the maintenance field. They gave us three great suggestions. Embrace New Technology The younger generations have spent their entire lives surrounded by technology, and these employees have a greater understanding of its capabilities. As such, these workers will not only embrace new technology in the workplace, but they will also expect it. While much of the resistance to new technology common in older generations is nonexistent with these team members, it’s replaced by expectations that the company will keep its technology up to date for these workers to do their jobs. That includes everything from tools to mobile technology to CMMS software to Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices. Value Maintenance Work Younger employees are looking for meaningful work where they feel like they make a difference. Employers need to emphasize the contributions of the maintenance team, making sure everyone understands the important role they play in the organization. Employers need to raise the level of awareness of their maintenance program. Look for opportunities to share their projects, goals, accomplishments, and results. Don’t be afraid to self-promote wherever you can, both internally and also in the local media or national trade press. Invest in Your People It’s hard to pick up all the skills maintenance workers typically need on the job. So, our customers recommend working closely with local high schools and colleges to find people with the right aptitude, even if they don’t have the skills right away. Employers should create a professional growth/training program for the maintenance staff. Professional growth programs are a great recruiting tool. Work with management to provide compensation for tuition, books, and fees. Reward strong work performance with additional opportunities for education. It’s tough to find the right people for maintenance positions. Thinking outside the box can give you the advantage you need. How has your organization tried to attract younger people to the maintenance field? What’s worked? What hasn’t? Leave a comment or contact us.
MPulse Software Now Integrates with Virtually Any Other Software or System
As part of its continuous efforts to significantly reduce the complexity of efforts to share data between critical business systems, MPulse Software, Inc. is pleased to announce the completion of several customer projects integrating MPulse Maintenance Software with other leading software programs. These recent projects used MPulse’s cutting-edge DataLink Integration Adapter to connect MPulse with a broad range of other applications, files, databases and systems, including Microsoft Dynamics Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software Infor M3 ERP software Oracle Peoplesoft Enterprise ERP software Explorer Eclipse Construction Software StarRez higher education housing software NexTraq vehicle and asset tracking software Zonar fleet management software Micrsosoft SQL Server Comma-separated value (CSV) files Text (TXT) files Microsoft Excel files (XLS and XLSX) Web Services XML files Numerous custom APIs, and Many more. DataLink Integration Adapter is designed to meet virtually any data integration need, and it’s compatible with a wide array of file and data exchange formats. By using MPulse DataLink Integration Adapter, customers can quickly and easily move data into and out of MPulse using a familiar, intuitive interface. According to MPulse president, Jason Johnson, “DataLink makes it possible for users with much less technical expertise to successfully synchronize external data with MPulse’s market-leading maintenance management software. You no longer need to spend the big bucks for systems integration consultants to get your systems talking to each other.” DataLink Integration Adapter enables MPulse customers to… Import data to MPulse from files, databases, or other applications Export data from MPulse to other applications, files, or databases Schedule imports and exports based on time or file changes Save unlimited “mapping profiles” to your data sources and targets For more information or a free CMMS software quote, contact MPulse at (800) 944-1796 (USA and Canada) or +1 (541) 302-6677 (outside of USA and Canada), or visit the MPulse website at www.mpulsesoftware.com.