Keep on Top of Fire Safety Inspections with CMMS Software
When I visit with MPulse customers, I ask a lot of questions like, “What takes up the most time in your day?” I almost always hear the same response from facility managers—fire protection systems and safety inspections. It makes sense. Fire protection is a key component of the health and safety of building occupants. So spending that time wisely makes a big impact on your workload. “Fire safety and related systems take up about 15-25% of my work week,” said Joe, a facility manager for a medium-sized healthcare organization in the Southwest. “Making those tasks more efficient has a big impact on what I can accomplish.” Time management was one of the biggest reasons Joe’s organization invested in CMMS software about four years ago. “We had Excel spreadsheets and printed checklists,” he said. “But keeping the paperwork updated was taking more time than doing the actual tests and inspections.” Fire Protection Systems Maintenance Joe’s team of 12 maintenance technicians are responsible for the inspection, testing, and maintenance of the organization’s fire protection system—which includes fire extinguishers, automatic sprinklers, fire alarms, heat sensors, and other equipment. “Letting these tasks fall through the cracks is not an option,” Joe said. “People’s lives are at stake.” When Joe started using MPulse, he began by documenting all fire safety equipment as well as the inspections and tests that needed to be done on a regular basis. He also recorded vendor information, such as the company he uses to conduct standpipe flow tests, which are required every five years. “It took some time,” Joe said. “But it paid off. Having that information at my fingertips makes all the difference when things are busy. And things are always busy around here.” For example, Joe’s team maintains more than 500 fire extinguishers alone. The location and equipment information of each one is documented in MPulse—helping his team quickly see what needs to be tested, what needs to be replaced, or what has gone missing. “Imagine trying to keep track of that information with just a spreadsheet,” Joe said. Fire Safety Regulations for Healthcare Organizations Like all facilities, Joe’s organization is subject to audits to make sure it’s compliant with local fire codes as well as the standards of the Joint Commission, an organization that accredits and certifies U.S. healthcare organizations and programs. “When the auditors are here, our CMMS documentation is vital,” Joe said. “Everything is recorded, and we can answer any questions with just a few clicks. It’s not only a time saver. It reduces the stress level because we know we’re compliant before they walk through the door.” That’s what I like to hear from facility managers—reduced stress levels when you know what needs to be done. How does CMMS software help your facility maintain its fire protection system? How does it reduce your stress level? Leave a comment or contact me.
Inventory Control Management | Trending Topic
Last time, I shared a story from Cathy, an MPulse customer whose organization continues to improve its maintenance strategy based on hard data from their MPulse Software, Inc. We’ve talk about the surprises her company found after it first implemented CMMS software and the discovery that inventory control is a key part of their larger goal—controlling the cost of maintenance. In this post, Cathy tells us how MPulse CMMS software eased the process of inventory counts and, as a part of that process, the ability to identify surplus parts. Identifying Surplus Parts Like many organizations, Cathy’s company was storing surplus parts—parts the company has not used in a given period of time. Those parts were just sitting on the shelves, forgotten, but still costing the organization money. Cathy’s team knew they were storing unneeded parts. But it was an easy thing to ignore… until Cathy reviewed their MPulse CMMS data and saw the numbers on the report. [related-content] “Once we identified how much of our inventory was either overstocked or outdated, we knew we were missing an opportunity to save some cold, hard cash,” Cathy said. It wasn’t easy. “It was a bigger job than any of us first realized,” she continued. “But eventually we all benefited from the extra room in the storage area and reductions in manpower to count them. In addition, it freed up capital to use for parts we actually needed.” Cyclical Inventory Counts Cathy’s company began thinking about inventory differently. For example, Cathy’s company used to do an annual inventory for tax and financial accounting purposes. But Cathy found a different way that worked better. Now the organization does cyclical inventory counts, where her team inventories 1/12 of the stockroom on a monthly basis. That new procedure, coupled with the removal of the surplus parts, cut down the time the team spent on counting inventory by 20 percent. Cathy’s company is a great example of how organizations can use CMMS data to improve their maintenance strategy. You might be shaking your head right now. That’s because you and I both know that one of the most frustrating issues in maintenance is inventory control. But like Cathy’s company, inventory control can help you find real savings for your organization. As I’ve said before, it’s important not to ignore it. How does your organization control inventory? What’s been your experience? Leave a comment or contact me.
Do You Know What’s Sitting on Your Stockroom’s Shelves?
While I’ve long advocated for the benefits of inventory control, it’s not a simple topic for maintenance managers. I’ve seen systems where techs just order parts on an as-needed basis, and I’ve helped companies develop sophisticated inventory control systems using CMMS inventory control software. Wherever your organization falls on this spectrum, it’s likely you can benefit from the inventory control features within your CMMS software. And the benefits might surprise you. Remember Cathy, whose company began asking different questions about their maintenance strategy after implementing MPulse Software, Inc? Those questions led her company to implement advanced inventory control features, and the results were very interesting. “When we decided to improve our parts tracking, we needed five things from our MPulse CMMS software,” Cathy said. These were… Purchase price and date Vendor information Physical location Past usage rates (to calculate appropriate stock levels and reorder points) Notifications when parts or inventory levels fall below minimum stock levels Inventory Turnover Once the new stockroom inventory software system was set up, Cathy’s managers first looked at inventory turnover—a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period, such as a year. “In our industry, our goal is an annual inventory turnover of 3 or 4,” Cathy explained. “But when we looked at our CMMS data, we saw our inventory turnover rate was just under 1. That’s not good.” Cathy’s organization was spending a lot of money storing and managing parts they didn’t need. That means they were wasting money spent on… Increased square footage to store parts Unused or underused parts Inventory carrying costs Staff time to manage parts Staff time to perform annual or cyclical inventory audits Lack of correct parts on hand for staff when they are needed Inventory Lead Times To tackle this problem, Cathy was tasked with improving the inventory turnover rate. She used MPulse stockroom inventory software to help employees manage the inventory based on need, availability, and order time. “We have some critical assets that need parts with a long lead time. They come from Europe, and sometimes it takes several weeks to get them,” Cathy explained. “With MPulse, we adjusted our stocking levels by calculating average usage rates by the part’s lead time in days. It helped prevent both having too many and not enough of key items.” Inventory turnover and lead times just two of the important parts of inventory control. Next time, we’ll discuss other inventory control issues that Cathy’s company found. How does your organization manage stockroom inventory? What would you like to do better? Leave a comment or contact me.
MPulse Employee Supports Local Down Syndrome Organization
As part of its focus on giving back to our communities, MPulse Software, Inc is pleased to recognize the efforts of MPulse product specialist Dan Nagel, who recently became involved in a charity golf event hosted by Dads Appreciating Down Syndrome (DADS) of the Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Indiana. Thanks to a generous donation from the Donald Ross Golf Course, $75 of the event’s $100 green fee went directly to the DADS group. The money will help provide therapies for local children with Down syndrome. “More people are diagnosed with Down syndrome than any other genetic condition,” Dan said. “But it’s the least funded. The money we raised will help local children with Down syndrome receive therapies that will make a huge difference in their lives.” One in every 691 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, making it the most common genetic condition. Approximately 400,000 Americans have Down syndrome and about 6,000 babies with Down syndrome are born in the United States each year, according to the National Down Syndrome Society. DADS is a community group for fathers of children who have Down syndrome. In addition to providing support and a sense of community, DADS also advocates for medical, educational, financial, social, and other causes applicable to people with Down syndrome. The Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Indiana is a support service for children and adults in the area. Dan’s participation in his local DADS group is personal. He joined after his newborn son was diagnosed with Down syndrome. “I didn’t know much about Down syndrome before Rowen was born,” he explained. “The more I learned, the more I realized that even though it’s the most common genetic condition, it doesn’t receive the attention of researchers or the financial support that could make a big difference.” MPulse encourages and rewards community service by allowing employees paid time off work to contribute. “Giving back to our communities is part of the MPulse company culture,” explained Steve Brous, MPulse President and CEO. “Dan’s a great example of someone who is making a difference in the lives of local children, while also encouraging support for people with Down syndrome both nationally and around the world.” The mission of the Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Indiana is to enhance the lives of people affected by Down syndrome, advocate on their behalf, provide information and support to families and professionals, and promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome in northeast Indiana.
How CMMS Helps You Answer Questions You Didn’t Know You Should Ask
Most organizations implement CMMS software because they need to solve a problem. Maybe it’s improving work order management, capturing real-time repair data, or streamlining preventive maintenance schedules. Maybe it’s establishing better inventory control or documenting maintenance procedures. Once you solve one problem, however, something else inevitably comes up. And new problems mean you need to ask new questions that you might not have considered. But with CMMS software, now you have a powerful tool in your corner. Value of CMMS Data The power of CMMS software is in the data you collect. And the value of that data compounds over time—just like compounding interest on your bank account. That’s what MPulse customer Cathy discovered. Her department bought CMMS software about three years ago to track—and control—their cost of maintenance. With MPulse, Cathy could easily monitor the company’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and run monthly reports for her managers. “In the beginning, our needs were simple,” she said. “We were looking for work order management, preventive maintenance scheduling, and service requesting capability. MPulse had all of those things, and more.” But things changed. New Questions, Same CMMS Data “After about a year, we reviewed our standard KPIs—PM completion rates, emergency repairs, response times, etc.,” Cathy said. “Then our management team began asking other questions—questions that we didn’t even know to ask when we started using MPulse.” Those questions dug a little deeper and included things like inventory counts, regulatory compliance documentation, and labor performance. Some of those questions prompted Cathy’s organization to add MPulse’s software extensions. “We upgraded to Advanced Inventory to expand our inventory control processes,” she said. “We realized how important inventory control was to our larger goal of cost control.” But other questions were answered by creating new reports with the same data they’d already collected. “Labor performance was a big one for us,” she said. “We knew some of our techs were faster at specific tasks. But when we looked at our labor data, we realized we needed to cross train more employees so more than one person could do the work. We also created standard repair times for specific tasks, which helped set realistic expectations for the team.” As a result of reviewing their CMMS data, Cathy’s organization ended up refining their training process and improving their maintenance procedure documentation. She said it’s made a difference in measurable ways—like improved response times—as well as ways that are harder to measure, like employee morale. “That’s just one example of what we’ve found by mining our CMMS data,” Cathy explained. “I know we are just skimming the surface. Tomorrow we’ll be better able to answer other questions that haven’t even occurred to us today.” How has CMMS data helped you answer questions about maintenance management? Leave a comment or contact us.
Does Your Preventive Maintenance Plan Cost Too Much?
Maintenance managers know that the backbone of any maintenance program is a preventive maintenance plan. Generally, we assume that preventive maintenance is a good thing and it will prevent downtime. But there are certain circumstances where it’s more complicated. That’s what MPulse customer Angie discovered. As a team supervisor for a government agency, Angie re-examined her team’s maintenance strategy after she reviewed her organization’s CMMS data. Angie’s department maintains radio equipment, which can be located in remote areas that are physically challenging to access. In Angie’s case, mountainous terrain made it particularly difficult. Historically her radio technicians would schedule preventive maintenance twice a year (in spring and autumn) when the weather made access easier. After reviewing work order data and equipment readings in her MPulse Software, Inc, Angie wondered if it was more efficient to only do those tasks once a year by using remote site monitoring technology. The Value of CMMS Data for Preventive Maintenance Angie knew she needed more than just a hunch when she proposed her idea to her department head. She did some research and tested her theory. “Most of our assets in these locations are classified as critical equipment,” she said. “It wasn’t enough to tell my managers that I thought this would work. I had to prove it. Equipment failure was a serious concern.” Her tests showed that with a few tweaks to their preventive maintenance plan, the technicians could reduce their remote area visits to once a year. That change would reduce the preventive maintenance tasks for those assets by half, which would save… Parts and material costs Labor costs Transportation costs Environmental impact Plus, those funds could be reallocated to other areas. Data-Driven Maintenance Management Although Angie’s plan seems like a no-brainer, not everyone was on board at first. “I ran into some resistance—the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ attitude,” she said. But with MPulse, she could track failure rates and equipment measurements. Historical data backed up her theory. “I eventually convinced them to allow a 1-year trial,” she said. “Without that data, it would have been more challenging.” The result? Angie’s department has experienced no additional emergency shutdowns since the change three years ago. Advantages of Condition-Based Maintenance Time-based preventive maintenance programs are a standard in our field. But condition-based maintenance can reveal different—and sometimes better—ways to do things. Angie’s team plans to expand on her idea. “We’ll use MPulse’s Condition-Based Maintenance feature to keep tabs on our critical assets by recording temperatures and other performance indicators,” she said. “That’ll make it easier to identify problems before they happen. And preventing outages is always a good thing in this profession.” Interestingly, Angie’s managers are more receptive this time. She credits the success of her first proposal as the reason her other ideas have gained support faster. Is it time to re-examine your preventive maintenance plan? Learn more about how MPulse CMMS software and condition-based maintenance can help.
Using CMMS Software to Support Lean Manufacturing
How do you eliminate waste in your organization? That’s the basic tenant of lean manufacturing—an idea that continues to develop after decades of refining by some of history’s top business managers. The term was coined by James Womack in his 1990 book, The Machine That Changed the World, although its roots lie in the Toyota Production System of the 1950s. In a nutshell, lean manufacturing considers the use of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful. It will come as no surprise to maintenance professionals that lean manufacturing has a tremendous impact on their department. From increasing asset life cycles to reducing scrap material, the maintenance team continually works towards reducing waste. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that maintenance teams were working under the lean manufacturing philosophy long before the concept was named. “Our management team embraced lean manufacturing during the recession,” explained Ed, a maintenance and engineering manager for a multi-national manufacturer. “But it wasn’t a new idea for the maintenance crew. We were already looking for inefficiencies—or waste. It’s our job to eliminate as much inefficiency as possible.” Lean Manufacturing and CMMS Software One of Ed’s biggest tools? His MPulse CMMS software, which pinpoints areas where productivity can be improved. CMMS applications help his maintenance team find and eliminate inefficiencies, or waste. But Ed is the first to admit that defining waste isn’t always simple. Lean manufacturing is a journey, not a destination, he explained. “Now we’re focusing on other forms of waste,” he said. “There’s obvious stuff, like stocking unneeded parts and tracking your annual inventory turns. But there’s also wasted time—when someone has to finish one task before someone else can do another task. Or when the production team needs something repaired to get things moving again.” The Categories of Waste Lean manufacturing experts categorized waste into eight types, many of which directly relate to maintenance tasks: Overproduction Wait time Inventory Transportation Over-processing Movement between tasks Defects Workforce All of these elements boil down to one thing—money. Waste costs your company money, and eventually it costs your customers as well in terms of higher prices and/or delays. And both pricing and availability, of course, are directly related to your organization’s ability to compete in the current business environment. Not Just for Manufacturers In spite of the name, the lean manufacturing idea doesn’t just apply to manufacturers. I’ve seen lean manufacturing ideas applied in facility management, professional services, and other businesses. That’s because every organization wants to streamline workflows—thereby reducing wasted materials, time, energy, etc. Does your organization subscribe to the lean manufacturing philosophy? How do you eliminate waste or inefficiencies with your CMMS software? Leave a comment about the many applications of our CMMS or contact us.
How CMMS Software Helps with Asset Disposal
When I talk to maintenance managers researching CMMS software, we usually discuss work order management, preventive maintenance scheduling, inventory management, and the many other benefits of streamlining maintenance workflows—all with the goal of production. But down the line, it also helps when it’s time to dispose of assets. That was the situation facing Nate, a maintenance manager at a medium-sized healthcare facility in the Midwest. While Nate is relatively new to his job, his company was an early adopter of CMMS. So Nate is experiencing the benefits—and the challenges—of decisions made by someone else more than a decade ago. “We’re upgrading some equipment and reconfiguring our office space,” he told me. “Which means now I have all this equipment that needs to go… well, somewhere.” Asset Disposal Options Asset disposal is inevitable. Nate has seven choices for each piece of equipment: Redeploying or reusing somewhere else in the organization Refurbishing or reconditioning equipment to extend the life cycle Participating in the manufacturer’s “buy-back” program, where available Selling on the open market or using an auction service (locally or online) Reclaiming or recycling Trading in the old equipment as part of the purchase of new equipment Sending it to a landfill. The Value of CMMS Data When it’s time to make the right choice for asset disposal, your CMMS data becomes very valuable. CMMS software can document the purchase price, the total cost of maintenance, and… with a few calculations, it’s value at the time of disposal. Additionally, there’s the added benefit of providing all the maintenance records to the new owner—potentially increasing the sale price. Thanks to some foresight on his predecessor’s part, Nate knows a lot about his assets: in-service dates, warranty information, original costs, etc. Additionally, he has years of maintenance data gathered with each work order as well as hazardous materials documentation. “They did a great job of setting things up,” Nate said. “Plus, now I understand what I really need, so I can start now to make my job easier later on.” Resale Value In the future, Nate plans on using his CMMS data to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO), which will help him forecast when it’s time to repair or replace equipment. His organization will benefit from these data-driven decisions that will minimize disposal costs as well as increase an asset’s potential resale value. How could your organization benefit from CMMS software to manage the cradle-to-grave costs of your assets? Contact us. We can help.
How Integrating Your MPulse CMMS/EAM and Accounting System Can Improve Financial Visibility
During a recent site visit with an MPulse customer, I had lunch with a group of the company’s maintenance techs. Their boss wasn’t around, so it was a great time to get their honest, uncensored opinions on almost any subject. I asked them a question that seems simple, but reveals a lot: “What’s your least favorite part of the job?” Their answer will not surprise you. Manual data entry ranked #1 for least favorite task. I confess, data entry would be high on my list, and I bet it would be on your list too. Data entry isn’t just tedious. Your entire organization risks its financial viability when it relies on error-prone, manual data entry. As a business owner, I’ve experienced first-hand how eliminating manual data entry frees up time and reduces errors that cost my company money. The solution? Software integration. Benefits of CMMS/EAM and Financial Application Integration For the maintenance department, integrating your MPulse Software, Inc and your company’s accounting system offers two major benefits: Increasing financial visibility Decreasing time-consuming, error-prone, manual data entry. How? Integrating your MPulse CMMS software and your financial application of choice keeps both applications in sync so users can be confident they are working with accurate and current information. Best Practices for CMMS/EAM and Financial Application Integration Here’s a typical scenario. As new Inventory Items and Purchase Requisitions are entered in MPulse, that information flows automatically to the accounting system in a timely fashion. Then as transactions related to those records are created in the accounting system, they are synced back to MPulse to update relevant information and provide financial history for the Inventory Item or Purchase Requisition. Imagine… up-to-date information right at your fingertips whenever you need it. Nice, huh? Right now you may be grumbling about the time and cost to do that kind of integration. Not long ago, you would be right. But today’s maintenance manager has advanced tools like MPulse DataLink Integration Adapter to significantly reduce data sharing complexity. Now there’s a lot of different ways to integrate your MPulse CMMS software and your financial application. So we’ve published Integration Best Practices to pass on the valuable information we’ve learned about data integration from first-hand experience. It’s a great resource for any maintenance manager thinking about streamlining maintenance workflows. How could data integration between your CMMS software and your accounting system help your organization? Leave a comment or contact us.
Why Scalability Is So Important in CMMS Software
Adapting to change is the mantra of a modern maintenance operation. But sometimes it’s hard to see the changes coming. Such was the case for Scott, a maintenance manager with a relatively small company, where he supervises 10 technicians. His company bought a new business, and they planned to expand their operations—and their maintenance team. “I had no idea this was coming,” Scott told me. “But now I’ll have more than double the maintenance staff. It feels a little overwhelming.” Your Maintenance Needs Change When your organization grows, maintenance feels the impact. Suddenly you’ve got more equipment to maintain, additional production to support, new staff members to manage, extra inventory to store, and different safety procedures to perform. Scott bought MPulse Software, Inc about three years ago, but what he needed then was very different from what he needs today. His company’s expansion means Scott needs to manage and track more in his same 8-hour shift. That’s makes his maintenance data even more important. Scott and I reviewed his changing needs, and we came up with a plan to implement some CMMS software upgrades to enhance his ability to track and manage the sudden growth. He was pleased to discover how easy and cost effective it was to add on to his MPulse CMMS software without having to start from scratch. How? Software scalability. Your CMMS Software Needs Change Too Scalability simply means Scott’s MPulse Software, Inc can accommodate changes in size or volume as his needs change. In addition to adding user licenses for new employees, Scott also added MPulse Role-Based Access Control so the right people have the right access to the right records. And it doesn’t stop there. Scott knows his company has big plans for further expansions, and he believes down the road he’ll need more advanced features like Request Approval Routing Manager. Plus, he’s researching the benefits of MPulse Enterprise Management Suite to connect his MPulse databases when his company opens new locations. “It’s a relief to know I’ve got great options with MPulse as our company’s growth continues,” he said. Scalability Makes Sense From a business standpoint, software scalability is cost effective because you can buy what you need when you need it. Things change. You can’t predict these changes, yet CMMS software scalability ensures you are prepared when they happen. As a business owner, software scalability simply makes sense. It’s what I would want, and I believe our maintenance customers want it too. When your small company becomes a large enterprise, like Scott’s organization, MPulse Software, Inc is there to support your growth. Learn more about how CMMS software scalability can help your organization. We’re just a phone call away.