The introduction of maintenance software can help to make maintenance processes more efficient and effective. But before optimization can begin, basic tasks such as creating schedules must first [...]
The introduction of maintenance software can help to make maintenance processes more efficient and effective. But before optimization can begin, basic tasks such as creating schedules must first be mastered. In this article, we show how maintenance software can help improve maintenance processes and what steps should be taken to get started.
The role of the maintenance planner in a CMMS
Maintenance processes are critical to maintaining plant performance and avoiding downtime. A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can help streamline these processes by providing a variety of functions ranging from creating maintenance schedules to monitoring hours of operation. A key component of a CMMS is the maintenance planner, which facilitates the creation and management of maintenance schedules.
The maintenance planner is a tool that allows the maintenance team to schedule and organize maintenance activities in an easy-to-use calendar. A well-designed maintenance planner in a CMMS or maintenance software stores all the necessary information about the maintenance work, including the dates due, the type of maintenance and the resources required. The maintenance planner’s reminder function can help the maintenance team keep track of upcoming maintenance tasks to ensure they are completed on time.
A CMMS with Maintenance Planner also provides the ability to collect data and analytics that can help optimize maintenance schedules and identify bottlenecks. By analyzing data such as operating hours and maintenance costs, potential improvements can be uncovered to perform maintenance faster and more efficiently.
Overall, a CMMS with Maintenance Planner can help make maintenance processes more efficient and effective by providing the maintenance team with all the tools and data they need to plan, monitor and perform maintenance work. The reminder function of the maintenance planner is an important aid for the maintenance team to ensure that all upcoming maintenance work is carried out on time.
Create simple work orders with maintenance software
Simple work orders are an important part of maintenance processes because they ensure that maintenance tasks are performed properly. A CMMS can help improve the work order process. You can decide for yourself whether, for example, maintenance employees pick work orders for themselves from a list, or whether you assign them yourself to the individual responsible.
Once the work order is created and assigned, the maintenance staff has it in front of them. A well-designed work order is important to ensure that maintenance or repair work is performed effectively and efficiently.
A work order should provide clear instructions and information to help the maintenance team perform the maintenance work. Important elements of a work order include:
– A description of the problem or maintenance work that needs to be performed.
– The facility or equipment that needs to be serviced, which has been previously entered into the CMMS
– A list of the necessary materials, tools, and resources
– A due date or deadline for the maintenance work to be performed
– A list of the collaborating employees who will be involved in performing the maintenance work
– Instructions for performing the maintenance work, including any special requirements or safety precautions in an interactive checklist
Of course, just a title to a work order will suffice and many employees will already know what needs to be done. The thing is, every additional item that is incorporated adds value for the future. So you can take the old simple work orders as a template for future maintenance and fill them with more and more content, which can then build a knowledge base.
Of course, just a title is enough and many employees will already know what to do. But you can also approach the issue by saving work orders as templates and improving them over time. They can become a valuable knowledge base for the maintenance team.
In modern CMMS solutions, such as Elara, if a problem reoccurs, the maintenance team can quickly search the history to quickly find a solution.
Storing work orders as templates in a CMMS can also help the maintenance team work faster and more effectively, especially when onboarding new employees. New employees can access the templates to quickly and easily understand how maintenance work is performed and what steps are required.
Meters in the maintenance software
After implementing simple work orders and maintenance by time intervals, companies can achieve another level of maintenance planning by integrating operating hour meters into their maintenance software. An example of the use of operating hour meters is the maintenance of machines that have reached a certain number of operating hours, e.g., an initial maintenance is triggered after the first 1000 operating hours and every 500 hours thereafter.
In a CMMS, operating hours can be recorded for machines and maintenance tasks can be triggered automatically when the operating hours reach a certain threshold. This allows the maintenance team to schedule and perform preventive maintenance before a breakdown occurs.
There are also other values and counters that can be integrated into maintenance software, such as sensors for temperature or pressure. However, it is important to note that introducing too many features at once can be overwhelming for companies implementing maintenance software for the first time. It is advisable to have a focus and only integrate additional features when the team is ready for them.
Example of the introduction of maintenance software at a customer with no previous experience.
When the customer first implemented the maintenance software, it was important that all work that needed to be done was recorded. So the maintenance staff started documenting their work and creating simple work orders to record the maintenance work that needed to be done.
Over time, they have started to schedule work orders for future maintenance work, and the calendar function of the CMMS has helped them to better plan and coordinate their work. This has already made the day-to-day work a little easier and has contributed to greater efficiency in the maintenance process.
The customer was also able to gain more and more knowledge about the assets by using the maintenance software. After a while, he realized that it made sense to maintain certain parts of the plant after certain time intervals in order to avoid breakdowns. Step by step, he introduced preventive maintenance by integrating it into the software’s maintenance planner. This way, the employees were always reminded of the intervals and the documentation happened quasi automatically.
As a next step, the customer plans to integrate operating hour meters into the maintenance software in order to plan and carry out maintenance and repairs even more precisely.
Conclusion: Implementing maintenance software can be simple and offers great potential for the future.
Implementing maintenance software can offer a variety of benefits to organizations, including streamlining maintenance processes, reducing downtime and increasing asset performance. Implementation can also be made simple by focusing on a specific focus, such as simple work orders or maintenance by time intervals, and implementing them step by step.
An example of this is a customer who first had their maintenance staff document all work themselves and then gradually introduced preventive maintenance. Adding hour meters can also be an important step to better plan maintenance work and minimize downtime.
However, it is important to emphasize that implementing maintenance software can only be the beginning. In the future, companies can also rely on predictive maintenance and other advanced technologies to further optimize their maintenance processes.
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