Seven Ways a CMMS Helps Boost Manufacturing Productivity
Even with Budget Cuts
A well-configured computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) that is engineered to streamline maintenance activities from start to finish makes it much easier to achieve maintenance goals with speed, accuracy, and efficiency. It empowers facility managers to execute manufacturing maintenance management more efficiently, while increasing asset life, reducing downtime, and improving productivity on a daily basis.
The following are seven core advantages a CMMS brings to every facility manager who is struggling to improve maintenance and reduce cost.
1. Real-Time Visibility
A CMMS offers facility managers increased control over maintenance activity through efficient use of the existing data sources, intelligent dashboards, and auto-generated reports. Real-time insights into KPIs across maintenance functions bring transparency and improve accountability at all levels. All the information stored in a CMMS can be shared across the organization to facilitate informed decision-making. Computerized tracking also makes it easy to identify productivity drags of machines and technicians for improved equipment maintenance.
2. Automated Maintenance Tasks
A CMMS is designed to keep constant track of all preventive and predictive maintenance schedules and send instant notifications to maintenance technicians when a task is pending or overdue. It ensures that vital equipment is inspected and maintained regularly and serviced on time to avoid downtime and disruption caused by last-minute repairs and expensive replacements.
3. Better Maintenance Prioritization and Faster Execution
With a CMMS, maintenance managers can send instant alerts when operating limits are breached or an emergency arises. If an alarm spikes, it also triggers an immediate corrective maintenance work order to facilitate proactive inspection before the bottleneck turns into a total equipment failure. Even unregistered users can log a request if some machine needs a quick fix. The manager can then evaluate the work requests, determine their priority and accordingly assign the work. When the work order is completed, the designated technician can then notify the maintenance manager.
4. Instant Access to Asset History
A production facility houses hundreds of vital pieces of equipment that need repair and maintenance on a daily basis, and each asset has a unique record containing all the details regarding parts replaced, labor hours spent, downtime, breakdown, and service life. Tracking maintenance schedules in asset-management software ensures that every piece of information is documented and stored for reference in case of an unexpected breakdown. This reduces the troubleshooting time even if a new technician is assigned the task and the old technician has left the organization.
5. Quick and Accurate Reporting
Maintenance managers can efficiently pull data from preventive maintenance software for analysis and informed decision-making. This data can help in identifying impending equipment failures and performance bottlenecks, and determining the root cause of prolonged downtime. Easy access to precise reports enables facility managers to shift their focus from reactive maintenance activity to proactive inspections, timely preventive maintenance, and periodic replacement of spare parts to keep operations up and running around the year.
6. Easy Cost Tracking
With asset management software in place, the maintenance crew can log everything from replaced parts and troubleshooting time to operating limits and downtime. The CMMS then becomes a centralized database for obtaining all the information concerning maintenance costs. It eliminates the need to scour through files and search for receipts and dockets to see where the maintenance budget is being spent. All you need to do is simply run the costing report.
7. Improved Inventory Control and Safety Compliance
With a CMMS, maintenance managers can check the inventory levels and supplies on one centralized platform to ensure that no duplicate purchases are made and the parts that are running out are reordered on time. Easy access to inventory levels keeps maintenance activity on track and reduces downtime going forward. A CMMS also facilitates the scheduling and tracking of all safety checks to ensure that the facility complies with all applicable OSHA regulations and is always prepared for safety audits.
Asset management software is a very useful tool that helps maintenance managers get more organized by automating mundane maintenance schedules. It frees up additional time so that maintenance managers can shift their focus from finding issues and fixing them to improving equipment reliability and reducing repair expenses. When fully used, the capabilities of a computerized maintenance management system can also boost an organization’s bottom line by reducing downtime and increasing productivity and profits.
