Which Is the Main Tool for Effective Maintenance Management?

Maintenance can be very hectic for the organization because big level organizations have a plethora of assets. There are lots of tools that help in maintenance management. However, you need to know about maintenance management tools so that you can use them effectively.

Which Is the Most Important Maintenance Management Tool for Business?

The most important maintenance management tool for business is CMMS (Computerized maintenance management system) or AMS (Asset Management Software). These maintenance management tools are used for maintenance purposes.

Maintenance management tool AMS or CMMS is used when you have hundreds of assets and scheduling maintenance is not simple. This software automatically schedules maintenance so it saves time for managers and they can focus on other activities.

It increases assets and equipment lifecycle, as the automated software provides data and it tracks asset life cycle from asset procurement to asset disposal. Furthermore, with the help of data, you can know if the asset had some problems, then what solution was provided to the asset. Data history is very helpful in optimizing asset performance so that you can try a new solution.

These tools not only provide asset maintenance but also keep track of assets that helps in keeping assets safe and avoids theft and misplacement. Asset misplacement is one of the reasons for employee's decreased productivity.

Also Read: What Are the Steps to Improve the Asset Maintenance Process?

CMMS or AMS lets you know the health of assets in real-time. If you think that any particular asset needs maintenance then you can schedule maintenance. You can also set the priority of asset work order so that the maintenance team can plan their work according to the asset priority.

What Are the Essential Features of Maintenance Management Software?

Essential features of maintenance management software are as follow:

1. Effective Work Order

For every maintenance, a work order is created so that no maintenance work is skipped. Since it is an automated process, it alerts the maintenance team about work orders so that they can plan accordingly.

Furthermore, this software allows you to make a list of activities that need to be done in each work order so that no activity is forgotten. It also enables managers to see work order status. You can track the progress of work orders.

2. Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance is one of the best maintenances. It is proactive maintenance which means it schedules maintenance in advance. This type of maintenance strategy saves assets from sudden breakdown and planned maintenance is cost-effective. Furthermore, it plays a crucial performance role in performance optimization. If you want your assets to use for the long term then proactive maintenance must be implemented.

According to the 2018 Plant Engineering Maintenance Survey  “Predictive maintenance is gaining some more attention. Preventive maintenance still is favored by 80% of maintenance personnel in a multi-faceted maintenance strategy.”

Preventive maintenance is so popular because it is simple and easy to implement. The purpose of this maintenance is to reduce maintenance expenses and increases asset life. When you implement preventive maintenance, you will notice decreased downtime and reduced unexpected asset failure.

Also Read: What Are the Benefits of Using OEE Software for Manufacturing Companies?

3. Asset Maintenance Reports

Reports and analysis are important when maintenance is a sensitive topic for your organization. CMMS keeps monitoring assets alerts the manager as soon as any potential problem is noticed. CMMS provides reports related to work order, asset history, asset lifecycle, resources used, expenses are done, and so on.

When you have data available for these types of aspects you can predict the future, for instance, asset expenses can be predicted, after asset maintenance for how long the asset will work efficiently.

Reports help optimize asset performance and they can help in minimizing maintenance expenses & increase asset performance. Reports provide accurate information and assist in making business decisions.

4. Inventory Management

For effective maintenance management, you need to ensure that inventory is available. It has been seen in several cases that maintenance is scheduled & everything is set but when operation starts inventory is not available.

When this kind of scenario occurs then productive maintenance is not delivered. Therefore, keeping track of inventory is also important to deliver effective maintenance work.

The maintenance management tool provides real-time information so that you can make an instant decision.

Furthermore, this software provides a reordering facility that means you don't have to keep track of inventory manually. This software will alert you about low stock then the responsible person will start refilling stock.

Conclusion

Maintenance is an important aspect of an organization and when maintenance is neglected business operations suffer. Maintenance keeps assets in good condition and improves uptime.

More importantly, maintenance makes the asset more reliable and their sudden asset failure chances decrease.

Furthermore, manual tracking of maintenance shall be avoided and automated maintenance management tools shall be utilized such as asset management software.

It will simplify the process; stress will be minimized. Furthermore, employee's and asset's productivity will increase.

Also Read: What Are the Various Tools Used in Predictive Maintenance?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are the benefits of asset management software?‍

Below we have mentioned a few of the benefits of asset management software.
1. Accurate information
2. Save money
3. Avoid asset theft
4. Decreased maintenance expenses
5. Quick and effective audit
6. Asset tracking & Inventory tracking
7. Reports and analysis

2. What is the difference & similarity between computerized maintenance management system and Asset management software?‍

The difference between computerized maintenance management systems and asset management software is CMMS mainly focused on asset maintenance whereas asset management software focuses on asset lifecycle management including maintenance management.

The similarity between the computerized maintenance management system and asset management software uses cloud computing technology. Second maintenance is a significant part of both of this software.

3. Does cloud computing technology provide additional benefits?‍

Cloud computing technology provides several benefits such as
Data security - This means that you do not have to worry about data security as the cloud service provider will have the responsibility of data safety.
Reduced IT expenses - It means that you do not have to buy expensive software, upgrade system & no IT expert staff. You must pay subscription charges.
Work flexibility - With cloud technology you are not bounded to your office workstation. You can access data and update data from any time anywhere.