Eliminating your maintenance problems lands on your shoulders.
Yes, that’s a lot of responsibility.
It’s also why we thought this article would point you in the right direction and even elevate your mood.
So that we’re on the same page, we’d like to help – in every way possible – to eliminate all your maintenance concerns.
But, we figured reducing them would be the logical first step.
You might be thinking to yourself: “They’re right; it would be nice to like using my CMMS software.”
We know we’re not mindreaders, but are we close?
Reducing the impact of maintenance related problems will be the first step on your journey to eliminating workplace stress and achieving Proactive Operations.
CMMS software is the best thing since paper, so you can stop using paper and start “loving” your maintenance solution.
We’re ready to show you maintenance made easy.
Are you ready?
MAKE A MOVE FROM CUMBERSOME TO "CUMBER-NONE."
As a leader, you rely much on not only your team’s performance but the capabilities of your maintenance solution.
It’s a package deal.
You can’t be successful with only one.
Your team can be trained very well; your processes can be flawless.
But what happens if your maintenance software is outdated or limits your ability to execute effectively and efficiently?
We’ll tell you what happens.
You’re stuck.
Your whole maintenance operation will always be in a constant state of downtime, preventing you from moving your maintenance to a profit center.
But, when you implement innovative CMMS software, you can reduce the seven problems we’ll dive into below.
Then, you can focus on completely eradicating all your maintenance issues as each day passes.
It’s time to take your maintenance from cumbersome to “cumber-none” today!
7 PROBLEMS CMMS SOFTWARE CAN RESOLVE
Now, it’s no secret.
You can’t find too many maintenance solutions that leaders genuinely enjoy using.
They’re cumbersome and challenging to use.
You might even feel stuck using yours.
Let’s fix that today.
Putting a system in place will – at the least – let you ease the stress of the seven issues most leaders face daily.
1. Effectively Managing Work Orders
How paperless is your current system?
We hear it all of the time:
“We have a paperless work order system.” or “Our paperless system does X, Y, and Z.”
Well, how paperless is that “paperless” system if you still print out work orders or have stacks of paper on your desk?
When you think about it, it’s not so paperless after all.
But, when you put a real paperless work order system in place, you can reap some incredible benefits.
Trust us; you want a system in place that’ll let you create, track, edit, and automatically communicate work orders to your engineers or technicians without ever clicking the “Print” button.
Not only will you be reducing the time it takes for your team to handle work orders, but you’ll also be reducing the time it takes you to enforce accountability and be sure things are getting done.
Bonus: you’ll reduce (and we hope eventually eliminate) the amount of paper required to perform daily maintenance activities.
2. Simplify Vendor Management
When an outside vendor or an employee from a different department needs to submit a work order request, how do they currently do this?
- Do they have to find you or an engineer?
- Do you have a system in place?
Well, what if we told you that you could use a streamlined solution?
One that allows you to create a web-based form where people can submit work order requests for approval via the web.
It’s such a simple yet powerful tool.
Your goal is a reduction in these types of problems.
It gets better, though.
You’ll have peace of mind knowing nothing that needs to be fixed slips through the cracks.
3. Introduce Chain of Command for Approving Work Orders
Consider this: one of your technicians is working on an air handler.
They’ve determined it would be more cost-effective to fix the equipment rather than replacing it altogether.
They’ve determined the cost of the replacement parts will run $1,200-$1,500.
- What happens now?
- Who approves it?
- Does it need to be approved by you directly?
If you’re using an innovative system, you’ll be able to organize how you handle the approval processes.
Your technician can submit a purchase request for, let’s say, $1,500 based on specific criteria you establish like:
- Work type
- Request amount in dollars
The purchase request will be sent to the associated person for approval.
In this case, $1,500 may be on the lower end of what you’re used to having for purchase requests, so your senior engineer needs only to approve the request – not you.
It not only reduces the time it takes to move purchase requests through the funnel but also reduces any confusion and frustration when your engineers and technicians need to get work done on time.
4. Get a Handle on Preventive Maintenance
This problem is one of the most significant challenges we’ve identified among maintenance leaders.
It’s a vital process they need to control to be successful.
It’s also one of the most troublesome aspects of maintenance because there have not been many maintenance solutions allowing leaders to tap into their preventive maintenance potential.
Until now.
We’d even go as far as saying there’s software out there that allows you to ‘eliminate’ your preventive maintenance issues.
Seeing as to how preventive maintenance can be intricate, getting the right solution will reduce your inefficiencies and drastically increase your effectiveness.
Where optimized preventive maintenance has been achieved, you can manage and track:
- Preventive Maintenance Schedules
- Associated Activities
- Associated Activity Tasks
Know who’s doing what and when.
We’ve seen maintenance solutions that take the flexibility of the system even further.
We’re talking incredibly innovative features like the ability to track preventive maintenance in a calendar format with drag and drop ability to change dates.
You read it correctly.
Manage your activities with ease.
It also gives you the ability to view your scheduled activities on a global monthly, weekly, and daily view.
How’s that for a reduction in, well, a lot of things?
5. Control the Consistency of Maintenance Through Checklists
Do you ever have trouble communicating the correct way to complete maintenance to new and even existing staff?
It takes time to remember every procedure.
- How to inspect and fix an air handler
- how to respond to a water leak
But, why wait weeks or even months for your team to perform up to par?
We don’t see a reason to wait, especially if you can reduce the time it takes for your team to complete maintenance the right way from the start.
With a paperless system turned on, you can now create digital checklists for performing all types of maintenance.
Use the checklists that you’ve created to direct your staff.
Take full control of your maintenance initiatives and have confidence knowing everything is being handled according to the steps you’ve laid out.
6. Inventory Tracking Allows Your Operation to Remain Whole
Do you ever run to the material warehouse to retrieve material only to find you’re out of the exact materials you need?
It’s essential to reduce the problems of low or no available inventory, especially when you need it the most.
When the time to reorder material is close, you won’t have to remember it yourself.
It’ll alert you, so you never run out of what you need again!
7. Data Will Help You Control the Process of Reduction on to Elimination
If you’re anything like us, you like to control your efficiency.
We can all agree that drastically reducing stress, downtime, error rates, and all the problems associated with maintenance is a fantastic feat to overcome.
But, if you want to move your operation from a cost center to a profit center, you’ll want to have more significant goals.
You’ll want to put your operation on a path for the elimination of all these problems above and any you encounter over time.
How do you do that?
Analytics, inclusive of reports and charts.
They’ll let you organize, manage, and analyze the data the way you need.
See the data on how you need to see it and be proactive in moving your operation in the best direction.
It’s how you ensure the longevity of your success, and it’ll get you one step closer to the elimination of maintenance-related issues you’re facing.
OVER TO YOU
How quickly do you think you can reduce these problems with your current maintenance solution? Did we spark a change that’s causing you to rethink your current solution?
Let’s ease the impact of these so that you can reduce your stress. What do you say?
Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.
