8 ways CMMS software will make your work life simpler
Automation has delivered massive benefits for manufacturing efficiency and production. But it’s also put maintenance teams under huge pressure.
Technicians have more assets to service and repair, each with different instructions and components. It’s easy to see why maintenance now accounts for 20-50% of operational budgets!
Understandably, maintenance teams are looking for ways to streamline workload and ease the burden on technical staff. And CMMS/CAFM software is an ideal solution.
Here are eight ways that CMMS software can make work life simpler and help your department to manage equipment more effectively:
1.Streamline work orders.
It’s hard to keep track of workload if you’re receiving work orders piecemeal via emails, phone calls, paper forms and even word of mouth. Trying to identify priority tasks means manually collating and analysing all this information.
CMMS software digitises the work order management process so that every request is channelled through a single portal. Work orders can be categorised and prioritised, so critical tasks are tackled first.
In addition to responsive tasks, CMMS software can also generate work orders for planned preventative maintenance tasks, based on time or usage triggers, or via sensors that monitor the real-time condition of an asset. This ensures that regular or conditional tasks aren’t forgotten or pushed down the order to the point where an asset fails.
Read more: is planning maintenance a paperwork headache?
2.Cut back on questions.
The more information your technicians can access directly, the fewer questions they’ll need to ask. If you’re currently managing maintenance via a series of disconnected emails and paper documents, it can take time to assemble all the information engineers need to start a job – and instruction manuals and checklists can easily get misplaced.
CMMS software centralises all maintenance data, from work orders and inspection checklists to asset manuals and risk assessments, so your team has the information required to get on with their task list efficiently.
It’s especially helpful if your CMMS software has a mobile app, as your engineers can access critical information from any location in an easy-to-read format.
3.Speed up inspections and preventative maintenance work.
The goal of most maintenance teams is to shift the balance of work away from unplanned, reactive repairs to planned and preventative maintenance work. But planned maintenance needs to be executed efficiently too.
With a CMMS system you can create digital check lists for inspections and regular tasks, so it’s easy to see when tasks have been completed. Uploading standardised check lists also ensures that every technician is working to a consistent standard.
If an inspection reveals an issue, your technicians can report this immediately via your CMMS software and create follow-up actions. This prevents minor issues snowballing into major technical faults.
4.Reduce time spent on emergency repairs.
Improving the way your assets are inspected and maintained will also help to improve equipment reliability, resulting in fewer breakdowns and emergency repairs.
With unplanned downtime costing manufacturers an estimated $50 billion annually, safeguarding asset health is paramount. If something fails, CMMS software stores asset documentation so your technicians can correct issues quickly. Plus, you can update their task lists in real-time to make sure emergency repair work is prioritised.
CMMS software also collects machinery data over time to build a complete asset history – from the hours spent repairing it to the number of parts replaced as a result of emergency failures. This will create a strong business case for replacing problematic machinery, so you don’t have to “make do and mend”.
5.Clear your maintenance backlog.
CMMS software gives your company a valuable data on how long each job request has been open and how many jobs are incomplete, so you can resource your department effectively.
Short-term, this data can validate plans to clear your maintenance backlog – whether that’s paying your technicians to work overtime or bringing in external contractors. Longer-term, it allows you to plan schedules based on demand and recruit new team members as your workload grows.
6.Accurately manage spare parts and components.
Inventory is critical to not only streamline working processes, but to ensure cost-effective maintenance. Overspending on parts can add up to 20% to the original purchase cost of an asset.
Managing spare parts through your CMMS software provides an accurate view of available stock (and where it’s located), so you never run out of critical components.
Using your CMMS software for inventory management will also provide useful data on how often each component gets used. As a result, you can base purchases on accurate information rather than gut instinct – and potentially reduce spending on spare parts.
7.Reducing risk, and health and safety violations.
Workplace safety is a priority issue for most companies. In the UK alone, 565,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work last year, resulting in an estimated 6 million working days lost – and 80% of these were deemed “wholly avoidable”.
CMMS software helps to ensure your maintenance team are following safe work practices, and that all your processes are compliant with health and safety requirements. You can upload risk assessments, safety procedures data sheets and PPE requirements for each asset or task, to minimise safety violations.
For high risk tasks, some CMMS software (including ShireSystem) provides a permit to work feature which can be used to cover industry standard permits such as Hot Works, Electrical Works and Work at Height.
8.Always audit-ready.
In addition to ensuring employee wellbeing, clear documentation of health and safety protocol is also important for auditing purposes. If you’re subject to regulatory inspection, it can be difficult to gather a complete paper trail when information is stored in multiple places.
CMMS software manages the entire asset history for every piece of equipment in a single, digital location, so you can easily prove safety protocols have been followed.
A good CMMS system should give you granular detail on the procedures followed for every maintenance task, along with who executed the work and who signed it off (and when), for total transparency.
Reap the benefits of CMMS software with ShireSystem.
If you’re ready to make your working days simpler to manage, book a ShireSystem demo.
Our CMMS software can handle thousands of facilities and maintenance activities every day to improve your equipment availability and compliance. Plus, our Mobile Pro app gives technicians all the information they need at their fingertips.
In addition to core CMMS capabilities, ShireSystem includes a Permit to Work feature for authorising work in higher risk conditions.