Benefits of the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

In the age of technology and business competitiveness, operational efficiency is fundamental to the success of companies. One of the essential pillars for guaranteeing this efficiency is proper maintenance management. In this article, we explore the importance of maintenance management and how adopting a computerized system, such as the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), can benefit companies in the long term.

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Advantages of maintenance management in companies.

Nowadays, maintenance management is crucial to the successful operation of a company, as it enables it to achieve some essential benefits:

1. Cost Minimization: reduces operating costs by avoiding unplanned downtime, extending the useful life of equipment and optimizing the use of resources.

2. Maximizing Productivity: keeping equipment in good working order contributes to maximizing productivity, minimizing downtime and ensuring operational efficiency.

3. Safety Assurance: essential for guaranteeing worker safety and compliance with safety regulations and standards, reducing the risk of accidents in the workplace.

4. Asset protection: equipment represents a significant investment for a company and its effective management protects this investment by extending its useful life.

5. Improved Customer Satisfaction: equipment in good working order means fewer interruptions to services or production, leading to greater customer satisfaction and retention.

6. Strategic Planning: provides valuable data and information that can be used in the company's strategic planning, identifying areas for improvement, optimizing resources and anticipating future needs.

7. Competitiveness: by operating more efficiently, reducing costs and offering a more reliable service to customers, companies with effective maintenance practices have a competitive advantage in the market.

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The main challenges of a maintenance manager:

For their part, maintenance managers face a number of challenges in their daily work, from managing limited resources to demanding maintenance with high performance and safety standards, while dealing with the pressure to reduce costs and ensure regulatory compliance .

In this sense, it is essential to adopt a tool to help these professionals resolve all these issues. One tool that can solve many of the daily challenges faced by a maintenance manager is a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This software aims to concentrate and systematize information that would otherwise be dispersed, thus facilitating maintenance operations processes.

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What are the main functions of a CMMS?

• Work order management
• Resource and Labor Management
• Asset Register
• Preventive maintenance of equipment
• Materials Management and Inventory
• Analysis, Reports and Audits

The CMMS is therefore an essential tool for optimizing asset management and maintenance, improving the efficiency and reliability of operations.

However, another challenge faced by maintenance managers is to justify the need to invest in a CMMS, i.e. to identify its advantages to the company's management and how it is the best long-term option.

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How can I justify implementing a CMMS in my company?

Is your day-to-day life as a maintenance manager full of inadequate or outdated procedures? Yet your company's management doesn't recognize the advantages of investing in an automated maintenance management system?

Follow these tips to present the added value and long-term benefits and turn the perception of a cost into an investment with a guaranteed return.

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In order to determine the advantages of a system with these characteristics, start by asking a few questions that, according to Kris Bagadia, an international CMMS expert, are essential to determining the need to implement this technology:

• How long could the company withstand a production line stoppage due to a lack of parts?
• Are we spending more on maintenance today than we did five years ago? If so, how much?
• Do we have the information we need to plan maintenance operations?
• Can we get this information when we need it? And is it in a format we can use?
• What are the company's plans for operations and equipment?

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At the same time, some more practical issues arise whenever equipment needs to be serviced, which is not always recorded:  

• Where did we buy the last replacement part for this equipment and how much did it cost?  
• Is this equipment still under warranty?  
• Who was the contact person we spoke to?
• What was the delivery time?  

Answering these questions, or the inability to answer them, will help determine the need for a CMMS.  

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Even if the company already has a solid maintenance information system, if it is not easily accessible or in the right format, operations may be less productive and there is room to improve their speed and efficiency. Change is therefore the best option.

The main advantages of this change are as follows:

• Efficient organization and management: a CMMS allows companies to organize and manage all maintenance activities efficiently. From scheduling tasks to tracking inventory and managing suppliers, the CMMS simplifies the entire process, ensuring that nothing is forgotten or overlooked.

• Reducing operating costs: by avoiding unplanned breakdowns, optimizing maintenance schedules and effectively managing resources through the implementation of this technology, companies can save money in the long term.

• Increased Productivity: with effective preventive maintenance, companies can ensure that their assets are always operational and increase productivity by reducing unplanned downtime of machinery and equipment

• Better decisions: with access to real-time data on asset performance and maintenance history, companies can make informed and strategic decisions. This allows for more proactive and efficient management of resources and a rapid response to any problems that arise.

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Long-term benefits:

• Longer Asset Life: By carrying out regular preventive maintenance, the company's assets have a longer useful life, which reduces the need for frequent replacement and the associated costs.

• Increased Customer Satisfaction: With equipment in good working order and fewer interruptions in service, companies can provide a better customer experience, which translates into greater loyalty and recommendation.

• Compliance with Standards and Regulations: Regular, documented maintenance is often a regulatory requirement in many industries. A CMMS system helps companies comply with these requirements, avoiding fines and penalties.

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And what are the financial advantages?

In fact, this will be one of the questions that your company's management will be asking, i.e. what are we going to get out of it?

In this context, Kris Bagadia highlights the importance of carrying out a detailed financial analysis to justify the implementation of a CMMS, which makes it possible to determine the actual gains by calculating the savings of each module of the system.  

For example, if the planning time for a job is high, implementing a CMMS with work order scheduling and preventive maintenance modules can significantly reduce these costs and make the entire operation more fluid and agile, simplifying operational tasks.

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In short, adopting a CMMS not only improves maintenance efficiency, but also contributes to cost reduction, increased productivity and regulatory compliance, making it an essential choice for any maintenance manager looking to maximize the performance of their team and their assets .

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