Customers
Across North America and beyond, Bigfoot CMMS has Sherwin Williams Covered
The name Sherwin Williams is synonymous with paint, but for the powder manufacturing division of this well-known paint manufacturer, the name Bigfoot is synonymous with maintenance. This is the division that power sprays paint directly onto John Deere tractors, propane tanks, and military equipment, for example. With plants in Illinois, California, Texas, South Carolina, Canada, and China, the division is responsible for maintenance in facilities with multiple production lines running 24/7.
Bigfoot gets put to good use for work orders, preventive and predictive maintenance. One of the ways in which it has improved the maintenance process for Sherwin Williams maintenance is by providing automatic PM reminders based on actual equipment run time, rather than elapsed time. This eliminates unnecessary servicing for equipment that is used less regularly and prevents the possibility of premature failure or less than optimal performance of heavily used equipment. The switch to run time-based reminders reduces overtime, saves money…and it was easy to do with Bigfoot.
Sherwin Williams uses Bigfoot in many innovative ways. Maintenance personnel from the different facilities hold regular phone conferences to share their experiences and ideas. One good idea concerned inventory control. Every time someone uses a part, it's entered in the work order and automatically subtracted from inventory. According to Gregg Hagg, the Maintenance Manager in Rockford, IL, "The amazing thing is we use work orders for absolutely everything. We have our inventory in there, and it's the best thing since sliced bread."
The maintenance departments have also started using Bigfoot to generate purchase orders. The system automatically populates the field by vendor with a "suggested order" for all parts that have fallen below the established reorder point. This can be modified as desired. when the parts come in, their receipt is indicated in the purchase order, and inventory levels are automatically modified to reflect the new shipment.
As the use of Bigfoot for inventory and purchasing suggests, Sherwin Williams's powder division has fine-tuned Bigfoot to suit its needs. Each plant handles 1,500 to 2,000 work orders annually, including all PM reminders. Each facility has also compiled detailed asset life cycle information for all equipment.
Bigfoot works for Sherwin Williams not only because the software facilitates maintenance work, but also because it's easy to bring new people up to speed on the system. One employee had never used Windows® before, but with a couple of online training sessions and access to training modules on the Bigfoot website, he was handling most of the PMs within a month or two.
A longstanding Smartware Group customer, Sherwin Williams applauds Bigfoot's versatility, ease of use, and superior service. "It's a great product, and we're looking forward to even greater adaptability with the Internet-based version."
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