Articles
CMMS - a Requirement in Tough Economic Times
by Paul Lachance, Smartware Group
In tough economic times, historically it has been common to reduce or delay maintenance resources. This includes people, planning and technology. Obviously when spending is tighted we need to cut back - but where? It is much more effective, efficient, and productive to cut back where it makes the most sense. If maintenance is where you need to make some cuts, do so in a strategic manner.
When working in any economic times (especially down), consider the following points. Make your department a profit center. Reducing downtime is the same as increasing uptime. Increasing uptime means more production and more profit without increasing costs. Make your department more efficient. Tough times require all organizations to "do more with less". Tools that increase efficiency and reduce costs are critical. Some examples:
* Preventive maintenance avoids corrective maintenance. I know it is hard to think that given your probable reduced workforce that you have time for PMs, but it is not called "preventive" for nothing. Start with a basic reminders so you effectively and timely catch problems before they occur - avoiding costly downtime or lost production. Ben Franklin said it best: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
* Automated maintenance requests. You might have fewer people doing more work. You need automation tools that can assist you in this. Streamlined communication between your staff who reports issues and the maintenance team performing the tasks. Imagine if your staff can easily check the status of a request they made rather than calling you on the radio or stopping you in the hall. All of this imporves efficiency.
* Excellent organization of your WOs. Not just ok, probably not even good, but great organization of your WOs. Who is doing what? What is late? What is critical? You can argue that keeping up on this information in Bigfoot can be time consuming, but this investment pays off with the efficiencies you gain.
* Just In Time (JIT) Inventory. Sharing expensive/long-lead-time parts across different facilities can be a real cost saver. Why stock expensive parts at all locations? Assuming you can be okay with not having a part for a day (overnight shipping) - let fewer facilities carry these parts. Bigfoot allows you to search these other sites for this part so you can "share" them.
* Mobile CMMS. Get rid of your stack of paper - have Bigfoot in the palm of your hand. Having your CMMS information while you are walking or driving around your facility can be a real time-saver.
If you want to learn more about how CMMS can improve your bottom line, better organize your staff and improve operations, contact us at 866-858-7800 ext.2.
