October 2019

12 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk October 2019 Maintenance Matters Focus on: Maintenance Software T here are many systems available today ranging in price from free to exorbitant and although most are perfectly capable of providing the functionality required for most maintenance operations many are damned as ‘bad systems’ with the most common reason cited for failure being a lack of “user-friendliness”. In truth, failed systems are generally caused by poor implementations and poor implementations stem from a lack of a clear maintenance software strategy. The general structure of these systems has not changed significantly since their development from paper-based & T-card systems over 30 years ago. This structure normally includes the following elements or modules: * Equipment * Spare/replacement parts stock * PPM (Planned Preventive Maintenance) * Staff/contract resources * Work order or job card planning/scheduling * History However the information and processes which make up the life blood of maintenance departments the world over include far more than these six elements. For example consider: Procurement Energy isolation management Condition monitoring Task Risk Assessment Reliability Centred Maintenance Permits to Work Safety incident recording Shift log Technical manuals Technical drawings KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) Reporting Contract management Budget management Instrument calibration COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) There are CMMS/EAM system suppliers who include some of the above in their offerings either as fully integrated functions or as modular additions which may or may not be integrated. More often than not however a maintenance department’s approach is to implement a basic CMMS and when additional functionality is required seek it from a specialist supplier, usually one which has had no involvement in the original CMMS supply or implementation. A better approach is to develop a Maintenance Management Software Strategy. This can either be done at the outset for a new facility or as part of a strategic review for existing operations. So what needs to be considered for such a strategy? First and foremost a software strategy must be aligned to a strategy for managing maintenance. There are many definitions of “Strategy” e.g. Johnson and Scholes in their book “Exploring Corporate Strategy” which gives the following: “Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations”. A maintenance management strategy will therefore consider how the department should operate in order to provide the business with a level of OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) to meet long term business objectives at the lowest cost associated with acceptable levels of safety and environmental impact. Why use software? Answering this question can help in developing a strategy. If we understand the ways in which software can be of benefit this can help quantify the value its use can add to an operation. Maintenance of equipment requires experienced staff. Usually there is a premium to be paid for skilled technicians and they are employed to perform technical tasks such as carrying out preventive maintenance or repairing equipment which has broken down. Productivity can be as low as 50% with contributing factors including: 1. Searching for technical information or drawings 2. Single skilled technician waiting for a colleague with additional skill 3. Awaiting spare parts 4. Awaiting authorisation 5. Travelling to/from work site 6. Information management (updating computer records, drawings etc.) 7. Sickness While the key to minimising time spent on item 1 is well organised data, the volume of data available these days is such that, no matter how well organised hard copy records are, software can still retrieve the information faster provided the level of organisation is similar or better. Increasingly, companies are investing in multi- skilling maintenance technicians, which reduces inefficiencies from item 2. The point however is that good planning is essential in ensuring efficient use of staff. This also applies to item 5, travel time. Planning requires regular recalculations which can be undertaken more speedily with software than pen, paper and a calculator. Trial amendments to plans become far more practical when detailed calculations can be performed by a specially written algorithm. Maintaining stock levels at a pre-determined level does not require software but computerisation can speed up repetitive processes such as processing stock requisitions and printing purchase orders. In addition, providing accurate stock requirement data has been entered into planned preventive maintenance tasks, computers can project stock utilisation levels much more accurately thereby allowing more of a ‘just-in-time’ approach to stock control maintaining stock holding costs at a minimum. Where permits to work are used, formal How much do you know about CMMS (Computerised Maintenance Management Software) or EAM (Enterprise Asset Management)? Maybe you have an existing system which nobody likes or possibly you are working with spreadsheets and paper and feel there must be a better way to manage maintenance within your company. Whatever your situation, you are likely to be working in one of the many maintenance departments that doesn’t have a clear picture of how to ensure CMMS/EAM software use is deployed and developed to maximise its potential benefit. Phil Taylor, associate consultant, MCP Consulting Group, reports. Software strategies