Plant Works & Engineering March 2022

Focus on: Maintenance Software Maintenance Matters gathered in the aforementioned ways. Understanding where in on the scale your organisation is and where it is looking to end up is an essential element to planning the journey in a cohesive way, for the most successful outcome. Using the same data to serve different objectives is a real benefit of a using an integrated maintenance software solution. Combining the more sophisticated IoT data coming out of a plant with operational data assists with understanding the context and sits around it, and ultimately, will lead to better, more actionable insights that aids intuitive maintenance. And on the IT team side of this, the mission is to ensure the right parts and resource is available to execute any identified required maintenance – so why would those teams not work together when deciding on software that will help democratise this data for a seamless flow to serve multiple purposes? The outcome of collaborative working is the driving down of the total cost of maintenance, not just in terms of downtime, but in terms of the entire broader maintenance structure. You can’t just buy a CMMS and have it solve every single one of your maintenance problems, so collaboration is the only way to forge a holistic approach to the various goals. And by working together, any gaps can be identified. It’s ok to have gaps. It’s not ok to not know you have gaps. Implementation If you’re operating a plant with data in disparate locations and not being channelled into a single destination, effective response to issues is hindered. But by deploying some simple software, reactive or event data can be distilled and aid response. Solutions can be really cost effective and don’t necessarily need to involve a big deployment of any enterprise level software. With platforms to look at your condition based and predictive maintenance, platforms to capture maintenance schedules, available resources and schedule maintenance tasks, and finance platforms to buy the parts - to name just a few functions - it can seem like a minefield to navigate, which is why the process must be done holistically. Alternatively, working with a distributor whose buying platform you can push out purchasing requests to – or even use to manage your inventory and purchasing, can remove the hassle and significantly increase efficiency. So instead of having to move all this data through different maintenance platforms, by hand or by pasting, a trusted partner can manage these integrations and offer a full solution. By joining up with the right solutions or working with a distributor, manual management and the issues that come with that, including labour, cost, and potential for mistakes, is removed and the process is more efficient, negating double processing. Considering the connectivity and interoperability of any maintenance software system lays the strong foundation to grow in maintenance maturity and to build out an ideal end state. It may never be fully achieved, or there may never be the justification to build it all, but it will pave the way to move up that maturity pyramid. Removing silos in the organisation allows you to get better value out of your maintenance software. Players in this arena should look to technology service providers that can provide the know-how to support them in this mission. *Richard Jeffers is Director, Maintenance Solutions at RS Components SPONSORS 5-7 APRIL 2022 HALLS 9 & 10 NEC BIRMINGHAM IN ASSOCIATION WITH: The UK’s leading exhibition for Compressed Air, Generators and Vacuum Pumps REGISTER FREE TODAY www.airtech-expo.com #AirTechExpo CO-LOCATED WITH: