Computer-Managed Maintenance Systems

A Step-by-Step Guide to Effective Management of Maintenance, Labor, and Inventory

William W. Cato, R. Keith Mobley

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780750674737
• eBook ISBN: 9780080502557
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Computer Science

Effective resource management and reliable equipment are essential for optimum plant performance. Computer-Managed Maintenance Systems goes beyond the simple selection and implementation of a CMMS. It also defines the changes in infrastructure, management philosophy and employee skills that must be implemented to gain maximum benefits from the CMMS. The book is designed to address the information needs of all levels of plant management. In this new edition, the authors have added a chapter specifically on the latest technology, Application Solution Providers (ASP) that has revolutionized the way CMMS are used and the benefits they can offer to a business. This solution provides integrated software, hardware and networking technology along with Information Technology (IT) consulting services into an outsourced package. A new appendix on Key Performance Indicators has also been added. - Comprehensive, practical guide that covers selection, justification, and implementation of an effective CMMS in any facility - All levels of plant management will find useful information in this step-by-step guideIncludes a new chapter on ASP technologies

Chapter 1

Determining the Need and Selling the Program

DETERMINING THE NEED

THE NEW VIEW OF MAINTENANCE PRODUCTIVITY

In today’s environment, maintenance costs are rising faster than production costs. Some surveys have shown that, at many plants, typical management goals for maintenance—such as 95% or better equipment availability and reliability, 99% product quality, reduced maintenance overtime hours, reduced contract labor hours, and improved record keeping on repairs—are not being met. Maintenance has tended to be viewed as a “black hole” where too much money goes with little measurable return. But as most companies find themselves looking for ways to reduce cost and increase productivity, management is beginning to realize that maintenance offers real opportunities in both areas.

Maintenance can account for as much as 60% of controllable plant operating costs. Because maintenance costs can be not only controlled, but often substantially reduced, efficient management of maintenance can influence the bottom line much more than is usually realized. All cost savings in maintenance are, in actuality, cost avoidance. For example, if the profit margin in a manufacturing plant is 33%, it would require $3.00 in increased sales to equal a $1.00 savings in maintenance costs. Normally, it is much easier to reduce maintenance costs than to increase sales.

Controlling the maintenance activities in any facility requires an effective organization. Also required is an accurate, comprehensive, easily accessible database of relevant information. Some maintenance organizations still manage their operations with a manual system or with no system at all. In all but the smallest of maintenance operations, manual systems break down under the burden of the vast amount of information generated and required by maintenance. For this reason, the computer is now being recognized as a powerful tool for maintenance. Only a computer has the ability to store, retrieve, calculate, organize, and present vast amounts of data efficiently and accurately.

It is highly unlikely that any organization with at least ten maintenance craft personnel or an annual maintenance budget of $500,000 or more will not benefit from a computer-managed maintenance system, or CMMS. Smaller organizations can benefit as well if they can justify the implementation cost. A CMMS can be purchased for as little as a thousand dollars or as much as several hundred thousand. But the purchase price is only a portion of the total implementation cost. Other costs include hardware, networking, training, data collection, data entry, and procedure development. Many of these costs, such as data collection and data entry, may be internal labor costs and can be very high. All costs must be considered in justifying the purchase. Chapter 3, “CMMS Justification,” provides an in-depth look at how to justify the implementation of a CMMS.

DETERMINING THE NEED FOR A CMMS

There are many factors to consider in determining whether a CMMS can benefit your operation. The most important factors mrelate to reduced cost, but you also need to consider such results as better organizational methods, reduced paperwork, and improved communications. From a cost standpoint, if planned maintenance work is less than 90% of the total maintenance work load, if craft productivity is less than 80% of capacity, or if craft overtime is more than 10%, a CMMS can help you. If your finished product quality is consistently less than 95% or your equipment availability is less than 95%, a CMMS can help you. If your maintenance inventory cost, including holding cost, is more than 30% of your annual maintenance budget, a CMMS can help you. If all of the above conditions apply to your operation, a CMMS can probably work miracles for you. This assumes that you implement the CMMS that is best suited to your needs, that you implement it fully and properly, and that you use it to its fullest extent. In Chapter 2, “Definition of a CMMS,” we will discuss how a CMMS can help you improve these measures of efficiency. For now, the point is that if you are not achieving the benchmark criteria shown in Appendix D, you will very definitely reap the rewards of a CMMS.

HOW A CMMS MEETS THE NEED

First and foremost, it will help you to better manage maintenance by organizing and tracking the myriad of data required to run maintenance operations effectively. Examples of such data are work schedules and backlogs; preventive maintenance plans and schedules; labor use; and maintenance cost distribution. A CMMS will also track materials used, including quantities and cost. It can control your inventories and maintain optimum, cost-effective levels of parts. It can also provide historical, current, and future information in both summary and detailed format.

Most maintenance professionals who have used a good maintenance software system agree that it produces tangible results in four key areas: (1) increased labor productivity; (2) better inventory control; (3) improved availability of equipment; and (4) improved product quality. Additional benefits may be increased equipment/asset life, reduced energy costs, improved environmental controls, and improved record keeping to meet regulatory requirements or ISO 9000 requirements. Many of the benefits and cost savings possible with a CMMS will depend upon the features of the system you implement, how well you implement it, and how well you use it.

Increased Labor Productivity

Maintenance productivity in U.S. and Canadian industries averages about 35%, or 2.8 hours per 8-hour shift. The problem normally is not caused by craft personnel who do not work conscientiously. Instead, it is the result of poor organization and planning, which lead to too much travel time and wait time, parts and tools that are not available when needed, and poor or missing work instructions and procedures. These are the problems associated with a “firefighting” environment—one driven by the need to repair equipment as it breaks down, rather than one centered around planned maintenance that prevents breakdowns.

Most maintenance organizations using a CMMS have been able to achieve labor productivity rates of 70% to 80%, which is an improvement of at least 100%. The CMMS can improve labor productivity in several ways:

1. Accurate information about equipment/assets is readily available. The time spent searching files and manuals for historical information, or for information about parts required for a repair, is practically eliminated.

2. Planning time is reduced dramatically through the immediate availability of information required for planning. A CMMS also provides several planning aids. For example, the ability to copy a previously completed work order into a new work order plan can eliminate one planning process.

3. Work order plans are accurate and complete. This can eliminate having the wrong people at the wrong place at the wrong time. It also eliminates waiting for parts, getting the wrong parts, or searching for procedures. Travel time between jobs can be greatly reduced.

4. In most cases, a CMMS will provide resource scheduling assistance to ensure all resources—labor and materials—are available before the job is scheduled to begin.

5. An intangible benefit, one more difficult to measure in dollars, is improved employee morale as a result of better planning, scheduling, and organization.

Better Inventory Control

In most facilities where maintenance repair order (MRO) inventories are maintained with a manual system, either too much or too little inventory is the norm. There tends to be an excess of items that are frequently used. The opposite is true for infrequently used items. This situation results because reordering is based on guess work, with no real means of determining the best stocking quantity for each item. There are also the problems of obsolete parts and duplicate items purchased from different vendors. Another critical problem is lack of control over parts issued from the storeroom. With a CMMS, MRO inventory costs should be reduced, on average, between 5% and 12%. Reductions as high as 20% are not unrealistic. These reductions are the result of:

1. The ability to quickly and accurately review inventory catalogs for duplicate parts.

2. The elimination of guess work on part reorders and stocking levels. The CMMS will automatically create reorder requisitions based on established stock levels and work order requirements for parts.

3. The identification of obsolete parts once bills of materials have been created. If a part in inventory is not on a bill of materials, it is probably obsolete. Bills of materials can also help control inventory stocking levels. If an equipment/asset item is permanently removed from service, the CMMS can quickly show if any other equipment/assets use the same parts. If the answer is yes, the stocking levels for those parts can probably be reduced. If it is no, the parts are probably obsolete.

4. The control of storeroom issues, that is, parts can only (legally) be issued to a work order or an account code.

5. The work order reservation or commitment function, which reserves parts for a work order so that they are no longer available for other issues. This assures that parts will be available for a work order when it is scheduled.

Improved Equipment/Asset Availability and Product Quality

Improvement of equipment/asset availability and product quality results from better planning, less firefighting, and better analysis of repair histories. A good preventive maintenance system, made available with most computerized maintenance systems, will also lead to these results.

WHAT A CMMS SHOULD DO FOR YOU

Once you determine that you need and can justify a CMMS, you then need to determine what the system should do for you. If you plan to develop the system in-house, you have the opportunity to design it exactly to your requirements. But bear in mind that systems developed in-house usually cost considerably more than purchased systems and often require more than a year to develop. If you are purchasing a system, you should be aware that apparently similar functions can in fact vary greatly. For example, all systems provide an equipment/asset file. In some systems, this file allows the storage of only basic information, such as equipment/asset identification number, description, location, and cost center. Other systems might accommodate, along with this basic information, other valuable data, including manufacturer and vendor information, date of purchase, date of installation, warranty data, purchase price, and specifications. Some systems allow only a very basic work order, while others may allow work orders to be broken down into steps or tasks, each for a specific operation and each capable of being scheduled separately. The point is that not all systems are alike, even if they provide similar features. Therefore, you need to determine what you want to accomplish with the system and how you want to accomplish it.

If you are considering replacing an existing CMMS with a new one, you should ask yourself why this change is required. If the current system cannot fully meet your needs, then you are probably right to upgrade to a system that...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Determining the Need and Selling the Program
• Chapter 2: Definition of a CMMS
• Chapter 3: CMMS Justification
• Chapter 4: CMMS Vendor Selection
• Chapter 5: Project Implementation
• Chapter 6: Integrating a CMMS With Other Systems
• Chapter 7: CMMS and Client Server
• Chapter 8: Why a CMMS Fails
• Chapter 9: How to Assure Success
• Chapter 10: The Application Service Provider Internet-Based Solution
• Comparison of CMMS Systems
• Typical CMMS Data Fields
• Sample CMMS Vendor Evaluation Form
• Benchmark Criteria for World-Class Organizations
• Work Measurement Key Performance Indicators
• Index