As a facilities professional, you’re responsible for making sure the facilities you manage meet the needs of the people who live and work in them.
Whether you’re dispatching work orders, managing preventative maintenance schedules, or forecasting future asset costs, maintaining facilities is complex—and you need an efficient, cost-effective way to manage them.
To do that, you can’t rely on an Excel spreadsheet or pen and paper anymore. Enter a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).
A CMMS will centralize all of your facilities’ maintenance information, processes, and operations, but if it’s not optimized, you’re still not working up to its full potential.
Here we explore six common benefits you can achieve with an optimized CMMS.
But first, why implement a CMMS?
Even though the global CMMS software market size in 2019 was $899.5 million, and it is expected to reach $1633.8 million by the end of 2026, some facilities professionals are still hesitant to introduce new software for a variety of reasons.
However, this lack of implementation can have far-reaching effects on your organization, including:
Inaccurate Asset inventory
Managing your assets and all the parts you have to keep in stock can quickly become overwhelming and lead to overstock as well as problems identifying and scheduling preventative maintenance and locating equipment.
If you overspend on inventory, that can lead to additional costs. And on the flip side, the last thing you want is for a machine to break down, and you don’t have a critical part for the fix.
Inaccurate or Missing Tasks and Schedules
Without a CMMS and centralized database, there can be confusion over what’s required for maintenance and how to do it when a situation occurs.
This can lead to a backlog or inaccuracies in necessary task completion, which can have dire effects on time, money, and resources.
No Asset or Task Prioritization
When it comes to asset management, prioritizing needs and projects is critical to keeping your facility running smoothly and keeping you on budget.
Without a CMMS, you’re left trying to determine priorities with dozens of spreadsheets for each asset or trusting your maintenance team to remember what was said in a meeting—and both methods are unreliable and ineffective.
No Workflow Modeling
It’s not unusual to have multiple requests for maintenance work or reported equipment breakdowns to come through in a week.
When your workflow is dependent on spreadsheets and verbal instruction, you run the risk of disruptions to an efficient workflow with planned tasks not getting scheduled, work orders not getting sent out, and technician confusion and error.
No Time to Properly Integrate Efficiency Initiatives
Without a CMMS, you’re left without the time to implement initiatives such as mobile device integration and labor and parts tracking.
Having access to your data from a smartphone or tablet means you can stay on top of issues at any time of day, no matter your location. Instead of focusing on CMMS efficiencies, you run the risk of not having a necessary part or bottlenecking critical initiatives.
The Benefits of an Optimized CMMS
Now that you know the ramifications of not having a CMMS, it’s time to take a look at how an optimized CMMS can transform the way you work.
1. Reduced Administrative Time
When you automate manual tasks like ordering parts, replenishing MRO inventory, scheduling shifts, and other administrative duties, you not only save time, but you can also reduce errors, improve productivity, and shift your focus to properly maintaining your facilities.
2. Improved Labor Efficiency
By implementing mobile applications for technicians, they can get work orders from anywhere. In addition, managers can assign specific tasks and assemble crews, better organize shifts, receive up-to-the-minute updates when those work orders are finished, and make more informed decisions about overtime, labor costs, and which technician is best for which job.
3. Predictive Labor Model
With an optimized CMMS, you have a month-by-month overview for planned maintenance, which can reduce any downtime due to defects.
This is critical, as according to survey data, “over 98% of large enterprises with more than 1,000 employees say that on average, a single hour of downtime per year costs their company over $100,000.”
Because there are a centralized portal and automated work orders, employees can easily submit maintenance requests, reducing the chance of a request getting missed or delaying the time it takes to complete the task.
4. Preditive Equipment Replacement
Without a way to carefully track necessary equipment maintenance, you’re risking production errors, work injuries, and damage to your assets.
An optimized CMMS can flag corrective maintenance work orders on equipment, predict failure, and create standardized maintenance processes, cutting down on these inefficiencies and streamlining the process.
5. KPIs for Program Improvement
Every program needs goals. A CMMS can track those goals and give maintenance professionals a way to measure success or inefficiencies—without the hassle of Excel or pen and paper.
Some helpful KPIs for maintenance include the number of completed work orders each day/week/month, actual cost versus budgeted cost, and on-time completion percent for different priority orders. While KPIs will be tailored to your particular organization, a CMMS is critical to ensuring you stay on track.
6. Metrics for Annual Business Review
Last but not least, optimizing your CMMS demonstrates success to leadership. The metrics you track help you measure the long-view performance throughout the company, allowing you to make educated decisions about your organization in the future.
Moving Forward with an Optimized CMMS
We see our customers run into many of these barriers, from initial planning through go-live and beyond. It’s common to be more organized in one area and possibly less organized in another.
It’s not necessary to have it all figured out on day one, as successful implementations can occur when these barriers are overcome one step at a time.
The key is to work with your internal team and your vendor to clearly define pain points within your current processes and develop a prioritized plan of where you want to go.
With Performo from Wizard Software Solutions, you can easily manage daily tasks in only a few clicks with the tools you need to proactively serve your facilities and its employees—now and in the future.