• Tag: CMMS

    Effective Data Structure is Key for Success in Today’s Digital Workplace

    Posted on by admin

    Digital transformation is essential for any business looking to navigate the post-COVID world that exists today. Before the pandemic, the focus on digital transformation was high but has increased due to a large portion of the labor force relying on easily accessible data at home. 

    At the heart of any successful digital transformation project is accurate data structure. 

     

    What Is Digital Transformation? 

    Digital transformation refers to the process of shifting operations, data, and tools commonly available in offline or non-interactive environments to a completely digital solution. Digital transformation can yield the following benefits: 

    • Increased visibility to data trends will lead to an improved understanding of the customer experience and an uplift in sales 
    • Provide reports that highlight improvement opportunities within common workflows that reduce costs and increase efficiency 

    While the benefits of digital transformation have been on display for many years, some businesses view this practice as a lower priority. Specifically, asset-heavy organizations are reluctant to change and move their information online or revamp their technical infrastructure. Instead, these businesses prefer to continue maintaining older and outdated systems to minimize the impact on existing day-to-day operations. 

    How COVID-19 has Pushed Digital Transformation to the Forefront

    With the onset of the pandemic, organizations have needed to scramble to enable remote operations, social distancing, and continue to maintain assets across multiple sites and locations. Suddenly digital transformation is now a requirement for many businesses. 

    This has been a difficult transition period for organizations that didn’t have an existing plan in place. Effective data structure has emerged as an essential piece of this transformation.  

    Digital Transformation is Built on Strong Data Structure 

    Well governed and structured data is the basis of a well-executed digital transformation. The amount of data can be overwhelming for asset-heavy organizations and found in different sources such as: 

    • Work orders 
    • Asset data and maintenance records 
    • Data coming in from various other mission-critical tools – i.e., EDMS or CMMS solutions 
    • MRO inventory data 
    • Pen and paper documentation 

    Unstructured Data Can Lead to Long Drawn-out Digital Transformation 

    Most organizations have their data spread over different locations and tools. This data can also be inaccessible by various teams and generally unstructured. Here are a few reasons why: 

    • Knowledge is often spread by word-of-mouth with no documentation available 
    • Data consists of a combination of paper, on-premise, and cloud-based tools. This inconsistency leads to incomplete information, poor document version control, and more 
    • Existing digital solutions work independently of each other with little integration 
    • Day-to-day digital workflows are not standardized or governed for good data structure 

    Incomplete Data Leads To Poor Asset Structure 

    If your asset-intensive organization has poor data quality, this will affect your asset structure. All the information surrounding an asset (i.e., documentation, compliance, maintenance plans, etc.) will be affected by default, which can lead to: 

    • Incomplete data sets 
    • Out-of-date information 
    • Trouble maintaining industry compliance 
    • Higher costs to maintain data infrastructure 
    • Data security issues 
    • Increased risk of a digital transformation project failing 

    Once a weak data structure exists, the related issues will carry over into other complementary solutions. The lack of robust and available data will affect other data-driven automation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects. These solutions require a complete and comprehensive data structure to build and implement successfully. 

    How to Ensure your Data and Asset Structure is Correct 

    To set up your business for a successful Digital Transformation, you can improve your data structure by focusing on accurate data, robust data structure, and data governance. 

    1. Review Your Current Data

    Reviewing your current data should be the first step for improving the existing data structure. This requires that you answer vital questions about your data itself, including: 

    • What data do you have? 
    • What information are you collecting regularly? 
    • How and where is the data used? 
    • What does that data tell you about your customers, about your KPIs, about your business? 
    • Identify missing data opportunities. Where are there currently gaps in your data needs? 

    Leading off with a review of current data will help your team understand your data and what you do with it. 

    2. Organize your Data with the Appropriate Tools

    The next step is to use a well-structured tool to import your data. Using a tool that can assist with proper data structure, governance, and analytical insights will ease your path to digital transformation by: 

    • Providing automation of workflows to increase data entry efficiency and ensure data accuracy by avoiding human error 
    • Confirming your data initiatives are standardized and repeatable 
    • Guarantee that your organization can easily manage your information’s flow, quality, and governance, which is key to any compelling insights or transformation efforts 

    Selecting the right solution will vary by your organization’s industry, data sources, and required integrations. The right tool will provide a broader view and understanding of your data as a whole to your entire team. 

     

    What Types of Tools fit best For Asset-Intensive Organizations? 

    Two tools covering these requirements are a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and an electronic document management system (EDMS). Ideally used together, an EDMS and CMMS solution will work in sync and provide increased functionality as a whole. 

    Most successful asset-heavy organizations already use a CMMS or EAM solution for their maintenance tracking needs. It allows you to digitize and automate maintenance operations to deploy preventive maintenance strategies better, develop better maintenance practices, stay organized, and ultimately save time and money. While this is a significant first step into modernizing your digital data footprint, a CMMS system alone is missing essential functionality for maintaining your data structure in other areas (i.e., technical drawings and documentation). This functionality is where an EDMS solution excels. 

    Pairing an EDMS with a CMMS solution is the winning combination that empowers your team with the following benefits: 

    • A fully connected digital single source of truth with high availability 
    • Automation across multiple tools to improve efficiency and data accuracy 
    • Easy to manage data governance over the entire technological stack 

    In a post-COVID world, organizations that complete digital transformations and modernize their operations will pull past competitors relying on legacy systems. But making the transition begins with reliable data and solid asset structure as a first step. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions (EDMS and CMMS) and how they can help your team, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the SolidCAD Meridian team.  

    How a CMMS System Can Increase your Business’s ROI and Uptime

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Have you been tasked to minimize your equipment downtime, increase asset condition visibility and spare parts?  If so, this can be a daunting task for an asset–heavy organization to move to a more proactive maintenance routine without the proper tools. 

    A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can accomplish this goal through the following tools: 

    • Increased team collaboration via application based commenting system 
    • Accurate reports to help you plan and optimize maintenance plans and parts availability 
    • A single source of truth will allow a business to avoid duplicate work orders 

    In the recent 2020 Benchmarks & Best Practices for Maintenance Management Report, facilities using an effective CMMS have reported seeing 88% cost savings ranging from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. 

     

    4 ways a CMMS can improve your business: 

    1. Reduce Equipment Downtime 

    Lowering equipment downtime is a common objective in any asset-heavy organization. Typically manufacturers experience an average of 800 hours of unplanned downtime annually. These incidents can take a heavy toll and result in an average cost of $17,000. In some industries, downtime can have a massive impact, costing your business $50,000 per minute, which translates to $3 million per hour. 

     Equipment failure, human error, and low visibility into asset conditions are some of the reasons for these incidents. With a CMMS solution, you can avoid these unplanned downtimes by replacing physical paperwork and application silos by introducing a single source of truth to track: 

    • Workflow and work orders 
    • Asset and physical equipment conditions 
    • Accurate supplies counts (parts, materials, etc.)
    • Service schedules and invoicing 

    Having instant access to this data can help you build more proactive maintenance plans for your assets and equipment. Enhanced reporting on these metrics will allow your team to analyze failures and, in turn, minimize future incidents. 

     

    2. Maximize Labour Force Efficiency 

    Maintenance managers need direct access to PM plans, asset documentation, and part supply info. Without this information, issues can arise, such as duplicate work orders and increased overtime costs.  These are the hallmarks of a reactive maintenance cycle vs. a proactive approach. With the proper CMMS tools, a technician will gain insight into the following: 

    • Create, evaluate, prioritize, delegate, and monitor work orders from any system by managers and operators. When a work order is done, they will also receive up-to-the-minute updates. 
    • When there is a new job order, technicians will be notified immediately, and valuable information such as repair histories, checklists, asset manuals are easily accessible. 
    • Users can plan proactive maintenance by setting up triggers for time, use, or condition-based maintenance. 
    • Technicians can add notes immediately onsite, mark a job as complete, and let others know a specific asset’s status. 

    With all this data readily available, maintenance managers can make more informed choices regarding labor costs and efficiency. Creating a comprehensive preventive maintenance plan becomes a reality with a CMMS system, which saves your organization downtime and lowers costs. 

     

    3. Extend the Life of your Assets and Raise Their Reliability 

    To improve the efficiency and reliability of maintenance operations, creating a preventive maintenance plan is necessary. Predictive analytics yield a tenfold return on investment, according to one study, and results in savings of 30 percent to 40 percent. Organizations that configure the bulk of their Assets in a CMMS report significant improvements in equipment reliability. 

    A CMMS system places all of your PM dashboards and data in one place. Because of this, maintenance planners see the big picture and improve their KPIs via the following tools: 

    • Generation of custom reports on asset downtime and costs to improve maintenance plan 
    • Quick access to all related Asset documentation such as work order history, required safety equipment, and failure codes 
    • Real–time tracking of metrics (e.g., mileage, gauge readings, and operational hours) 
    • Integration with other systems for business-wide collaboration 

    All this functionality in your hands will lead to the automation of maintenance plans and insight into improvement areas. 

     

     4. Upgrade your Inventory Management Tools 

    Maintaining your MRO stock (maintenance, repair, and operating supply) is essential for reducing downtime. Your technicians need to be able to order parts easily to complete repairs on time. MRO supply can be costly. In many cases, MRO accounts can make up as much as 40% of a business‘s annual procurement budget. 

    A modern CMMS tool can assist with inventory management, save time on repairs and reduce duplicate orders by: 

    • Providing real–time tracking of spare parts and all relevant data (i.e., purchase date, availability, and locations where the part is stored) 
    • Automating purchases of parts to avoid extending downtime on repairs 
    • Reporting on inventory costs, order history, and usage metrics 
    • Notifications sent to Technicians of which parts are required  

    Implementing a CMMS solution can have an immediate positive impact on your equipment uptime and increase your ROI. Moving away from reactive maintenance will result in fewer equipment malfunctions and raise efficiency across the organization. 

    To learn more about the Meridian CMMS solution and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team.  

    How a Localized, Multi-Language CMMS Can Streamline Global Operations

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Any sizeable global corporation that maintains sites worldwide knows how language barriers can negatively impact communication and team productivity. 

    Let’s break this down: If person-to-person communication is difficult, adding a complex tool such as a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) will only exasperate the situation. Many modern CMMS tools are English only, which further hinders an international business’s efficiency. 

    Today’s Covid-19 reality adds another layer to this, with most of the workforce working remotely. Due to these challenges, many global corporations have begun rolling out localized or multi-language tools, including CMMS. 

    Key Asset Management Issues Businesses That Lower Efficiency 
    • Not focusing on high-priority maintenance jobs 
    • A lack of proactive maintenance leads to safety issues and unplanned downtime 
    • Communication breakdown between teams that causes delays 
    • Spare parts inventory shortage due to incomplete stock tracking tools 

    If you add language barriers to the mix for multi-site CMMS users, this adds increased challenges: 

    • Incomplete international data due to English only tools 
    • Training issues lead to a lowered understanding of the CMMS capabilities 
    • On–site technicians having issues completing work because they can’t easily access critical information 
    • Smaller tool user base due to language barriers 

    All these issues can have a substantial negative impact on efficiency and team communication. The accuracy of mission–critical asset data can drop, which leads to increased unplanned downtime. 

    How A Localized CMMS Application Can Help Your Global Business 

    A CMMS tool with the ability to localize to your region will provide the ability to translate specific language, cultural and numerical requirements to a more familiar format. These can affect the following: 

    • Language 
    • Dialect (i.e., Quebec vs. France) 
    • Legal requirements 
    • Numeric, date, and time formats 
    • Currency 

    A Localized CMMS will remove layer of communication issues that will increase data completeness and clarity and ease access. 

    4 Benefits of a Localized, Multi-site CMMS Tool 
    1. Modern User Interface 

    A complicated legacy CMMS interface can be tough to navigate and cause frustration due to: 

    • Unclear levels of user rights and privileges 
    • Unintuitive navigation of workflows 
    • Ineffective user training sessions 

    These factors can lead to lower user adoption of the tool and will negatively impact the business. 

    An easy-to-use modern CMMS will alleviate these issues as training sessions become more effective and increase user adoption. 

    2. Native Multi-Language Support 

    Current CMMS platforms are typically only available in English or provide a reduced set of localization capabilities. 

    A powerful multi-site CMMS like Accruent’s Maintenance Connection provides multi-language and does it with a single database.  Users can enter data efficiently using their local language into a single source of truth.  Everyone using the platform is accessing the same data, leading to increased accuracy of data with no need to sync to different environments.  

    3. Mobile and Remote Access for Today’s Reality 

    This year will highlight the need for all of your tools to offer Remote and Mobile access. This is further confirmed by a 2017 ARC Advisory Group global report indicated that 50% of technicians use a mobile device for work orders, and this number is only growing. 

    On–site Technicians that have to rely on wi-fi and laptops will lead to delays in communication and reduced quality of data. 

    This is why an international business needs a CMMS tool with full mobile access. 

    A fully localized mobile application will allow on-site technicians to improve their efficiency and quality of work by helping them: 

    • Find mission–critical asset documentation quickly 
    • Process work orders remotely and in real-time 
    • Order parts in the field to reduce delays and confirm parts availability 
    • See the entire Asset maintenance history 
    • Provide immediate changes to work order status 

    They can accomplish all this in their local language, enabling a smoother maintenance experience with increased effectiveness. In a recent US-based survey conducted by Maintenance Connection, one customer estimated they had saved $1 million due to this kind of mobile CMMS implementation. 

    4. A CMMS Tool That Spans Multiple Sites and Regions 

    CMMS suites that only allow for a single site with limited integrations lead to unstandardized data silos that can cause discrepancies and slow down team interactions. 

    If your CMMS tool can handle multiple sites, the user base pulls data from a single source of truth quickly and accurately. Access to these documents can be controlled effortlessly via centralized permissions for improved security. 

    A modern multi-site and multi-national CMMS will provide these benefits: 

    • Centralized data  
    • Global reporting tools 
    • Standardization of data by removing the need for information silos 
    • Increased data security and safety 
    • Real–time status of work orders across the globe 
    • Full integration for engineering document management tools such as Accruent’s Meridian 

    Features like this can reduce data input errors, standardize workflows, and make for easy user privilege administration in a centralized environment. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team.