Labor and Parts Forecasting in a CMMS Strategy

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) strategies help enterprises analyze, track and report on labor, equipment, tools, and materials requirements according to maintenance and asset management plans. They further help calculate and keep a check on the machinery and resource requirements to maintain the best possible levels of workforce productivity. Since the introduction of CMMS solutions almost two decades ago, the focus has been primarily on work order management and tracking the history of costs for maintaining assets. It was only later that CMMS solutions included the budgeting aspect as well. Thus personnel in charge of maintenance could easily track their anticipated budget expenses with such a CMMS solution. In most enterprises, the operating budget, especially in the maintenance department, includes labor costs, material costs and other maintenance related costs, such as equipment rentals and 3rd party vendors and contractors. An effective CMMS strategy can handle these costs - both forecasted and historical reporting - with great efficiency.

A pertinent and relevant CMMS strategy helps in correctly gauging the values of assets and ensures that they have been accounted for. The strategy also ensures that in large maintenance projects where repairs and replacements are part and parcel of an asset’s retention and preservation process, all logistics and workflow associated with these process elements are factored. Computerized maintenance management tool should be able to budget for projects and also help control costs. It should always take into account the enterprise’s KPI structure and based on that, ensure that routine data collection and asset inspection identifies problem issues and facilitates modification of processes to resolve the issues. The tracking and reporting of conditions and attributes of equipment and facilities and how their location in the asset hierarchy affects operations, is a key goal of any cmms solutions software deployed in an enterprise.

A core part of this goal is visibility and resultant forecasts of resources required and the ability to notify and alert personnel and key suppliers or partners to ensure that they are aware of workforce plans, labor schedules and materials requirements.

The perfect enterprise asset management software should be able to account for vendor/contractor lead times, be it SLA’s or even historic realities. Additionally, it should take into consideration resources that can be technical as well as those that can be impacted due to seasonal issues, like vacations or holidays. The software should empower enterprises with enhanced visibility into forecasted process management and inspections to understand if there is any requirement for technical resources, skills sets, tools or instruments, etc. The inclusion of functionality and processes that forecasts or address advance work demands, blanket PO’s and delivery time SLA’s for critical components should be incorporated within the CMMS strategy. This means repair and condition or situation triggered work orders will also be included. An ideal CMMS strategy would necessarily take into account any impending certification expirations or training requirements.

Armed with such a perfect CMMS strategy solution, enterprises are sure to enhance their maintenance management to ensure maximized system and therefore Asset ROI.

The Future of Enterprise Asset Management Software

Recent IDC research conducted in January 2011 estimates that the “worldwide market for cloud-based systems management software will total to $2.5billion by 2015.” In such a scenario, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software, which manages an enterprise’s physical infrastructure, will also see unprecedented growth. Cloud or on-premise based, an effective EAM solution will absolutely impact an organization's return on asset investment by contributing immeasurably to the required tasks of maintenance, providing complete asset visibility, and facilitating federal and global compliance regulations.

The Current State of EAM

Traditional EAM solutions record or capture data and then, at best, provide a vehicle to view the history of these transactions. Generally, information about materials, labor hours, and overall cost of maintenance is captured in the work order module and then perhaps later transferred, usually via hand-key, to the financial ledger, creating a limitation and severe bottleneck. Information that needs to necessarily flow backwards and forward between two different systems gets locked in just one system. Synchronization of data among systems is cumbersome, inaccurate, and almost never in real-time.

What Lies Ahead for EAM?

The future of effective EAM truly rests on effective integration with other corporate systems. EAM and Maintenance Management software can no longer be "point" solutions - only used by the maintenance folks. An island of maintenance management automation will over time certainly become a non-deployed maintenance management solution. This means the onus of a successful EAM system will depend on its ability to integrate and collaborate with systems efficiently. It will need to support multiple industry protocols and interface with other organizational systems to facilitate real-time data exchange. Examples include; employee records within Human Resources applications, or exposed production schedules to maintenance or maintenance schedules exposed to operations departments.

The cmms software or SaaS of the future will of course support global enterprises via functionality such as diverse language and currency compliance.  Maintenance management software must continue to broaden its focus on cloud computing and anytime, anywhere data access via mobile enabled devices. A mobile enabled EAM solution can ensure that communication flow between technicians, contractors, and field-based operators are streamlined. Such a solution can also allow easy access to previous work history to ensure enhanced troubleshooting abilities.

An EAM solution of the future can offer immense benefits to enterprises by way of eliminating traditional manual and non-existent information exchange processes.

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Discovering and Understanding Qualifications of Asset Management Software

Anything relevant to business and which generates value is an asset – facilities, materials, vehicles, machinery, software, hardware and of course, an organization's staff and personnel. Thus enterprises require a system which can help them manage assets and maximize their use. Asset management software is a critical toolthat delivers optimized solutions for purchasing, maintenance and deployment of key equipment, facilities, and infrastructure.

Enterprise asset management software helps to reduce the company’s costs and provides the best solutions for leveraging productivity and adhering to compliance regulations. Effective asset management helps businesses with accurate and timely information on the assets that the enterprise possesses and their status. Often, it also provides utilities and systems to manage tool crib and materials inventory.

A common issue that enterprises face in tracking assetsisaccurate updating and tracking of real-time conditions and statuses. Productivity is severely hampered as businesses have to invest extra effort and time to manually check and re-check their records. Or, worse, operations productivity suffers due to poor visibility into the status of critical assets.

Often, the misconception that asset management software is expensive or too complex is justification for not moving away from traditional or legacy methods of managing assets, even when direct evidence indicates these methods incur distinct inefficiencies and negative outcomes. Enterprises can in fact pursue a simple and organized system of asset management by employing computerized maintenance management software.

Distinctive Features of Asset Management Software

1. Asset Tracking – The software should possess qualities that help in tracking assets right from the initial stage – i.e. purchasing value, current and depreciating value and funds for restoration – through to the retirement value stage. It should follow a flexible hierarchical tracking process and provide methodologies for asset classification. It should track the attributes of the assets, their operational procedures and technical features. It should also provide capabilities to collect and track condition history data using mobile technology.
2. Preventive Maintenance – The CMMS must provide triggers for preventive maintenance based on flexible dates or asset utilization rules. When process requirements dictate, the preventive maintenance software system should also provide features for workflow and multi-level notification. The interface should help with scheduling of the work and set alarms for the completion of work.
3. Maintenance Management – The asset management software should fulfill labor allocation, tracking and scheduling tasks. It should also provide allocation and tracking of replacement parts. Tracking the asset downtime is another vital feature that is provided by maintenance management software. Visibility of demand for parts as well as labor demands should also be taken into account by the software.
4. Reporting and Analysis – The asset management software should provide automated reports of the value of the assets, their usage and repairs, the work schedules, labor output as well as work order maintenance.

Enterprise asset management software must provide the ability to be configured as asolution in accordance withorganizational work process, nomenclature preferences, and business objectives. The solutions deployed ensure enhanced utilization of assets and ROI on those assets.

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Tips for Selecting the Right Enterprise Asset Management Software

The selection, maintenance, inspection and renewal of assets play a major role in determining the overall performance and profitability in a business or organization. Enterprise asset management revolves around making the right decisions in these areas and optimizing these processes based on the KPIs of the organization. Adopting and effectively deploying enterprise asset management software is a core part of how to achieve these goals. Here are a few tips that can help to ensure that you get the most out of your EAM software so that you can get the most out of your assets. 

Contemplate PAS-55.
PAS-55 is a new publically available standard for asset management and is globally making rapid inroads. It is the best way to prove that the organization is following best practices to ensure reliable operation and cost control. Ideally, an EAM must address all phases of the asset life cycle, like the processes of planning and engineering, maintenance and operation, eventual retirement, etc. PAS-55 provides guidance on the sharing of information and the retention of knowledge across the organization. 

Include partner and supply chain visibility
Anyone engaged in an EAM selection process needs to understand how the software can be extended to suppliers involved in the various stages of the asset life cycle. As maintenance work is planned, if your partners have seamless visibility of these plans, they can be informed of upcoming work, schedule people and resources, and make certain that they have the right tools and materials on hand.  

Understand the importance of project management on a macro level.
The ability of an EAM package to support plant engineering is a major factor. Even in the vast majority of instances when an outside engineering group is responsible for design, their activities and overall impact can be are affected by the EAM platform in use. Asset management executives who get the right EAM tools in place not only extend the life and performance of equipment and facilities, but record valid, accurate, information during the asset lifecycle, thereby providing knowledge to influence design.  In addition, the EAM should incorporate design data such that ongoing maintenance and operations activities are based on a clear understanding of an asset's architecture or specification. 

Consider the impact of an aging workforce.
Build an environment in which people are willing to share what they know and help each other. Many asset-intensive companies do not have the proper tools in place to efficiently optimize the activities associated with a plant shutdown, nor do they have the right tools to proactively reduce planned downtime. Asset management executives that get the right EAM tools in place and leverage them to their full extent will have lower overhead and greater productivity. 

Consider the importance of usability.
In selecting EAM software, it is therefore important to look for cutting-edge user interface and portal approaches to maintenance management software software design and deployment that will streamline adoption of the software in the enterprise.  This can also dramatically enhance decision making, knowledge acquisition, and prioritization of resources
Integrate EAM with ERP.

It is important to consider the degree to which EAM software will integrate with existing systems.  Creating a data silo separate from the rest of the enterprises rarely a prudent strategy.  Lean maintenance improvements are achievable, on the other hand, when EAM is integrated with the rest of the enterprise. 

The right enterprise asset management software will help you not only ensure asset availability by seeing that necessary maintenance is performed correctly and on-time, but will also allow senior management to manage and protect their overall investment.

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