Maintenance software (CMMS): ultimate guide [2021]

Having your assets in perfect operation is a crucial factor for the industry and quality in production, considering that a number of obstacles may hamper their best functioning. Even though the industry has plenty of information about its assets, with a massive amount of paper and a well-structured maintenance routine, you might encounter an astonishing lack of knowledge in this field.

For decades, the maintenance sector has only been remembered in emergency situations and as a source of excessive expenditures. For that reason, the best alternative for a more intuitive and also productive maintenance routine is the definition of a system able to monitor and send the managers daily data about the asset’s health.

Thus, having a computerized management system is fundamental to meet the needs of your business. The CMMS software (Computerized Maintenance Management system) or Maintenance software is capable of harmonizing the industry operations such as: planning, control, operational performance and productivity.

The management can be tailor-made for the industry, be it in the manufacturing sector, agroindustry, food, civil construction, automobile, paper and others.

And here we will explain to you how the software works on a daily basis and how you can save money and also from losses even if your business is small.

What is CMMS?

The acronym CMMS stands for Computerized Maintenance Management System/Software. With this technology, it is possible to automatize the maintenance activities and operations.

Nowadays, using a software goes beyond the essential operations. It means following maintenance processes closely: asset management, the team, producing accurate data, optimizing routines without the need to paralyze production. This way, it’s possible to analyze data to manage the service the best way possible, produce reports and even control the costs more efficiently.

With Tractian’s maintenance software, it’s possible to locate tools related to the maintenance routine optimization, asset’s overview, service orders and technical reports. Besides that, the manager will have access to the asset’s indispensable data in an efficient and prompt way, including RMS speed, temperature variation and estimated energy consumption. We are making the maintenance routine more intuitive, assertive and productive.

What are the main benefits of having a CMMS?

An increase in productivity, control of costs and optimization of the maintenance routine are some of the benefits that your company will have when using CMMS. However, we Tractian list here some benefits that make the use of this software essential in your industry. Learn more below.

Real-time data

Accessing information about the asset’s condition in real-time allows the managers and their teams to have better control of the processes. With that, the maintenance routine and business operation become more dynamic, efficient and assertive. Getting hold of this information will provide the manager with more agility to make decisions, always based on real and concrete data.

Unlike the traditional systems that require long and complex spreadsheets to control, the software guarantees data centralization and a broad overview of the asset’s tree.

Improved utilization of the asset

The automatic generation of data enables better planning, production of more assertive technical reports, improved flow of the inspection routine activities and definition of the best maintenance strategies for the assets.

Another key feature worth mentioning when making use of the CMMS is the fact that there’s no need for complex interpretations and countless figures hard to calculate. Now, the technology itself handles the analysis and the accuracy of the critical data and consequently allows to identify if there’s any need for correction.

Control of costs

Having data periodically delivered to the managers enables them to identify possible abnormalities still in an initial stage and act in a predictive way. That guarantees a drastic maintenance cost reduction, replacing the corrective maintenance for preventive and predictive ones.

With the data collected by the CMMS and reports produced, it’s possible not only to have accuracy in decision-making but also to anticipate maintenance costs. This organization of the right moment of maintenance, where all the necessary resources (technical and pieces) will be available favours a reduction in the machine and employees’ inactivity time.

Increase in productivity

With technology assisting in decision-making and providing accurate data, it’s possible to increase not only the maintenance team’s productivity but also the production itself.

Efficient management enables your team to focus on other activities that are also considered essential to the company but were neglected before. Besides reducing the maintenance costs, the work performed by the maintenance teams become healthier and safer. Hardly will they be involved in a stressful situation or called to act as ‘firefighters’ all the time. Instead, routines will be better planned and equipment better controled.
And with the decrease in emergency stops, the accomplishment of goals is boosted. Therefore the more predictive maintenance, the less corrective maintenance.

4 myths debunked

1. Hard installation

A popular myth that comes up when we talk about CMMS is the belief that the software’s implementation is hard or time-consuming. Quite the contrary, it’s very simple.

One alternative is the technology developed by TRACTIAN, of easy installation. In a few minutes, all our system is installed and ready to analyze your assets. Besides the plug&play system, the software is simple to use and has an intuitive dashboard for the user to have an efficient and straightforward view of the data.

2. Hard adaptation of the team

One fear that some managers and people in maintenance might have is the fear of not learning or adapting to the system. But what happens is quite the contrary. There’s quick learning and adaptation when utilizing the platform.

Right after its first use, people come to understand how easy and nimble it is to operate the software and how it can optimize the industry’s day-to-day. Besides facilitating the broad overview of the asset’s health, it’s possible to schedule tasks and receive insights from the palm of your hand.

3. The data in my company is not safe

The biggest fear in the industrial sector is not having data to be considered safe. Nowadays, data is stored in the cloud where only users with authorized access can log in to receive the information. TRACTIAN guarantees that all industrial data collected is to remain safe.

All data is sent via 3G/4G to the maintenance team, without the need to go through the plant’s industrial Wi-fi. The collected data is stored in the cloud and encrypted, from the vibration collection to the user’s data. Behind the monitoring, one specific key is used to shuffle the collected data. Therefore, no one except the users involved in the operation manage to have access to this confidential information.

4. Unnecessary cost

Many industries believe that when adopting software to optimize maintenance management, is an unnecessary cost. That proves to be a misconceived idea!

Companies seek to modernize themselves and are always willing to break the vicious cycle of ‘fix after the break’. They should be forward-looking and make long-term investments. It’s imperative to understand that with the use of a CMMS your industry will improve in aspects such as reduction in corrective maintenance, identification of anticipated anomalies, improvement in the maintenance management not to mention the increase in production itself.

In this text, you could notice how important it is to have a software that tells you where and when to act, in the maintenance sector. TRACTIAN can help you with the implementation and make processes more intuitive and efficient.