Easing Facility Management with CMMS Maintenance Software

Managing a facility is far from easy. There is a lot that needs to be done, so it’s a rather involved process. When a facility is dependent on the life of its equipment, it’s very important to make sure that breakdowns don’t occur and downtimes are reduced to a minimum. Usually, it is the work of the maintenance department to take care of all these specifics, but there is only so much they can do on their own. Monitoring of a building, a plant or a factory is rather complex, but with a CMMS Maintenance System, it becomes much easier.

The job of a CMMS system is to monitor the working state of your equipment and your assets. This incorporates everything from tracking inspection, regular updates on the health of said assets, and recommendations for repairs and replacements that need to be made. Of course, these are not the only responsibilities that befall a CMMS Program, but they makes up a big percentage of it. In addition to these, with a CMMS Maintenance system your scheduling needs are taken care of, including assigning of personnel, tracking of work orders, recording inventory and so on. It simplifies the processes that people can do, and minimizes the time taken to do so.

CMMS Software is unspecific with the kinds of facilities that it can work in. While this partly depends on the nature of the software itself, such a program can be used in pretty much any organization that needs a hand. This could be a school, a manufacturing plant, an import facility, a hospital, and other companies. It is good to have your specific needs addressed in the first place, before you choose the CMMS software that you want. This will help you find the most appropriate CMMS software for your needs and budget.

Longer life is guaranteed for your assets with a CMMS Maintenance system, as it has clearly been established. Perhaps to appreciate the importance of having it around, one needs to visualize the problems culminated from not having it. Your company’s assets will probably go for months on end without first showing fault. But with machinery, not seeing a problem does not mean its not there. Machines usually compound their problems, instead of highlighting them one at a time. Vibration intensities may increase, temperatures may increase, some parts may be growing ineffective and some may be breaking down. These are problems that need to be nipped at the bud, and this is made possible with a system that tracks them down. As you can conclude, embarking on repairs is much better than making replacements, financially speaking.

If you are looking to cut back on costs of maintenance in your facility to maximize on the profits realized, then a viable solution lies with a CMMS system. With the preventative maintenance tool, you are guaranteed that your equipments are assets will be long protected from breakdown. Coupled with the other tools that it comes with, you get a lasting solution that not only helps with managing a facility, but increases its overall productivity as well.

Run Your facility with Computerized Maintenance Management Software

Facilities maintenance is usually part of the non-core services by a corporation or some organizations. Non-core services may include managing maintenance, repair and operations, standardization of operating procedures, property management, as well as managing contract services such as security and cleaning. Therefore, the proper maintenance of physical assets makes up a major function and dollar amount of facilities management. Increasing the effectiveness of facilities management will assist businesses in concentrating within their core competent areas.

Facilities management takes on their role by offering routine, scheduled maintenance and inspections of assets with a CMMS which is essential and crucial for an effective running by an establishment. CMMS facilities management tools can be applied to virtually any industry. These industries range from public service such as schools, universities, parks, hospitals, utilities and manufacturing. The concept and application remain the same, which is to make maintenance management more efficient and prolong the useful lifecycle of assets. Tangible assets specified as buildings, HVAC units, office and IT equipment necessitate constant maintenance for optimal operation. Consequently, an IT solution in organizing maintenance management is a logical solution. Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) is one of the costliest functions of facilities management. According to some studies, properly planned and well-kept maintenance services may result in a twenty percent decrease in the operations cost of a business. Automating and organizing the maintenance activities with an EAM/CMMS can help a company achieve these results.

Good CMMS solutions allow for a high degree of customization that may increase your savings or provide better controls. There are numerous software vendors that offer CMMS packages. Smart facility managers will opt for the a hosted or online CMMS because of the cost savings, increased dependability, and higher levels of support. So why should you use maintenance management software to run your business? The level of maintenance professionalism using a CMMS solution will help facility managers run a better operation, reduce costs and track results to better capital planning.

What Are You Getting For Your Facility?

On the first day of Christmas my CMMS Vendor gave to me
a CMMS solution.

On the second day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
2 months of CMMS implementation.
and a CMMS solution

On the third day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the fourth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the fifth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
5 preloaded inspection checklists
4 mobile handheld devices.
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the sixth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition.
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the seventh day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the eighth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
8 new standard operating procedures
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the ninth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
9 less unscheduled maintenance requests per month
8 new standard operating procedures
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the tenth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
10 fewer maintenance management headaches
9 less unscheduled maintenance requests per month
8 new standard operating procedures
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the eleventh day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
11 items that the CMMS will bring in under budget
10 fewer maintenance management headaches
9 less unscheduled maintenance requests per month
8 new standard operating procedures
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

On the twelfth day of Christmas my CMMS vendor gave to me
12 links (below) to Enterprise Asset Management 101 posts that can help me
11 items that the CMMS will bring in under budget
10 fewer maintenance management headaches
9 less unscheduled maintenance requests per month
8 new standard operating procedures
7 preventive maintenance procedures
6 maintenance management reports detailing where my assets are and their condition
5 preloaded inspection checklist
4 mobile handheld devices.
3 days of quality CMMS training
2 months of CMMS implementation services
and a CMMS solution

Helpful CMMS posts

1. Why Growth During A Recession is Important for your CMMS vendor
2. Applying Six Sigma to Facilities Management
3. What is Better Asset and Maintenance Management?
4. The Secret Advantage of Web-Based CMMS
5. Why is There CMMS Implementation and Training
6. What does SaaS mean? How can it save me money?
7. 7 Deadly Sins of Asset Management
8. 15 Questions For Every Maintenance Manager
9. Building Maintenance Management and Technology
10. 4 Steps to Manufacturing Maintenance Excellence
11. The Secret Damage Of Dust
12. It’s 9:00 AM – Do You Know Where Your Assets Are?

What is your CMMS Vendor Giving You?

Enterprise Asset Management 101

Asset and maintenance management has entered into an era where technology is employed to operate other technology in order to keep facilities operating. A scary thought for some and yet it is a fact of life that is not going away.

To help you understand how technology is playing a key role in many facilities, we have a guest article today by Don Fitchett, President of Business Industrial Network (BIN)

PLC Safety and Reliability Guest Post – by Don Fitchett

I’ll give you a clue; it has the letters PLC in it. Yes, you probably guessed what it is by now, the Programmable Logic Controller. And even more so is the next technological advancement to the PLC, the Process Automation Controller (PAC), but I‘ll talk about that a little later. It is not the PLC it’s self that is the problem as they are highly reliable devices, it is how we work with PLCs that makes our systems so much less reliable.

The PLC controls just about every machine, in every industry, in every country, yet is the last item that plant maintenance and engineering do reliability analysis on. If the reliability issues related to PLCs are even addressed at all. What is even more surprising and even less known, is that the PLC also controls most of the world’s infrastructure. The PLC controls most of the world’s power, water, traffic lights, trains, elevators, big building’s HVAC and much less critical equipment like boilers, bridges, tunnels, hospital incinerators, combines, car crushers, etc.

Better safety and reliability in your car than in your machine…

The PLC is like your cars “Brain Box” or Electronic Control Unit (ECU), in the respect that it is an out sight-out of mind little black box, until the car breaks down. The difference being when your car’s ECU indicates a problem, you have a technician trained and certified on that unit work with it. When a machine or other PLC controlled system indicates a problem, most have an electrician or engineer with little training on that specific PLC work on it. There are other differences too. An ECU typically affects one piece of equipment that typically cost less than $ 40k. A PLC typically affects one or many machines, each costing $ 100k to millions of dollars. But more importantly an ECU affects the reliability of one machine (car) and the safety of one person. A PLC can affect the reliability and safety of many machines and many people.

So, how is safety and reliability put at risk when working with PLCs?

• Lack of training
• Lack of policies and procedures
• Complacency
• Lack of security

The above four causes of safety and reliability risks associated with PLCs are in order of importance. The number one cause of risk while working with a PLC, is lack of proper training. Because technology in manufacturing and other related industries evolve almost as quickly as the computer industry, text book training alone is not enough to qualify an individual to work with PLCs. (Especially since the textbooks are out of date by the time they get printed anyway.) But more importantly, safety and reliability policies and procedures must be incorporated in to the training. These safety and reliability procedures must also be incorporated into company policy. Company policy must dictate only those “properly trained” be allowed to work with the PLCs and that each year employees be retrained and qualified to avoid complacency and keep up with technology advancements. With PLCs, lack of security was a rare cause of safety and reliability risk in the past. But with more networking of PLCs to other devices the risk has been steadily increasing. With the evolution of the newest controller, the PAC, the risk is climbing exponentially.

Safety and reliability get worse with new technology …

With PLCs, all four categories of risk to safety and reliability have been greatly increased. Mostly due to the fact it is new technology and lack of training. But equally so because of the way the PLC is designed. The PLC is designed to mimic electrical circuits and for the electrician to work with. The PLC is designed to combine the PLC with motion control and other technologies, including computer programming. Companies are hard pressed to find electricians who also have a degree in computer programming, or computer programmers who also know PLCs.

Complacency is not really an issue with the relatively new PLC, as most find it over complex and confusing. But security greatly increases because of the ever growing use of Ethernet and even the Internet to access PLCs. Maintenance and engineering are not as likely to know and take computer communication security steps and procedures. As IT personnel are not as likely to understand the concept and reality that a PLC on their network breached, is not as simple as just backing up the program. Breaches in PLC/PLC security don’t just crash a program; they can crash a machine causing damage to real world man or machine!

Oh the stories I can tell.

So my advice to companies, get annual PLC training that includes safety and reliability. Just as importantly, get policy and procedures that include PLCs/PLCs.

I would also highly recommend you read the article Managing PLCs in your Facility.

About the Author:

Don Fitchett is President of Business Industrial Network (BIN), an industrial training company specializing in PLC training. Don has held that position for over 15 years and has been in the industrial training industry for over 25 years.

Share with us your stories and ideas on using PLCs and PLCs safely and reliability.

Enterprise Asset Management 101

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 1, 2007

USRG Power & Biofuels Fund II, LP announced today that it has acquired the 19.4 net megawatt Tracy Biomass Generation Facility, located in Tracy, California. The Tracy facility is located approximately 45 miles east of Oakland, California and uses urban waste and agricultural waste as fuel to generate nearly 20 megawatts of electricity. USRG purchased the ownership interests of Thermal Energy Development Partnership, LP, which owns and operates the facility.

Under USRG leadership, the Tracy Biomass Generation plant will continue to sell power to Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The facility is capable of generating base-load renewable energy for as many as 20,000 homes in Northern California.

Lee Bailey, Managing Director, USRG Management Company, LLC, said, “The acquisition of the Tracy Biomass facility is a critical step in our efforts to build the leading portfolio of renewable power and clean fuel generating facilities. The Tracy Biomass operation compliments our previous acquisition of Bottle Rock Power Corporation, also located in California. As more and more States across the country pass renewable energy legislation and guidelines, USRG is uniquely positioned and qualified to help move the clean fuel sector forward and change the country’s energy consumption profile.”

USRG has hired North American Energy Services to serve as facility operator and manager, as well as PurEnergy as the Asset Manager.

About US Renewables Group

USRG Management Company, LLC (“USRG”), based in Santa Monica, CA, with offices in White Plains, NY, is a private investment company that acquires, develops and operates renewable power generation and clean fuel assets.

Contact:

Steven Gottlieb

Gottlieb Group Communications, LLC

206.427.9591

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Related Facilities Asset Management Press Releases

Saving Methods For Facility Managers With Asset Management Software

One of the more important things in the efficiency of a company and in the success of a business is definitely the cost of overhead expenses and day – to – day expenses of the company. Perhaps the greater percentage of these expenses will be the expense for the cost of office space that needs to be allocated to office usage. Especially the presence of too many staff members will be extremely hard on the company’s budget, as the resources of the company will have to be allocated efficiently, so that the necessary productivity can be achieved within your company. Of course, there are several avenues of approach available to the managers and executive directors for saving on these allocation expenses. One of the most state of the art solutions available is the asset management software that you can use to manage your company assets and to manage and allocate your company resources to your staff members, in the most proficient manner.  There are several advantages to having an asset management software to handle these matters. Some benefits of asset management software include:

By using asset management software, you will be able to allocate desk space to your employees in the most rational and efficient manner. As you know, the concepts of “home office” and “office on the go” are on the rise and as a result, most of the office employees are usually outside.
By using asset management software, the desks, as well as the office equipment (telephone lines, faxes, photocopy machines, computers, and printers) can be allocated in the best possible manner to the employees working in different time slots or in different days.
By using asset management software, the meeting room utilization efficiency will increase. Also, as a manager, you will be better able to allocate these meeting rooms to your personnel on the merits of their usages, as well as on the merits of their priority.
More importantly, facility managers will be able to handle the proficiency of call centers to staff members by using asset management software to handle all the requests and phone assignments.
By using asset management software you can save on the costs by being able to evaluate the proficiency of your employees by the work that they perform with various tasks. Resource allocation can also be made to people who are more inclined toward success.
Hence, asset management software can create a win – win situation for you.

(PRWEB) October 29, 2004

Smartware Group, a company headed by veterans of the CMMS software industry, has released a new Version 5 of Smart Maintenance. Smart Maintenance is easy, effective, and affordable computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) used for preventive maintenance scheduling, work order management, inventory, predictive maintenance, analysis asset tracking, labor, maintenance requests, tool crib and more. As a proven facility management solution, Smart Maintenance works great in facilities of all sizes, from a one-person maintenance shop to an entire department of maintenance professionals. Smart Maintenance can work for one facility or across the country with multiple facilities.

Version 5 has powerful and exciting new facility management features such as enhanced preventive maintenance scheduling, tool crib management, step-by-step pictures for maintenance routines, automatic logging of downtime based on maintenance requests, PM balancing, enhanced predictive analysis and much more. Version 5 is offered in both MS SQL server and MS Access back-end database.

“Our CMMS software continues to mature and improve, primarily because we listen to our customer’s needs and suggestions. The best CMMS software is created not by the software people, but a collaborative process with our facility management customers,” says Paul Lachance, Chief Technology Officer for Smartware Group. Smart Maintenance is considered powerful, affordable and most importantly easy to use. “Smart Maintenance gives facility management professionals more ‘wrench’ time, rather than forcing them to spend needless hours in front of a computer,” says Lachance.

About Smartware Group

Founded in 2002, Smartware Group focuses exclusively on maintenance management software products. With over 300 customers and thousands of users, the company has built its success in the CMMS software industry by emphasizing product design bases on the real world experience, needs and interests of its maintenance management software customers and by offering excellent support and product evolution. If you would like to learn more about Smartware Group and its newest CMMS software, Smart Maintenance, Version 5, visit their website at www.smartwaregroup.com.

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Exton, PA (PRWEB) May 18, 2005

Until now, there has never been an event that addressed the IT needs of Facility Management organizations. In its inaugural year, FMIT 2005 offers a carefully crafted program of IT strategies and solutions for facility management professionals.

“In the new era of facility management, you’re only as rich as your data,” remarks Dave Jordani, FAIA, president, Jordani Consulting Group. “Digital information is your most valuable currency. Leveraging it through common process across the enterprise has enormous potential to fortify business processes and improve the quality of facility management. Today’s business realties demand that facility managers provide consistently accurate information about facilities to management across the enterprise.”

Facilities are a major asset for organizations, second only to staff costs. FM technologies are an essential component for reducing structural costs and improving efficiencies. “Leveraging IT is as important to managing facility assets as it is to managing Human Resources. IT management has become a core competency issue for many FM organizations” explains Jordani.

At fm/IT 2005 you’ll hear about the latest initiatives and lessons learned from organizations that are leading the pack in deploying and integrating FM technologies. You’ll also hear about the organizational challenges they have overcome on their way to improving the quality of FM services. Here’s a sample of the program content:

Enterprise Wide Facilities Management at General Motors– Vision to Reality

FM is from Mars, IT is from Venus: Breaking Down the Barriers Between FM and IT Professionals

FMIT Standards

8 Smart Strategies for Developing a Facilities Information Technologies Plan

An Owner’s Perspective: Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Asset Lifecycle Management

fm/IT: Lessons Learned from the Government

An added benefit to the program is FMIT’s strategic co-location with AEC- Science & Technology 2005. “Bringing the building and infrastructure experts together in one location enables facility managers and AEC professionals to collaborate – from the Owner to the Operator, from the Architect to the Engineer, and from the Service Provider to the Facility Manager,” explains George Borkovich, principal of RCG Productions, and developer of the co-located AEC-ST event. “In this unique forum, facility managers can share the impact that IT has had on their operations, and can hear about the new opportunities that lay ahead.”

fm/IT 2005 is a must for facility executives, managers, service providers and IT professionals who are serious about leveraging technology to improve their operations. ‘We are fortunate to have an incredible group of industry leaders who have agreed to share their experience” notes Jordani.

fm/IT 2005 promises to be an excellent learning and networking opportunity. Learn in three days what has taken other organizations decades to develop.

The things you need to know…the people you need to meet…the ultimate FMIT learning opportunity – fm/IT 2005.

Hosted at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort, FMIT debuts June 21 – 23 in Orlando, Florida.

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