Asset management has become one of the highest priorities for today’s companies. To stay competitive and profitable, leadership must strive to decrease downtime and increase revenues while ensuring and protecting their equipment and facilities. In order to make the best decisions, leadership must have reliable, accurate and real-time data. A CMMS system, when properly implemented, will provide that critical information.
There are two foundational components that are critical to maximizing the value of a CMMS system. The first component is a hierarchical structure that provides the relationship between the highest organization assets and their subordinate parts. This structure is called the asset hierarchy. The second component is the creation of a detailed and accurate database of the MRO inventory items required to operate and maintain those assets on all levels. Integrated together within the CMMS system, an asset hierarchy and MRO inventory database, provide the basis upon which all other components of the CMMS system can realize their full value potential.
Through a well-planned and executed asset hierarchy, information is provided that will completely revitalize the management and performance of organizational assets. A CMMS system uses the asset hierarchy to assign costs and labor to the appropriate maintainable asset. This tells us which specific assets are requiring the most maintenance attention and where we are spending each maintenance dollar. Empowered by this information, management is able to ensure each asset is receiving the maintenance it requires; providing the right maintenance, to the correct asset, at the right time, at the lowest possible cost. An effective asset hierarchy can provide valuable information used to determine asset reliability, define and develop equipment specifications, improve future designs, identify areas for capital improvement and determine operator and technician training programs. In summary, through the asset hierarchy, the CMMS collects and reports the data critical to manage and control the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s assets.
Not only does the asset hierarchy allow for valuable informational output, but it is also the communication and organization platform that provides many benefits to the end user.
The asset hierarchy is a road map of each asset, allowing operators and technicians the ability to write work requests to the specific area of concern. This higher level of communication reduces equipment downtime, reduces operator frustration and increases technician efficiency, resulting in higher operational productivity. TPM activities can be written and assigned to specific assets, allowing operators to perform basic maintenance on the machine lines, freeing up valuable technician hours. Using the asset hierarchy roadmap, preventative and corrective maintenance procedures can be planned and organized to decrease completion times and increase overall compliance. Conclusively, the asset hierarchy, within the CMMS, is an informational highway that provides many benefits to the end user.
The second component to CMMS value realization is an accurate MRO inventory database. Each year, thousands of dollars are lost because an organization’s parts bins do not have the critical parts needed or those critical parts cannot be found. Maintenance and production suffer from the results being avoidable downtime and labor. Having an accurate MRO inventory database allows us to identify and order the critical parts we need, forecast the parts we are going to use and accurately know how much our maintenance parts are costing.
Conversely, an obsolete, inaccurate or non-existent MRO inventory database can create a multitude of cost and time overruns. Time is lost trying to identify improperly labeled inventory parts, waiting on parts to arrive or spent traveling to and from vendor locations. Costs increase in overnight shipping, handling and returning incorrect parts, vendor convenience pricing and missed vendor discounts. Subsequent effects include lost inventory, outdated inventory, damaged inventory and overstock of non-critical inventory items. All of these areas can be avoided by establishing a well-planned MRO inventory database within the CMMS system.
An asset hierarchy and MRO inventory database are critical to realizing the full value of a CMMS system. Through them, leadership is provided with the data to make the well-informed asset management decisions critical to succeed in today’s competitive environment. Without them, decisions are made based on vague and often misguided information influenced by opinion and emotion resulting in increased production downtime, unnecessary costs, increased employee safety events, and premature asset failures.