Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

The computerized maintenance management system, otherwise known as CMMS, is a software solution that assists organizations in managing and organizing their maintenance operations. It enables businesses to track and schedule maintenance, manage work orders, track inventory and assets, and generate reports efficiently. It assists in organizing maintenance and improving equipment reliability by reducing equipment downtime and improving resource operational efficiency. It also enables better decision-making through insight into data-driven maintenance performance and costs. A CMMS is also an excellent way to let a maintenance team work effectively and manage its available resources to ensure that equipment and facilities are well-maintained to support business operations.

What is Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) ?

CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) is computer software that is being designed to ensure consistent performance and increase efficiency by just simplifying maintenance management. It is a user-friendly management system that helps one in planning maintenance strategies and inventory control. CMMS helps one to organize, track, measure, plan, schedule, and anything related to maintenance tasks digitally. As the name suggests, it is a computerized way of managing maintenance work.

Component of CMMS

There are various components of CMMS and some of them are given below as follows.

1. Work Order Management : Work order management simply means to manage work order requests. It is one of main components of CMMS. It includes the following information as follows.
   • Number of work orders.
   • Description regarding work order and priority according to its severity.
   • Type of work order i.e. replace, repair, scheduled, planned.
   • Causes and effects.
   • Tools, products, or parts assigned and required.
2. Preventive and Predictive Maintenance : CMMS generally provides many important features to organizations simply to help them to manage their maintenance operations. One of the best features is providing preventive and predictive maintenance. It helps one to avoid unexpected failures or breakdowns or any damage to assets by simply providing both types of maintenance.
   • Preventive Maintenance : It generally helps one to prevent assets from unexpected failure by regular checking and maintenance.
   • Predictive Maintenance : It generally helps one to prevent assets from unexpected failure by providing maintenance only when it is needed as it predicts if there are any chances of failure occurrence. If chances of failure occurrence are identified then only it performs maintenance.
3. Scheduling and Planning : Schedule and planning are two tasks that help one to become proactive rather than reactive. Performing maintenance before any failure occurrence prevents the organization from loss of production, prevent asset from damages, reduce loss of time, and saves money. Therefore, CMMS helps to schedule and plan maintenance tasks before any failure occurrence rather than performing unplanned maintenance.
4. Data Management : Data management of equipment i.e. managing information regarding equipment. CMMS also helps to manage information and data regarding assets that help one to know about the life-cycle of an asset. By checking information, one can decide when to perform future preventive or predictive maintenance. Maintenance history also helps one to solve issues more fastly and accurately to bring back assets into normal working conditions.
5. Inventory control : CMMS also manages Inventory control. Inventory control simply means keeping correct number of parts and products in stock to avoid any problem. If correct parts and products are not available in stock, then it makes it difficult for team members to perform maintenance tasks more effectively. CMMS makes sure that parts that are required are available in stock. CMMS helps one to avoid spending unnecessary money on products or parts that are not required. It also reduces occurrence chances of problems regarding storage issues.
6. Features of CMMS : CMMS helps one to manage maintenance work orders by simply allowing one to -
   • Submit, review, check, filter, assign, and analyze work orders.
   • Plan, schedule, and initiate maintenance
   • Get notified when any work orders are developed.
   • Add checklists, manuals, data and notes to work orders.

How does a CMMS Work?

A computerized maintenance management information system works by putting all the information and processes related to maintenance into one software package. Here is how it typically works :

• Asset Management : It aids in creating a database of all the assets, equipment, and machines that need maintenance. It keeps track of all essential information on each asset, like its maintenance history, manuals, warranties, and other details.
• Work Orders : Generate work orders in the CMMS for maintenance activities. The work order shall capture information such as type of maintenance, priority, technician to whom the work order is assigned and completion date.
• Preventive Maintenance : Availability of facility in a CMMS for scheduling preventive maintenance based on time, usage, or condition will facilitate proactive upkeep of equipment to avoid unexpected breakdowns.
• Inventory Management : Spare parts inventory can be maintained through a CMMS by tracking stock levels, automatically reordering supplies, and associating parts with particular assets to locate them easily in maintenance tasks.
• Reporting and Analysis : A CMMS generates periodic reports on KPIs, trends in maintenance costs, equipment downtime, and many more metrics that offer insights into maintenance strategies for the best optimization of overall efficiency.
• Mobile access : Many CMMS solutions have mobile applications that allow technicians to view work orders, update information, and receive notifications while in the field. This improves productivity and responsiveness.

Overall, what a CMMS does is organize maintenance operations. It improves asset reliability through reduced downtime and better decision-making with data-driven insights-a very valuable tool for any organization seeking to optimize its maintenance processes.

History of CMMS

• The concept of CMMS started as far back as the late 1960s and early 1970s, when businesses began using computer programs for managing maintenance-related activities. These were simple systems with basic features in relation to preventive maintenance scheduling.
• Well, technology evolved, and CMMS does not fall back. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, the application of personal computers became wider and software was being created more sophisticated. On these bases, CMMS became more comprehensive systems able to track maintenance histories, manage work orders, and facilitate a much more streamlined maintenance operation.
• Throughout this time span, CMMS solutions have been developed to gradually expand their functionality, including asset management, inventory control, reporting, and even integrations with other business systems.
• The cloud-based adoption of a CMMS makes them very approachable, scalable, and cost-effective for organizations of any size.
• Today, CMMS sits centrally in contemporary maintenance practice as a necessary tool in aiding any business venture in the diverse spectrums of industry to achieve optimized maintenance processes, enhanced asset reliability, and reduced operational costs.
• The development of CMMS has been driven by the desire for superior ways of managing maintenance and the progress in technology that made feasible sophisticated solutions for maintenance.

EAM versus CMMS

While EAM and CMMS are solutions to software that assist organizations with asset and maintenance management operations, they have different purposes.

Whereas CMMS is biased more towards the management of maintenance, EAM looks at holistic management along the whole life cycle of an asset, and therefore suits organizations that require more than just simple management of maintenance.

Considerations when Selecting CMMS Software

Below are some of the key considerations to have in mind while choosing CMMS software for any organization.

• Functionality : Determine the features and functionalities your organization requires based on work order management, preventive maintenance scheduling, inventory control, reporting capabilities, and mobile access. Be certain the chosen CMMS software will achieve your maintenance needs.
• Scalability : Check how the CMMS software will scale to meet your organization's needs while it grows. It would be best if the software accommodated more assets, users, and maintenance activities as your business grew.
• Ease of Use : Ensure that the user-friendly CMMS software is easy to use and intuitive to navigate. Such training should not be needed at all with a new system in order to ensure a seamless rate of adoption and usage by your team members.
• Integration : Verify whether the CMMS software allows common system communications with the various applications that you utilize when running your firm such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems or Internet of Things devices or other maintenance equipment. An integration without a hitch ensures better precision in data handling and simplification of tasks.
• ​Customization : Consider whether a CMMS software offers modification options in order to suit your business processes ​as well as needs. Modifying these kinds of software increases their performance because they are designed to serve particular purposes.
• Mobile Access : Determine if the CMMS software has mobile accessibility, whereby the maintenance teams could log into the system to review and manage work orders on-the-go. Mobile capabilities improve efficiency and responsiveness.
• ​Support and Training : Check the extent of customer support the CMMS vendor is capable of providing in terms of training resources, technical assistance, and after-sales support. Ensure that the vendor has dependable support to fix any problems that may arise.

Being mindful of these factors and aligning them with your organizational goals of maintenance management, you are better positioned to acquire the best-suited CMMS software for you and help your organization in its aim to optimize its maintenance operations.

Advantages of CMMS

• Improved maintenance planning and scheduling: CMMS provides a central platform for managing maintenance activities, enabling software engineering teams to plan and schedule maintenance tasks more effectively.
• Better inventory management: CMMS can help teams manage inventory by providing real-time data on the availability of spare parts and equipment. This can help reduce downtime caused by equipment or parts shortages.
• Enhanced data analysis: CMMS allows teams to analyze maintenance data and identify trends or patterns that can be used to optimize maintenance activities and improve software reliability.
• Reduced costs: CMMS can help reduce maintenance costs by optimizing maintenance activities, improving equipment uptime, and reducing the need for emergency maintenance.
• Improved regulatory compliance: CMMS can help teams comply with regulatory requirements by providing documentation and tracking of maintenance activities.
• Increased equipment lifespan: CMMS can help extend the lifespan of software and hardware equipment by facilitating regular maintenance and repair activities.

Disadvantages of CMMS

• Implementation Costs: Implementing a CMMS can be a costly investment for software engineering teams, requiring significant upfront investment in software, hardware, and implementation services.
• Training and Learning Curve: CMMS can be complex software, and it requires proper training to be used effectively. This training can be time-consuming and may require additional resources.
• Maintenance and Upkeep: CMMS requires maintenance and upkeep, which can add to the ongoing costs of using the system. Regular upgrades, patches, and maintenance may require additional resources and time.
• Data Quality and Accuracy: CMMS relies heavily on accurate data, and if data is not entered correctly, it can affect the quality and accuracy of the output. This can lead to inaccurate maintenance schedules, inventory levels, and other issues.
• Dependence on Technology: CMMS is dependent on technology, and if there is a failure in the system or hardware, it can lead to significant downtime and loss of productivity.
• Resistance to Change: Implementing a CMMS can be a significant change for software engineering teams, and some team members may be resistant to the new system or the changes it requires.

Conclusion

To summarize CMMS is concerned with the careful consideration of factors such as functionality, scalability, ease of use, integration capabilities, customization options; mobile access; and support and training provided by the vendor. Evaluating these factors will help you choose a CMMS that suits your organization’s maintenance needs. Doing so can improve asset performance and streamline maintenance operations. Moreover, it will increase overall efficiency as well as reduce downtime or equipment failure. Picking right CMMS solution is vital because it’s capable of increasing effective maintenance practices hence improving the life span of assets.