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Have you ever wondered how the heart of an industry beats? For the oil and gas sector, it's not in vast fields or towering derricks but hidden within lines of code. Picture this: intricate networks working tirelessly to keep machinery running smoothly, downtime minimal, costs low, safety high - that's a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for you. Think about your car dashboard alerting you when maintenance is due. Now imagine this on a grand scale where any disruption can cost millions; quite nerve-wracking isn't it? That’s how CMMS revolutionized the oil and gas industry. Don't sweat it! We're going to break down how these intricate systems are making maintenance a breeze and keeping us in line with regulations. You'll get the hang of this tech that's revolutionizing our world. The Current Status of the Oil and Gas Industry Despite global energy shifts, the oil and gas industry remains a significant player. Key to its operations are complex pieces of equipment that extract resources from deep beneath our feet. Oil wells aren't just dug - they're engineered masterpieces that keep economies fueled up. It's a massive undertaking where every second counts, downtime is not an option, and safety can never be compromised. This demanding environment has driven many gas companies to use Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS). These systems plan, track, and enhance maintenance activities in this equipment-reliant sector. They have become increasingly popular due to their ability to optimize resources while ensuring maximum uptime for critical machinery. Maintenance: A Core Pillar for Operational Efficiency In any operation as large-scale as oil extraction or natural gas production, regular inspections ensure everything runs smoothly without interruptions. However, it isn't only about avoiding stoppages but also prolonging equipment lifespan by detecting potential failures before they happen. CMMS plays a vital role here with predictive analytics capabilities which anticipate issues before they cause costly downtimes. Beyond preserving machinery health, though, these platforms contribute significantly towards overall operational efficiency too, helping control costs whilst enhancing productivity across boardroom floors and field sites alike. This makes them indispensable tools within modern-day business practices surrounding petroleum extraction industries worldwide. The Rising Adoption of CMMS in The Oil & Gas Sector A recent report showed widespread adoption among top-tier players operating under both offshore and onshore settings alike. It's no surprise then when considering all the advantages they bring to the table, especially in areas such as inventory management and preventive measures implementation, thus further driving the industry's growing reliance on such platforms. CMMS tools are now more than just a luxury - they're an operational necessity. The impact of these systems is tangible, with companies reporting significant cost savings through optimized maintenance strategies and streamlined processes. Especially in the gas industry, they've been pretty swift to jump on the CMMS bandwagon. Key Takeaway: The oil and gas industry is keeping pace with the times, harnessing the power of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) to optimize operations. These systems are essential for managing complex equipment maintenance, boosting safety, reducing downtime, and enhancing overall efficiency. As a result of these benefits, CMMS adoption has surged in both offshore and onshore settings alike. Challenges Faced by the Oil and Gas Industry The oil and gas sector grapples with a plethora of challenges, from unpredictable equipment failure to time-consuming downtime. This is an industry where equipment reliability can make or break financial success. Unplanned hiccups in operations often lead to significant losses that ripple through every corner of these vast organizations. Beyond the immediate concern of operational disruption, there's also the issue of high costs. Running oil wells isn't cheap; maintaining them can be even pricier. Maintaining machinery and complying with regulations are both essential to ensure smooth operations. The Impact of Safety Audits Safety audits are critical for operating efficiency within this dynamic landscape. But they aren’t always straightforward. Their complexity frequently creates another layer of challenge for those managing these industrial giants. Routine safety audits are as much a part of reducing costs as effective maintenance schedules—perhaps more so because they help avoid costly fines and reputational damage linked to non-compliance issues. Audit results must be analyzed meticulously—a process akin to searching for a needle in an information haystack—but it pays off when companies can proactively address potential risks before they become actual problems. Navigating Regulatory Compliance Issues Finding your way through regulatory compliance hurdles isn't unlike attempting a marathon on stilts: challenging but necessary if you want to stay upright. While rules vary across regions, their common goal is ensuring safe practices that protect workers' health and minimize environmental impact from operations such as drilling or fracking. Navigating the oil and gas industry is no easy feat, requiring a courageous spirit to endure issues like broken machinery, prolonged pauses in activity, and meeting regulatory standards. But with every challenge comes an opportunity to innovate, adapt, and overcome. How CMMS Addresses Maintenance & Asset Management Challenges The world of oil and gas is complex, with a lot riding on equipment reliability. Enter the superhero - Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This powerful tool can save companies over $243k through preventive maintenance alone. That's not pocket change. The Role of CMMS in Equipment Maintenance Maintaining a well-functioning machine requires diligent upkeep. It needs regular check-ups and TLC to keep running smoothly. A key feature of CMMS tools is work order management. This feature lets managers schedule tasks, assign personnel, track progress and ensure timely completion of jobs. Imagine trying to do all that manually. With such capabilities at hand, reducing downtime becomes achievable. No more guessing games about when the last maintenance was done or which parts were replaced – it’s all there in black and white within your CMMS platform. The Impact of CMMS on Spare Parts Management Ever had one tiny part bring an entire operation to its knees? Or ever bought spares you didn’t need because no one remembered we already had them? Well kiss those days goodbye thanks to automated inventory procurement from our friend Mr. CMMS. An efficient system will give alerts when stock levels dip below a certain threshold so replenishing never gets forgotten again while avoiding unnecessary purchases. This way managing spare parts becomes as easy as pie leading towards significant cost savings for businesses across the oil and gas industry. Superhero alert. CMMS is saving the oil and gas industry $243k+ with preventive maintenance alone. No more guessing games or unnecessary spares, just smooth operations and cost savings. #CMMSRevolution Desired Solutions for Maintenance and Asset Management A CMMS is an invaluable tool for oil and gas operators to effectively manage maintenance tasks, such as preventive maintenance. A CMMS can make all the difference in managing maintenance tasks effectively. For starters, one significant challenge that operators face involves preventive maintenance. Ensuring equipment stays up-to-date with its servicing needs prevents unnecessary downtime, costly repairs, or even catastrophic failures. Here's where our friend CMMS comes to play - acting as your very own crystal ball predicting potential issues before they happen. A solid preventive maintenance program, powered by a robust CMMS system, allows you to schedule routine check-ups on your machinery just like doctor visits. This kind of proactive care keeps your assets healthy while ensuring smooth operations throughout. The Benefits of a Mobile CMMS Solution In this digital age we live in; mobility has become more than just convenience—it’s necessity. Mobile-friendly software lets teams access critical data from anywhere at any time—whether on an offshore rig or during lunch break at HQ. Schedule maintenance? Done. Need quick information about work orders? You got it. The ease-of-access that mobile solutions provide cannot be overstated—they are simply revolutionary. We're not talking only about accessibility here. We also mean security—the peace-of-mind type of security knowing your valuable asset data won't go missing because someone left their paperwork out in the rain—or worse yet—in plain sight around prying eyes. That's another win for mobile CMMS solutions. Remember, time saved is money earned. And with the cost-saving capabilities of a good CMMS in place—think $243k savings through preventive maintenance alone, it's clear that this tool isn't just nice-to-have; it’s need-to-have. Key Takeaway: Think of CMMS as your secret weapon in the oil and gas sector, streamlining maintenance management like a pro. It's akin to owning a predictive crystal ball that schedules regular machine check-ups, helping you dodge pricey repairs. In our tech-savvy world today, having mobile-friendly CMMS solutions isn't just handy; it's essential - giving you access to crucial data anytime, anywhere. How CMMS Enhances Employee Safety in the Oil & Gas Industry The oil and gas industry is no stranger to hazards. From flammable materials to heavy machinery, employee safety is paramount. This is where a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) steps into play. A well-implemented CMMS for the Oil and Gas Industry serves as a game-changer by enhancing workplace safety. It ensures that employees have access to crucial safety manuals at their fingertips, reducing the chances of mishaps. Immediate Access to Safety Manuals Gone are the days when workers had to sift through physical documents or binders looking for specific procedures during emergencies. With a CMMS system, all necessary information like safety protocols can be easily accessed digitally on any device. This immediate availability helps ensure that every worker knows what needs doing in case of an emergency - something as vital as oxygen masks onboard an airplane. By having these resources readily available, we're not just ticking boxes but saving lives too. Scheduled Equipment Checks for Preventive Measures Maintaining equipment regularly isn't just about cost-saving; it's also about keeping your crew safe from potential dangers posed by faulty machinery. A good maintenance schedule keeps everyone out of harm’s way while increasing equipment uptime – it's hitting two birds with one stone. In fact, according to data, preventive maintenance alone could save over $243k, emphasizing how much weight this simple yet effective strategy carries in terms of financial savings and ensuring staff wellbeing. Promoting Compliance Standards Consistently Maintaining compliance in the oil and gas industry is essential for avoiding legal issues as well as providing a secure workplace. Adhering to standards not only prevents legal complications but also guarantees a safer working environment. CMMS helps keep track of all regulations, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. This way, everyone stays safe while staying within legal boundaries - talk about walking on eggshells without cracking any. In essence, CMMS is like having an extra pair of eyes watching over operations constantly, making sure everything runs smoothly and safely. Key Takeaway: CMMS in the oil and gas industry is a game-changer for safety. It gives employees instant access to vital safety manuals, promotes regular equipment checks, and helps uphold compliance standards consistently. Not only does it save money by preventing mishaps but also ensures everyone stays safe while meeting legal requirements. The Role of CMMS in Regulatory Compliance for the Oil & Gas Industry When it comes to meeting regulatory standards, a well-implemented Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is like a secret weapon for oil and gas companies. But why? Let's dive into that. The Influence of CMMS on Decision Making A good CMMS isn't just about scheduling maintenance tasks or managing inventory; it's also an information goldmine. With accurate data at their fingertips, decision-makers can navigate the labyrinthine world of regulations with confidence. Imagine you're sailing through murky waters. Wouldn't you want a reliable compass guiding your way? That’s what having a robust CMMS tool feels like when maneuvering through complex compliance requirements. It provides clear visibility over equipment status, ensuring necessary safety measures are taken promptly to prevent any regulatory violations. So instead of scrambling around during surprise audits, you’ll be welcoming them with open arms. Safety First: More than Just A Slogan In this industry where high-risk operations are commonplace, prioritizing employee safety isn’t just ethically right but crucial for regulatory compliance too. A powerful feature within many modern-day CMMS systems, such as access to safety manuals and procedural guides help ensure employees always have the needed knowledge at hand while performing potentially hazardous tasks. This doesn’t only minimize risks but strengthens adherence to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards—another win-win situation. Meeting Environmental Regulations The oil and gas industry, like any other sector, is bound by environmental regulations. Non-compliance can lead to hefty fines or worse, operations being shut down. A well-configured CMMS system offers preventive maintenance features that help keep equipment in top shape—reducing the risk of leaks or spills which could have detrimental effects on the environment. Key Takeaway: With a well-implemented CMMS, oil and gas companies can navigate regulatory standards like pros. It's more than just maintenance management—it's a data goldmine that aids confident decision-making in compliance matters. It enhances safety measures, helps meet environmental regulations, and prepares you for surprise audits—turning high-risk operations into win-win situations. The Future of CMMS in the Oil & Gas Industry CMMS, or Computerized Maintenance Management Systems, are a big deal for the oil and gas industry. These software solutions have already revolutionized maintenance processes by making them more efficient and effective. However, the potential for CMMS to offer even more advantages in this industry is far from exhausted. With advancements in technology like AI and machine learning, we could see even more benefits from CMMS in this sector. Maintenance Program on Steroids A good maintenance program is crucial to keeping oil rigs running smoothly. But with advanced CMMS tools at their disposal, companies can take their programs to new heights. The result? More equipment uptime (which means more productivity). Having the info right on hand with mobile gadgets makes it simpler than ever to monitor all that's going on at your location. Taking Compliance Standards Up a Notch We know how critical meeting compliance standards is for oil and gas companies – slip-ups here aren't just costly; they're potentially dangerous too. That’s why any tool that helps meet those regulations gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from us. An advanced CMMS does exactly that – offering real-time insights into operations which help maintain safety protocols while also improving efficiency. Finding Solutions through Machine Learning Incorporating machine learning capabilities within CMMS would mean predictive maintenance becomes commonplace rather than aspirational- spotting potential problems before they become full-blown crises. Now if that doesn’t sound revolutionary... To sum up; It's clear as day: The future of CMMS in the oil & gas industry is bright and promising. Organizations continually search for methods to enhance their processes, so they're certain to take full advantage of these developments. FAQs in Relation to How CMMS Revolutionized the Oil and Gas Industry What is CMMS in the oil and gas industry? It tracks equipment health, schedules repairs, and manages spare parts inventory, ensuring smooth operations. What industries benefit from CMMS? Beyond the oil and gas sector, manufacturing plants to hospitals all gain from a CMMS. Any industry that relies on machinery can use it for effective maintenance management. What is CMMS and explain the purpose and benefits of using CMMS? A CMMS organizes maintenance activities digitally. The key benefits are reducing downtime through preventive upkeep measures while optimizing labor resources efficiently, leading to cost savings overall. What are the benefits of predictive maintenance in the oil and gas industry? Predictive maintenance flags potential failures before they happen. This reduces unexpected downtime in the oil & gas field, resulting in increased production uptime which boosts profits. Conclusion Revolutionizing maintenance, that's what CMMS did for the oil and gas industry. We dove into how these systems keep machines humming along, cut downtime to a minimum, save on costs and boost safety. Keeping track of all components is essential for successful maintenance. That means efficient work order management, inventory control done right and proactive preventive maintenance strategies - it's quite something! Take control of your maintenance today with CMMS technology. Let us help you keep your machines running smoothly, minimize downtime, cut costs, and enhance safety. Learn More

If you're reading this, you've probably heard that Overall Equipment Effectiveness calculations, or OEE calculations for short, are all the rage in measuring your equipment performance and production. But how useful are those calculations really? Just like your buddies at the gym, many decision-makers in the industry choose to put a number on their performance. And if you've been at the gym, you know that you can never trust the number a lifter tells you he can lift. Your assets aren't any different. Measuring production and potential performance is all fine and dandy, but you want to understand the use cases for the OEE formula to know the wheels are actually turning. Otherwise, it'll be all sweat and no muscle. So let's discuss how you calculate your equipment's OEE performance, look at examples and see where the equation helps you improve quality standards, and where you might want to use another tool instead. Put your equipment to the ultimate strength test When we think of manufacturing or industrial settings, we often imagine workers at the production line being trained to handle technical equipment. In the first few weeks of onboarding, the shift supervisor visits the rookie every now and then. Think of him as a trainer benchmarking the new guy's reps and weights against the routine handles of his veteran team. Now, we puny humans may celebrate a round of pushups. But if you consider the workload we put on industrial machines, it's no wonder we apply the same logic to test their effectiveness over time. And the most common performance metric used in manufacturing and industrial settings is the OEE calculation. The factors going into an OEE calculation Since we're benchmarking machines, we can be a bit more rigid with our parameters than with the human co-worker – at least until the robot revolution. OEE considers three main factors to calculate an asset's performance: Availability: No piece of equipment runs 24/7. So this factors in planned downtime, either because of scheduled maintenance or the potential availability loss due to breakdowns and changeovers. Performance: Since we can compare assets and parts more easily than humans, we consider their expected maximum potential. Don't think of hidden potential; this is your net run time. We're talking actual production time, cycle times, speed loss and outages. Quality: Just because a machine is running non-stop, that doesn't help your overall equipment effectiveness. After all, you could be throwing out every other product. So as a final step, we measure the quality loss in output, considering defects, quality rate or rework. Think of yourself as the general manager in Moneyball trying to assemble a winning team, except you're assembling a smart factory. Still, you're boiling down otherwise complex decision-making to one number, striving for total productive maintenance – a world without downtime, outages or reworks. You're doing this to max out equipment performance and effectiveness, to identify otherwise unnoticed quality loss and to continuously improve your manufacturing performance. It also helps you to cut costs and benchmark your OEE value against stronger competitors. Potential disadvantages of relying on OEE calculations That said, reducing complicated business decisions to the OEE metric alone can have its disadvantages. Its simplicity is both a curse and a blessing. It shows you gaps in equipment performance, but it doesn't provide you with the underlying reasons, for instance, if a worker lacks the training to operate it. Also, it treats your production shop as a vacuum. No supply chain disruption, scheduling issue or customer complaint is factored into that equation. So it's certainly useful for evaluating productivity, but it's worth noting that you shouldn't rely on OEE alone to judge your machinery's performance. Let's take a look at an example to see where it might provide value. The OEE calculation = availability x performance x quality Usually, you multiply all factors to receive a percentage value for your OEE calculation. Now, don't sweat it. We'll coach you through this. Let's say you've lost an hour of run time on a machine that keeps overheating. Until now, your machine runs 16 hours a day and produces 5,000 units an hour, 15 of which need to be redone. You've reserved 2 hours for maintenance so far, but you plan to increase that by 30 minutes. To see how exactly your plan works out, you only need to plug the numbers into the formula: Availability: 15 hours - 2.5 hours / 15 hours = 83.33% Performance: 5,000 units/hour = 100% Quality: 4,985 good units/hour / 5,000 units/hour = 99.7% OEE = 83.01% While this is a strongly simplified example, you can see how it aids you in making informed decisions. Based on this formula, you'll be able to judge whether increasing maintenance time is more helpful than reducing the overall output of units — even slight increases in rework could affect your bottom line. Depending on your niche, you may need to calculate work output differently. For some industries, product quantity is the way to go. Others rely on service completion, work hours or even generated value. Remember that this is just one arrow in your quiver. While it helps to adjust the formula to your specific needs, endlessly adjusting it to reflect all details of your real-world scenario misses its purpose. How to improve asset performance with your results While an OEE calculation can help you make judgment calls and fine-tune your planned production time, it doesn't factor in a range of real-world factors, from vendor delays and power outages to shift changes and product mix variations. So tracking your OEE is certainly valuable, but, just like at the gym, you don't want to track numbers solely for the sake of it. Even though raising scores has something satisfying about it, a too-narrow focus can actually hurt your business. And you want your business to be jacked, don't you? Thankfully, there are more comprehensive solutions to help you manage your assets and keep track of equipment life cycles, like our enterprise asset management (EAM) platform. Start your free trial today! We can show you how it works and how you can use it to level up, not just on your OEE score but on overall productivity and efficiency as well. Book a demo with one of our MicroMain experts today, and we'll help you crunch the numbers!

Industrial maintenance helps you break down the silos, do more with less, and take your business to the next level. Did we mention enough business buzzwords? OK. We just wanted to point out that industrial maintenance has absorbed so many tasks and meanings, it's getting bigger than "boiling the ocean." From AI and automation training to welding and motor control – it's in there. But we still need it to stay competitive and prepare our enterprises for the wave of future innovations in mechanics and IT heading our way these days. So let's break it down and see what an industrial maintenance technician's job looks like and how you can guard your team against those changes. Don't worry; we're here to help you. In this post, we'll go over: Different types of maintenance and the purposes they serve. Every strategy and skill an industrial maintenance mechanic should master. How the applied technology will change in the midst of the AI revolution. The role technical maintenance plays in guaranteeing smooth operations in manufacturing. Ready? Then start your engines. Types of industrial maintenance When we distinguish among different types of industrial maintenance, we usually don't mean machinery repairs or troubleshooting fluid power. Squeaky wheels are no fun, but we're referring to the goals which various kinds of maintenance address. That splits all efforts into two large categories: corrective and preventive maintenance. With preventive maintenance, you establish a regular schedule for machinery inspections to avoid any longtime outages and failures during production. As such, it's a condition-based approach, that is, machine squeaks, mechanic runs. Sometimes, these techniques can be supplemented with predictive maintenance, the crystal ball of maintenance, only without incense and laying on of hands. Here, the technician uses applied science such as labor statistics, data analysis and machine learning to predict patterns in your machines' temperature, vibration or fluid power. That way, inspectors can tell how your equipment will perform ahead of malfunctions. Then we've got corrective maintenance, which requires more flexibility and planning because your team will only act when equipment is already failing. Here, you're focusing on overall reliability rather than the current condition, and you're trying to identify the most critical repairs necessary to get the system back up and running. Industrial maintenance technicians: Skills and training Now is probably the point when we'll tell you that industrial maintenance technicians need technical knowledge, right? Well, duh. Obviously, a technician should know their way around industrial technology such as electrical and hydraulic systems, heavy machinery and sometimes even robotics. The type of knowledge they need will naturally depend on their employer and the industrial equipment they work on. But there are some general skills every technician needs. For example, it doesn't hurt to have a good grasp of technical diagrams, schematics and instruction manuals. This also means being able to distinguish the necessary information from the superfluous while under time pressure – a bit like trying to win a shell game during a hurricane. So troubleshooting and problem-solving skills are a big plus, and if you can evaluate several technical options or improvise mechanics solutions, even better. Since every technician will be running routine inspections and maintenance tasks, it's crucial to have decent time management and prioritization skills. And while we're throwing those management buzzwords out there, being adaptable under changing priorities and technological innovations will go a long way. Handling tools and calibrating equipment is just the ice pigging on the pipe. Finally, you should be able to override your left and right brain hemisphere. As a technician, you'll analyze loads of data and diagnose highly technical problems. However, once you've done that, it's important that you can effectively communicate your findings to supervisors and operators. Scotty may have fixed the Enterprise, but he was a tad grumpy for a role model. Industrial maintenance technology and the future of maintenance OK, your technicians are speed-reading technical manuals, and they even get along well with their wrenches — how can you prepare them for future changes? Given that they're already skilled and flexible, you don't have to perform miracles here. For the most part, you'll need to redefine what being flexible means. These days, every industry is right in the middle of a technological revolution, with the Internet of Things, augmented reality, robotics and automation changing the rules. If your team is only following your industry, you could be missing out. Every technician not only has to stay on top of their niche; they also need to educate themselves about emerging technologies across industries, be it through workshops, industry conferences or online resources. Maybe this continuing education even opens the door to cross-industry collaboration. Either way, expect a continuous time commitment from your entire team, not just your industrial mechanic, and make it part of your official plans so that production doesn't suffer from the research that keeps it running. Even today, being a technician is no longer about mechanics alone. That's why it's best to integrate constant learning and digital literacy into your company culture to incentivize your technicians to acquire the necessary programming and data analysis skills. While some industries might get away with taking a broad approach to all those new technologies, each technician should sooner or later specialize so they can physically manage the ever-faster innovation in their respective field, whether that's IoT maintenance or AR-assisted reparation. What's the role of industrial maintenance in manufacturing and production? Imagine your whole business running smoothly with no technical problems at all. No outages are interrupting your workflow, your workers have only heard about rumors of accidents and you've even optimized your assets to perfection to squeeze out the last bit of productive time. That's basically what mechanics and technicians can do for your business if you let them off the chain. Apart from automation and overall strategies like condition-based maintenance, skilled technicians will also borrow tactics from other fields to keep your business afloat. One example of this is lean maintenance, where your entire team focuses on optimizing workflows to reduce non-value-adding activities and waste. Such transformative initiatives can make you look at the technician's job through new eyes. Another tool in your arsenal against downtime is a reliable computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Once your technicians have run through everything we discussed, they can organize and schedule maintenance tasks, manage spare parts inventory and so much more. As it happens, we've developed a great CMMS tool here at MicroMain, and we'd love you to give it a try. We've been supporting the maintenance management industry with our specialized solutions for over 30 years, and we continue to keep learning in order to serve our customers in tackling tomorrow's problems.

You love your assets. We know you do. When something's wrong with them, you don't want to scramble to find the perfect fix. That's why MRO inventory should be a clear, consistent concern for your business. Forgetting about it won't just catch you with your pants down but your surgical gloves off, too, lost on a dusty shelf you barely remember. MRO stands for maintenance, repair and operations inventory control. It can determine whether you're bringing equipment back to peak performance or letting it slide into poor health, simply because you're missing the tools you need. Think of it this way: You're a surgeon with a patient on the table. Some sensitive, life-or-death surgery is waiting to be performed, yet you're rummaging for the right scalpel, forceps or scissors. The nurses are clueless. The patient has been lying there so long, the anesthesia is wearing off; they're impatiently tapping a hand. Meanwhile, another five operations are scheduled that same day, and they'll all have the same problem. You might as well take some gardening shears to the unfortunate asset in your care and hope for the best. Then, there's the reverse when you know exactly what's available (and where) for specialized maintenance. Data guides your choices on purchase orders, delivery dates for resupply and safety standards for the staff working under you. That patient on the table is smiling dreamily, glad to be back on their feet again soon. Your organization stays on track with assets that are constantly repaired on schedule. So, put the shears down! Learn all about MRO inventory and its implications for parts, material orders and the delicate balance of supply chain concerns while running and optimizing your facility. What is MRO inventory management? Exact MRO specifications vary across industries. Essentially, though, they're the activities, items and processes that keep your assets ticking over and making a profit. We're talking belts, fans, screws, spanners, wrenches, drills or anything else that brings an asset back to full working order — either a tool or spare component. Additionally, an MRO inventory should tell you how many supporting materials and goods you have in stock: the kind that help staff do a thorough, safe job. However, it's not only a question of what you have ready for urgent or preventive maintenance, but also whether you're spending enough or too much on your inventory. Cost control is a killer oversight. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that MRO inventory services and parts spending can swallow up to 4.5% of revenue in the manufacturing sector. And, that's important because in a tough economy, pennies saved are pennies earned. We'll talk about holding costs and the like later, but for now, just understand that inventory management keeps an eye on your finances as well as your profitable assets. So, how do we approach smart MRO inventory control? What do you need to know for a better management strategy? First, it's worth defining four main inventory types: Maintenance equipment (motors, gears, valves, repair tools, lubricants, general spare parts, etc.) Cleaning supplies (brushes, cloth, disinfectants, buckets, etc.) Safety equipment (visors, gloves, boots, PPE, durable overalls, etc.) Office supplies (desktops, mobile devices, paper shredders, pens and paper, etc.) Since some of these elements are consumable and others aren't, you should have a system for categorizing and tracking their use. If, for example, only certain cleaning supplies can be used for some maintenance equipment, then you have extra guidance for the arsenal you'll put together for a new work order. We also recommend splitting regular and emergency maintenance inventory. Why? Because emergency repairs are probably going to be a lot more urgent and specialized; there's less time to dither. It's the difference between punctually booking in a hospital patient for scheduled appendix removal or rushing them into the OR after it's already burst. One situation has a lot less room for error, right? Likewise, you need to have the right skills and spare parts close to a critically damaged asset, which determine where you direct specialist technicians or stock amounts of emergency inventory. Finally, learn the difference between direct and indirect costs. They paint a truer image of what you're gaining or losing from inventory. Direct spending These are mainly costs associated with procuring goods and services (the latter includes using a third party for maintenance or inventory management). If you manufacture anything in the inventory yourself, lump that production capital in here, too. Indirect spending Indirect expenses encompass your direct purchases, somewhat like an associated charge. Common examples include materials depreciation, insurance coverage, warehouse rentals, energy costs and security fees. They're not actively contributing to a maintenance task, but they're tied to your people and equipment. The big benefits of your maintenance plan We've hinted at them; you've probably worked out a couple already. Still, let's be crystal clear about the advantages MRO inventory control lends to your asset maintenance. It's a no-brainer once you really crack the code … More precise, prepared workflows Maintenance workflows rely on three things: guidance, priorities and the people who can perform them. Of course, though, those people require the tools and parts for the job, otherwise their talents can't be put to use. And, when that happens, you're risking serious downtime. Solid inventory management ensures your technicians and contractors have what they need at the exact moment they need it. If you can synchronize inventory and workflow data within a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), then your real-time list of supplies, components and safety equipment will be there for everyone to see at a glance. Task notes explain what's wrong, how severe the problem is, which tools or parts are due and where to find them. There are fewer questions and mistakes. Your employees can get straight to work. A fully stocked, economical inventory Routine maintenance should never be short of equipment, or else you'll be risking more delays as workers wait for the right parts. By tracking what you use and how regularly you use it, restocking becomes much less of a guessing game. You have reliable asset and maintenance data to inform your direct inventory purchases. This also means you're less likely to overspend or underspend. Leaving stacks of equipment that are depreciating in value — with hefty storage charges — isn't ideal. Inventory optimization narrows your focus on the investments that are paying off, so you can make more of them where appropriate and save cash on superfluous or outdated supplies. Extra time on your hands We're referencing digital inventory management here, but it really is the only way forward for a competitive business that won't butcher its asset strategy. Some software lets you automate inventory checks with a barcode scanner, leaving paper-based updates behind for good. You just hover a smart device over each part, tool or material, and it adds the data to your system. Eliminating the tedious work associated with MRO inventories gives you countless hours to grow the business and guide the maintenance work itself. Additionally, you can bring up reports on demand, allowing you to compare costs and consumption across weeks, months or even years. Automated inventory management is great for wider business insights as well as making the most of your workday. Counting a smarter inventory's cost Once you start operating on asset classes with more planning and care, you'll spend less cash on worthwhile maintenance. But, while we've already covered some of the costs you can save, the true benefits to your bottom line run much deeper. After all, a doctor wants to bring home the bacon as much as they enjoy seeing patients do backflips again. So, let's put said bacon under the microscope. How else does a streamlined MRO inventory allow you to become cost efficient? You'll reduce carrying costs Buying necessary material and equipment is only one part of the inventory puzzle. You also have to consider the fees swirling around these investments. Carrying costs encompass some of the indirect expenses we've discussed and a whole lot more. Even when you purchase useful maintenance inventory, those expenses should be analyzed and reduced wherever possible. Examples include: Vehicle, fuel and handling payments for transport. Taxes paid on equipment, parts and supplies. Replacing an item that's no longer safe or usable. The cost of servicing your inventory e.g., cybersecurity or performance tests. Warehouse storage beyond rent payments e.g., heating, lighting, refrigeration or theft and damage insurance. A complete, real-time view of your inventory highlights carrying costs across the breadth of your business. You can work it out as a percentage, too. This is the equation: Total carrying costs ÷ total inventory value x 100 = carrying cost % If you're seeing high carrying costs for some items, it's worth rethinking how you're storing, servicing or consolidating your inventory. For instance, setting up a just-in-time (JIT) inventory system — in which you only order the exact supplies you require for preventive maintenance — is a popular method for reducing holding and overhead fees. Improving your supply chain relationships MRO procurement means you'll have to negotiate with companies all along the supply chain, and that raises a host of questions. Are you getting a good deal? Are the items depreciating too quickly? Can your supplier consistently deliver on schedule? If you're extracting a lot of value from their inventory items, can you ask for bulk order discounts in future? Sharing insights with your supply chain partners can do wonders for making relationships work better for both of you. You might find that a few suppliers aren't quite passing muster; their components and equipment are faulty, perishable or too expensive. Maybe your business needs will change as well, leaning toward some assets over others. In any case, reviewing inventory costs and profitability puts you on firmer ground for working with the suppliers that are properly and affordably suited to you. Don't bleed out — 4 things to look for in inventory management software By now, we bet you're keen to have a finely calibrated array of instruments at your beck and call for asset maintenance. No more hand wringing. No frantic shouts for extra assistance. If an asset could walk and talk and afford a bouquet of flowers, they'd probably be just as appreciative of the tools you're about to have in store. A CMMS is the final thing you'll have to worry about. There's much riding on the search for a platform that can kick MRO inventory management to life in all the ways you expect and deserve. Therefore, you have to be aware of what's out there. Here are four traits that separates the ultimate CMMS software from the rest: Automatic parts and inventory levels updates: A first-class digital hub not only records and monitors what you have in stock, but also sends alerts to you and your team when levels fall below a desired benchmark. This makes inventory easier to replenish and adjust before potential issues have a chance to snowball. Classes and priorities assigned to the asset: Again, automation should be able to designate asset maintenance based on what these tasks require and how soon preventive maintenance should take place. Workflows update in seconds, giving technicians a working schedule that outlines what they must do and where they need to be through the day. Assignment time tracking: There's every chance that maintenance problems aren't caused by the inventory, but rather the people or approaches used alongside it. CMMS time logs reveal who might be taking longer than expected to complete work, which helps you investigate poor or insufficient maintenance more closely. Inventory scanning codes: While barcodes are useful for cataloging your inventory items, QR codes are a fantastic choice too, especially if the original barcodes have faded or been torn. Search for a digital platform that can print QR images you can stick on supplies for impeccable additions to your database. We can't leave you without mentioning that CMMS is merely the lighter version of asset and inventory management. Discover the fuller capabilities of an enterprise asset management (EAM) platform for a total hold on material and equipment life cycles. In fact, we can show you how it works. Book a demo with a MicroMain expert, and we'll unbox more potential for your inventory — slicing straight into the heart of your objectives, sans screaming.

Picture this: You're a seasoned private eye, not unlike Jim Rockford circa The Rockford Files, and you've been tasked with solving a case that's got everyone stumped. Only this time, it's not a classic whodunit. Instead, you're on the trail of genuine, serious failures lurking within the bowels of your asset facility. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to employ the art of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to expose the true perpetrators of these dastardly defects. The Mystery of the Hidden Root Cause – The Pursuit Begins RCA is the sleuthing technique that allows you to drill down into the systematic cause of a failure or problem. Its purpose is to systematically identify the underlying factor that contributes to a problem or failure, rather than merely treating each symptom. After all, a detective who only focuses on symptoms will always be chasing shadows. You may be wondering, "What's the difference between a cause and a root cause?" Well, imagine a faulty pipeline leaking oil. The leak is a cause, but the actual root cause might be shoddy construction, poor maintenance or a design flaw. The root cause is the prime suspect, the true mastermind behind the crime, and your target in this ongoing investigation. So, when should you whip out your magnifying glass and perform root cause analysis? Whenever there's an adverse event, a hiccup in your operations or a defect that's got you scratching your head. In these situations, you'll want to get to work on continuous improvement by unearthing the elusive root cause. You may encounter various symptoms during your investigation, like a decrease in productivity or an increase in downtime. But remember, symptoms are just the breadcrumbs, not the smoking gun. They're mere clues that hint at the presence of a more sinister, underlying cause. Taking risks of failure down the road is the last thing you want to do. Decoding the Enigma – Methodologies for Unearthing Root Causes Now that you're hot on the trail of those elusive root causes, it's time to dive into the methodologies that'll help you crack the case. Just like a detective has a variety of tools at their disposal, you too have an arsenal of root cause analysis techniques to choose from. Each method offers a unique perspective in uncovering those flaws that harm productivity or the customer experience in large or subtle ways. Let's take a closer look at three of the most effective techniques for your root cause analysis: Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) A fault tree is like a map, charting the course of possible causes that lead to a particular failure. FTA is a top-down approach, where you start with the main problem and work your way down through the hierarchy of potential causes. This systematic method helps you identify the contributing factors, making it easier to pinpoint the root cause(s) and take corrective action. It's like retracing your steps to find that one key piece of evidence that unlocks the whole case. The 5 Whys Method The 5 Whys technique is the classic interrogation method for root cause analysis. Like a relentless detective, you ask "why" repeatedly, tracing incidents back through cause and effect to reveal the root of the problem. For example, you may ask "why is the boiler not working?" and the answer might be, "Because the temperature sensor is broken." Then again you ask, "why is the temperature sensor broken?" and you might get, "Because it was installed incorrectly" and so on. Typically, five rounds of questioning will lead you to the true culprit, but don't be afraid to go beyond if the situation calls for it. The 5 Whys method is a simple yet effective way to dig deep and uncover the hidden truth. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Now, let's talk about FMEA, the meticulous method that assesses potential failures and their consequences. It's like profiling a suspect, examining every possible angle to determine the risks and weaknesses of your asset facility. In FMEA, you identify failure modes, analyze their effects and prioritize them based on their severity, occurrence and detectability. Armed with information, such as Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), you can devise strategies to prevent or mitigate those losses and ensure your operations run smoothly. These root cause analysis techniques are your trusty companions in the quest to solve the mystery of asset facility failures. Whether you're chasing down possible causes with FTA, interrogating the problem using the 5 Whys or assessing risks with FMEA, remember that every successful investigation requires a combination of methodical thinking, keen observation and perseverance. Charting the Path to Success – The Root Cause Analysis Process Once you're well-versed in the art of root cause analysis methodologies, it's time to explore the general process that'll guide your investigation. Like a reliable roadmap, these five steps will lead you to uncover the hidden factors and devise effective solutions to prevent problems from recurring. Let's navigate through the root cause analysis journey together. Step 1: Define the Problem The first step in any investigation is to define the problem at hand. Identify the symptoms, gather data and document the details of the issue. In this initial stage, your maintenance team is like a group of detectives, collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses (if necessary) and piecing together the puzzle. This foundation will set the stage for the entire investigation, so it's vital to be thorough and accurate in your documentation. Step 2: Identify Possible Causes Next, brainstorm possible causes for the problem, using your knowledge of the asset facility and the insights gathered from your trusty RCA methodologies. List all potential factors, even those that may seem far-fetched, as they could still be vital clues in your investigation. For example, an air conditioning unit could be the culprit of a water leak. However, your team might further discover that the leak was caused by a clogged drainpipe that was built too close to the HVAC system. Step 3: Determine the Root Cause(s) It's time to put your sleuth skills to the test and pinpoint the true culprits behind the problem. Analyze the possible causes you've identified, and use a systematic approach to determine the root cause(s) of the issue. This stage requires critical thinking, diligence and a sharp eye for detail, as you eliminate suspects and zero in on the true perpetrator(s) of the problem. By narrowing down the number of possible causes, you'll be able to develop a more accurate solution. Step 4: Develop and Implement Solutions With the root cause(s) in hand, you can now devise solutions to address the situation and prevent it from recurring. Collaborate with your maintenance team to develop an action plan, secure the necessary resources and implement the corrective measures. This step is crucial, as it's where your detective work translates into tangible improvements and safeguards for your facility's future. Step 5: Monitor and Review Lastly, keep an eye on the situation and review how effective your solutions prove to be. Continuously monitor your asset facility and ensure the problem has been resolved. Should any new issues arise, be ready to jump back into action and repeat the RCA process. Remember, the quest for improvement never ends, and a vigilant detective is always prepared for the next challenge that comes their way. Root cause analysis offers numerous benefits, such as improved asset reliability, reduced downtime and increased efficiency. By following the five-step process and employing the various RCA methodologies, you'll be well-equipped to tackle any issue and steer your facility toward continuous improvement and success. Powerful Allies – Tools and Technologies for Root Cause Analysis In the world of root cause analysis, even the sharpest of detectives can benefit from the assistance of powerful tools and technologies. These allies not only help you perform RCA more efficiently but also ensure that your corrective actions are well-documented and easily accessible for future reference. Let's follow the footprints into the world of data, documentation and maintenance software that can make your root cause analysis journey smoother and more effective. Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS): A CMMS not only streamlines maintenance tasks but also simplifies inventory management and resource allocation. This versatile software automates and prioritizes work orders when repairs or replacements are due, guiding your technicians to resolve issues before they snowball, improving overall asset uptime and reliability. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Software: EAM solutions facilitate strategic decision-making through performance benchmarking and risk management features. By integrating financial, operational and maintenance data, EAM software enables you to holistically assess your assets' health and develop targeted strategies for optimal resource utilization and long-term sustainability. Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Software: PdM software goes beyond traditional maintenance approaches by leveraging the power of real-time monitoring and advanced analytics. This enables you to identify emerging trends and pinpoint potential areas of concern, ultimately reducing unplanned downtime, extending equipment lifespan and minimizing maintenance costs for a more efficient and resilient facility. Root cause analysis is essential to keeping your assets in good working order, and these powerful tools and technologies lay a solid foundation for growth and success. By harnessing CMMS, EAM and PdM software, you can drive collaboration, streamline workflows and unlock new levels of efficient maintenance. These technologies help you make better decisions with data for backup and solve problems proactively, empowering your team to tackle challenges with confidence and skill. Therefore, the question is no longer if you should implement these technologies, but how you can leverage them to continuously improve your RCA process. Why Choose MicroMain as Your RCA Partner? Leveraging powerful tools and technologies, like MicroMain's CMMS, can further streamline the root cause analysis process, making it easier to gather and analyze data, manage documentation and collaborate with your maintenance team. With the support of MicroMain's comprehensive maintenance software, you'll be able to solve even the most complex problems, ensuring your facility's smooth operation and long-term success. MicroMain offers a user-friendly interface, customizable features and exceptional customer support, making it the ideal partner for your RCA endeavors. By choosing MicroMain, you not only gain access to a top-tier CMMS solution but also benefit from their expertise and commitment to helping you achieve your maintenance goals. Moreover, MicroMain's dedication to continuous innovation means that your RCA process will always be supported by the latest advancements in maintenance software technology. This ensures that you stay ahead of the curve and can adapt to new assets and processes— something that's especially important as you look to expand your operations and take on more complex maintenance challenges. With your trusty toolkit of root cause analysis techniques, your keen sense of observation and your unyielding determination to uncover the truth, there's no problem too complex, no failure too devious and no factor too obscure for you to solve. And, with MicroMain as your trusted partner, you'll have the support and resources you need to unravel the mysteries of your asset facility — one root cause at a time. Keep your magnifying glasses polished and your wits sharp, because any maintenance manager will vouch that another repair will rear its head before you know it. But first, start your free trial of MicroMain's CMMS software.

Are school days genuinely the best of our lives? Depends whether you miss being jerked awake by the class bell, or catching your finger on a compass blade, or trying to wash down cemented clumps of mashed potato with strawberry milk. We tend to overlook the annoying parts in favor of what we actually loved, which was often just the sheer thrill of learning so much alongside our peers. The thing is, school's never really out; not if you embrace specialist learning programs. CMMS training is one such example. You can enroll your maintenance professionals in a course designed to hone their skills with software that's going to make their job a lot easier and more rewarding. A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) ties all of your asset, inventory and maintenance data together in one centralized hub. Your workflows improve. Preventive maintenance is much simpler to carry out. Technicians have what they need to perform each task, and you have the necessary oversight to support and review their performance. It's a huge win for everyone in your organization. Read about CMMS software here if you're still new to the concept. Right now, we want to focus on why CMMS training is essential for the transformation ahead. With the right guidance, demonstrations and format, your maintenance team will not only be able to do more with the platform you choose, but also feel inspired about what's next for your business. Why is CMMS training a smart investment? Maintenance software is an incredibly powerful upgrade to how you track, strategize and care for the assets you depend on. However, it doesn't click with every administrator and technician immediately. Like any digital tool, there are user issues to overcome. Proper training ensures that your employees (regardless of their age or technical affinity) know what to do with CMMS software. They won't run into trouble on site or have to ask someone else for help. Ultimately, training means you have far more confidence in the platform's ability to increase efficiency and reduce downtime — because, after all, software is only as good as the people who use it. Training will likely involve: Learning how to establish, view and update work orders for preventive and emergency maintenance. Understanding the work order itself i.e., the information and priorities that determine where a work order lands in a maintenance schedule. Discussing how CMMS data paints a picture of asset performance relative to whether repairs or replacements are successful. Exploring tips for management when it comes to checking and updating inventory through CMMS software. Discovering which sources can provide further direction on asset classes, safety controls and the location of the maintenance due. Full training, then, educates users on the platform's nuts and bolts before revealing how CMMS data provides insights that can be used to continuously improve business processes. Maintenance lessons to look for Alright, so, what might those lessons entail, more specifically? A good course isn't shy about the details. You'll want to make sure a CMMS program covers: Keeping data clean Several factors affect whether data is reliable or potentially misleading. Take naming conventions, for instance: the standardized formats for assets, inventory, equipment and metrics. These must be consistent across your workflows, or some information will be missing when you gather it all together for a comprehensive, granular analysis. CMMS data also needs to be captured accurately. Without training on this topic, you might make bad decisions based on poor datasets. Recognizing tickets and alerts Every technician should be a pro at viewing, categorizing and enriching CMMS information. At the most basic level, they must be able to retrieve all the details for an automated maintenance request and recognize what is a priority and what isn't. This is especially vital for emergency repairs, which might demand special skills or equipment. Logging parts and supplies An inventory manager must know what they have at hand for any maintenance task, and also where those records live in the CMMS platform. It's another UI element that can cause huge mistakes in the wrong hands. Users should be proficient at cataloging and tracking the supply and use of materials, components and spare parts. Furthermore, swish data logging skills inform new orders, too. Crucially, your team must learn how to determine which vendors operate assets themselves or specialize in providing parts for repairs or replacements. Tracking overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) When all's said and done, OEE is the major metric you'll worship when it comes to optimized maintenance management. It's the number that shows you what an asset is currently producing or servicing compared to its peak availability, quality and performance. When OEE is falling, you'll have to change either the assets you're using or their maintenance work. But, how do you measure, track and input OEE? Proper training makes it simple. Put the MicroMain training feather in your cap We can't offer an actual graduation hat or even an end-of-year prom (fingers crossed for next year's budget), but we can provide a CMMS training course that's up there with the best on the market. MicroMain's CMMS software is already a leading platform for many asset managers, but we've continued to pay close attention to what our customers have asked and said over the years. That's why we've developed an intensive training course to get your technicians qualified and ready for impeccable asset maintenance. There are three main options to choose from: Global: Study from the comfort of home! Over two days, we'll run remote seminars and encourage virtual networking, with training materials anyone can access on demand. HQ: Come and visit our headquarters in Austin, Texas for a deep dive into MicroMain with our experienced software gurus and simulated work orders. On-site: We'll visit your workplace instead! By training your team steadily over three or more days, we can use your own proprietary data for more tailored walkthroughs. Each of these formats covers the key information we've talked about here, such as naming conventions, user configurations, responding to alerts, inventory and equipment control, OEE measurement and integrating CMMS software within your operations. Want to find out more? Head to our training hub with upcoming calendars and curriculums. Trust us — the glory days are still to come.

Okay, we all have our favorites — the assets we pat on the back with affection every day. They're often the brightest, shiniest or newest pieces of equipment, the ones you want to show off to friends and life partners. Maybe they light up when you touch them, giving that love back. But, the thing is, these assets might not be as important as you think they are. Or, at least, despite your best efforts, they're less reliable than they could be. An asset criticality assessment reveals any faults or downtime risks. It's an impartial measurement that stacks your equipment side by side and asks, "What will really put me on the back foot first if something goes wrong?" Subsequently, you have guidance for what asset management to prioritize and which other parts of your workflow are necessary but not quite as urgent. Asset criticality, then, doesn't let you play favorites unless there's a reason, saving you from more costs, frustrations and offline consequences for the equipment that has the biggest impact on your business. It's one of the most useful metrics we have for planning preventive maintenance. Follow us to learn about failure and reliability in the asset lists that may be riskier and more vital than you realize … Scoring failure and reliability risk When we consider the challenges to ongoing maintenance, it pays to think holistically. An asset criticality assessment hangs beneath an umbrella of interrogations you should carry out to determine whether equipment is performing well and how it affects your processes. We call this FMECA: a failure mode, effects and criticality analysis. Kind of like gathering all of your friends in a room and asking when they let you down, but less brutal. Generally, FMECA seeks to understand why machines and components fail, what potential consequences their failure has and how you can step in earlier or with more appropriate technical skills to solve the problem before it snowballs. You don't have to conduct an FMECA regularly (once a year is fine), although it's advisable if you're welcoming a fresh asset, using an asset in a new way or introducing additional processes to your organization. Some business methodologies, such as lean manufacturing, take advantage of FMECA more regularly, in the case of lean because any waste is reassessed and marked for elimination during short production sprints. FMECA is excellent for asset management because it allows you to: Grade potential failure and downtime severity. It's not just about what might fail first, but also what is likely to happen when that asset does break down. Perform maintenance earlier, with more targeted work, on the most critical equipment. Avoid as many similar issues from happening again because faster, appropriate maintenance means a critical problem doesn't have a chance to worsen. Solve headaches and misdirection with a maintenance team spread across multiple sites and disciplines. Everyone has a clear sense of what to do first and why it matters. A thorough analysis points to a failure mode i.e., the systemic or preventable reason that your asset performance suffers. It could be rust, a breakage, a leak or any definable degradation. Think of this as the slight annoyance that holds you back from asking a friend for a coffee date, because they tend to flake or bring up their ex every time. That failure mode has corresponding, quantifiable effects on the business as a whole and other asset classes. In short, with FMECA, you have a firm idea of what to maintain, how to achieve that maintenance and which tasks have the largest impact on safety and commercial value. RPN and criticality analysis We'll show you how to calculate equipment criticality soon. But, as a quick tangent, we should mention the risk priority number (RPNs). They might be your preferred method for finding criticality scores — as long as you have enough data to use them with reasonable confidence. An RPN calculates the criticality of three factors: 1) The severity of potential risks. 2) How often these issues tend to occur. 3) How well you're able to detect those defects. You can score each of these on a 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 scale based on your maintenance reports and ongoing tracking over months or years. The full formula is: Risk priority number = severity x frequency x detection Anything with the highest score is deemed to be first in line for maintenance before failure is due to occur. They're your diciest investments, straining the most to stay functional. Let's hope they're worth it! Severity can take many forms and will depend on how the asset functions within your processes. Trace maintenance costs, lost revenue, downtime periods and energy consumption for a firm idea of how severe disruption might be. Probability is fairly easy to measure as well, using your mean time to failure (MTTF) and mean time between failures (MTBF) metrics. These tell you how frequently an asset will break down, on average, in a given period and whether that frequency is rising. Detection, however, is trickier. Many businesses don't have accurate or up-to-date detection logs, at least in terms of when the problem occurred versus when it was identified. If you have advanced maintenance management software, it's far simpler to find accurate detection stats, but if not, then the third part of the equation becomes guesswork. For that reason, it could be simpler to skip RPN, if only to begin with. What does sound asset FMECA look like? Alright, we're getting close to the full review treatment: putting you in the hot seat while assets explain why you're made for each other. Before we get into the specifics, here's what helps your criticality analysis stand up to scrutiny and stay successful: Strong reports How are you determining what equipment fails and how often it breaks down? Do your maintenance teams conduct regular checkups or simply just react to issues instead of preventing them? A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) goes a long way in ensuring you have a constant view of asset status, inventory and any performance tests that are due. It's often the deciding factor between good or bad data. Excellent component knowledge A failure mode is impossible to find unless your technicians know how the asset works. From engines, belts and motors to sprockets and springs, the maintenance team must draw effects from each cause of failure, recording their findings in accessible logs. Again, a CMMS solution is perfect for the job, because it lets the specialist add their findings to a digital, centralized hub. Design and process awareness Similarly, you need to have a grasp of the asset's design flaws, i.e. whether cause for downtime is expected or unexpected thanks to how the machine has been assembled. Don't discount a solid understanding of your processes, either. Reviewing the severity of reliability issues rests on linking one failure to a business outcome to ascertain whether there's a direct loss or mild impediment to other processes. An emergency response plan Some assets are bound to fail out of the blue, and when they do, it's wise to give technicians enough guidance for rapid repairs that must be done with an eye on safety and potential reasons for the outage (e.g., an overloaded circuit or water damage). Have emergency plans ready, including relevant manuals, photos, diagrams, troubleshooting tips and contacts for extra help, if necessary. Got everything in place? Awesome. Let's look at the most basic equation for performing a criticality analysis. How to carry out your criticality analysis We mentioned RPN earlier, and the less intimidating spin on risk mitigation is almost the same. All you have to do is remove the "detection" variable. That leaves us with a calculation of: Asset criticality = severity x frequency As we've explained before, score both variables on scales of either 5 or 10, with higher scores for more severe or frequent failures. This builds a criticality matrix — a chart that grades low, medium and high-priority risks on set criteria. On a 1 to 5 scale, the criteria might be: Score 1 - 4 (low risk) Score 5 - 9 (low-to-medium risk) Score 10 - 14 (medium risk) Score 15-20 (medium-to-high risk) Score 21+ (high risk) Assemble your scores in a table and color code them, moving through green/yellow/orange/red for every bracket that's more critical. There! You have a very basic criticality analysis dataset. It's the foundation for scheduling preventive maintenance more sensibly. Prioritize deep or light red assets, leave orange and yellow assets as your second and third priorities and focus on green assets last. Wherever possible, use maintenance logs and investigations to discover failure modes. If you don't currently have any of this information, make time with your technicians to walk through every critical asset type, listing potential damage that can afflict the system. The four most common causes of failure are: Corrosion. Erosion. Fatigue. Overload. From here, it's a matter of finding the right solutions to help form best practices which your team can take forward for future maintenance tasks. With alerts for preventive maintenance as well as digital access to supplementary details, they'll have a workflow that stays accurate and never leaves them lost for answers. So, maybe some of your old favorites are soaking up too many resources or actually less valuable than you assumed they were. The opposite might be true, of course: You have more data, context and comparability to treat them with additional care when the moment calls for it. Either way, MicroMain's CMMS is an essential step in criticality analysis. Our incisive platform watches over every asset you have, automating maintenance requests in the perfect order, preparing the right people for what's ahead. Book a demo and see where our software can take you. It just might be a new favorite, too.

Okay, let's be real — failure is a part of life. Losing a button in the frantic shirt tug to look good for a meeting? Failure. Trying to remember a story so badly you mix up the end with the middle and forget who you're talking to? Double failure. Laying a bottle of wine so carefully like a newborn baby in your shopping bag but a pack of eggs cracks, unloved, on the way home anyway? Well, that's still a success, to be honest. Whatever you do, it's important to recognize that failure is all around us. Especially if you're in charge of asset maintenance. Plenty of machines, tools and equipment last for a set amount of time before they break down. These failures are inherent. You can't avoid them. However, you can make them less frequent and impactful. A solid maintenance strategy can tell which assets are likely to stop working and whether repairs or replacements are paying off. Ironically, then, you can fail at dealing with failure. Or succeed. We're going to show you how — all with a pivotal metric, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF). Soon enough, the only thing cracking will be those eggs in the bag, instead of your asset protection. MTBF, MTTF and why they're important What does Mean Time Between Failure reveal? You guessed it: The average time it takes for an asset to cease functioning properly. MTBF tracks the number of hours you have before there's a serious issue. And, remember, we're talking about failure. That means the issue will prevent the asset from operating safely or completely. MTBF only applies to assets you can repair, laying the groundwork for preventive maintenance that can fix the problem prior to breakdown. In this sense, it's different from Mean Time To Failure (MTTF), a metric that measures your assets' finite (and irreparable) operational lifespan. MTTF is used to calculate when an asset must be retired or replaced. Therefore, by contrast, MTBF suggests that a piece of equipment can be used again with the right repairs, adjustments or new parts. MTTF doesn't. Think of MTBF as signs en route to a destination, whereas MTTF shows you where the last stop is. Nobody wants a low Mean Time Between Failure rate, because it proves either that your maintenance management plan isn't working, or the asset itself might require too many hours or resources to maintain. On the other hand, a high MTBF suggests that you're fixing equipment promptly, it's running well and the maintenance work is satisfactory and reliable. How to calculate MTBF Finding a failure rate is fairly straightforward. You just have to divide the number of failures by the asset's total operational hours in a given period. This generates an average figure. Calculate MTBF with: Mean Time Between Failure = time the asset was active ÷ X amount of failures Let's use an example. We have an industrial press running for 10 hours a day, five days a week. In three months, it fails four times. The formula would look like this: 600 hours ÷ 4 = 150 You can apply MTBF to one asset or groups of assets, assessing how they perform side by side. This is a great technique for understanding what a healthy rate of failure is for certain types of equipment. So, if we return to our industrial press and add five more presses — all working through the same period, but with 16 failures in total — we arrive at: 3,600 hours ÷ 16 = 225 That's a higher MTBF on average for the entire asset class compared to 150 hours for just that first asset. What does that tell you? Something's wrong with the first asset's preventive maintenance, or it's suffering a more terminal operational decline. A quick word on Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Before we move on, we must mention another metric: OEE. You might've heard of it. As Lean Production explains, OEE measures "the percentage of planned production time that is truly productive." In other words, it shows which assets are delivering the most usable output (whether that's materials, goods or interactions) during the hours in which they're meant to be active. Ideally, you want a 80-90% OEE rate or higher. Downtime will, of course, reduce output and make your assets less profitable. MTBF, then, is often linked to OEE. By inadequately preventing or dealing with failures, you're harming productivity. When MTBF scores are higher, you should expect OEE to rise, too. Common causes of poor failure rates We've alluded to a couple of reasons behind a low MTBF calculation. But, here, let's examine what a high failure rate can tell you about your asset and component maintenance. There's more to investigate than you might think. You aren't conducting the right repairs on schedule Keeping equipment humming reliably depends on knowing when it's about to break and what should be done to fix it. Your maintenance team requires a precise, prioritized workflow to step in and repair the asset according to best practices. When there's a low MTBF, it may reveal that you're conducting maintenance too late before the asset shuts down, or your technicians are making mistakes. The asset isn't worth keeping Alternatively, the fault may lie with the asset — a damaged, defective or low-quality tool that doesn't justify your investment. This is why it's crucial to have a baseline for assets from one supplier: It helps you compare singular performance against the rest of the assets' Mean Time Between Failure rates. That being said, the same machines or equipment could be failing regularly en masse, which calls for extensive replacements. Your inventory isn't sufficient Maintenance personnel need the correct tools for the job. If assets are failing more often, your repair inventory — including any component for small, internal replacements — might be emptier than you realize. Subsequently, you should check with technical experts or asset manufacturers to see whether you have everything you need for reliable maintenance. Your processes demand newer models The ways in which you work, even if some of them are tried and true, can influence MTBF. That's because you might be mixing new and old processes, trying to keep up with the sprint to Industry 4.0. Reliable machines must withstand extra strain as your productivity climbs. With a low MTBF rate, you have the necessary evidence to make smarter business decisions, reinvesting across the board in the latest equipment that can handle additional operational pressure. Or, maybe your processes need tweaking instead. How to improve MTBF At some point, you'll have to wave goodbye to your assets and let them go. Until then, dry your eyes. There are plenty of routes you can take to boost a Mean Time To Failure rate throughout your business. Here are several methods we've gleaned after decades of consulting with manufacturers, leisure centers, healthcare providers and other maintenance clientele. Finetune preventive maintenance The better you're able to forecast when an asset will break, the earlier you can repair it without too much downtime. For example, you might discover that a gym cross trainer lasts for 280 hours on average before demanding maintenance. In that case, schedule your repairs for the 250-hour mark. You'll cut inactivity to a minimum and retain peak performance. Conduct deeper inspections What's the problem? Why did it occur? Is this something you expected, or is it something you didn't plan for? Thorough tests and root cause analysis may bring unknown factors to light. For instance, you might find out that a component causes more failures and then choose to restock your inventory with a superior alternative. Or, your technicians aren't following the asset manual to a T. Consider retraining them. Another metric, Mean Time To Resolve (MTTR), is handy in this instance to gauge whether useful repairs are being made too quickly or slowly. Close the gap between failures and alerts When an asset breaks down, you should know about it straight away. Real-time alerts are a key part of the maintenance equation. They tell you when planned and unplanned failures occur, launching your maintenance squad into action. Modern maintenance management software keeps you in the loop 24/7 about which assets are functioning, due for a repair or shutting off completely. Maintenance teams are also alerted automatically with zero delays. More on that soon! Separate MTTF assets Trying to maintain equipment with a defined shelf life is pointless and sucks manpower from repairs that actually have an effect. So, if you haven't already, identify the assets that will fail forever at some point after sustained use — those that count toward MTTF. By making full replacements at the right moment instead of wasting time on futile repairs, you can focus on improving MTBF elsewhere. Try to correlate an increasing failure rate In many cases, assets begin to wear out after years or decades of use. This decline — rather than a manufacturing or maintenance error — can account for an increasing failure rate. If you're seeing trends emerge for older assets, pay attention to them — they could signify that equivalent replacements are on the cards now, instead of much later. Everything we've just discussed relies on tracking the equipment in your care, how it's behaving and what maintenance work is done day after day. So, how do you do it? As always, the answer lies with data collection and clever workflow controls. It's about time we introduced ourselves … Take your asset management up a notch Too much failure will bite into your profits, safety record and brand's reputation. However, with MicroMain, you'll never suffer these misfortunes again. Our software treats asset failure as a fact of life but helps you manage it, every hour of the day. MicroMain's computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) absorbs all the asset information you have and monitors their performance. Piece by piece, it builds a complete maintenance log. Whenever there's unplanned downtime, the software uses that data to calculate MTBF for you. It's immediate, automated and 100% accurate. Other metrics such as MTTF, MTTR and OEE are integrated, too. You have a single dashboard in which you can see them all, displayed in various charts and tables. Similarly, we've designed our CMMS to record supplementary info: corrective and preventive actions, for instance, and root cause analysis. You can set a pinpoint maintenance workflow that notifies technicians when they should conduct a repair, then receive their reports when they're done. This creates an ongoing digital library of the steps you're taking to perform maintenance tasks and how effective they are. Every work order has an assigned priority level along with a list of the necessary tools and components, so you know whether your inventory is up to scratch for the job. MicroMain also lets you clone asset categories for simpler, faster organization. There's no limit on the number of assets you can group like this. As a result, you can test MTBF trends for specific machines or equipment, generating a more granular analysis. Whether you're seeking sharper reliability predictions or a firmer grasp of your assets and service teams' efficiency, it makes sense to embrace CMMS. What's more, MicroMain ties together multiple sites for a unified view on maintenance activity. If you're going through a growth spurt or struggling to stay on top of several facilities, our software is worth a try. Book a demo! We want to make failure work for you instead of against you. Then, when an asset does eventually expire, you'll know you've done all you could to keep it in good health. Don't break down over breakdowns. There's a better way.

So, you're running a business with dozens or hundreds of assets at your feet. How are they operating? Are they healthy? Does one piece of equipment impact a specific process in ways you've scarcely imagined? Asset maintenance can be a daunting task. It's your kingdom, after all. In terms of generating value and revenue, no part is too small. Cue Elton John. While we don't want to Disneyfy your management strategy, acknowledging your assets' true state is akin to the opening scene in "The Lion King" when Simba is presented to his subjects. You need to be able to see the ecosystem below you with piercing clarity — the large machines, the tiny components; the full facility in the context of breakdowns and optimized repairs. It's the asset lifecycle: an ever-changing perspective on what you should fix or replace at just the right time. Like Mufasa dispensing pearls of wisdom as your asset management matures, we want to explain how to master the environments you're in charge of, reducing downtime, repair costs and production or performance issues on any scale. There's one phrase to solve it all: EAM, or Enterprise Asset Management software. Join us as we analyze what EAM represents, why it's unique and how a modern EAM system tends to work in practice. Don't worry. There aren't musical numbers — just the regular kind. EAM software: The truest view on your maintenance The more you know about your assets in real time, the better you can optimize them. Enterprise asset management software is used to control and care for your machines and equipment. In a nutshell, it tackles preventive maintenance across your entire inventory. You'll see how every asset behaves, runs and stays at peak output, which allows you to set a precise maintenance schedule workflow. Whether you're a facility manager handling several sites or a line and safety supervisor in a complex production environment, you need this technology to improve results, avoid accidents and limit maintenance expenses. EAM software, therefore, reveals the ongoing status of your assets from the minute they're first activated through to their eventual decommission. That's why we mention the lifecycle — aggregated, ongoing asset data reporting on faults, risks, maximal performance and the results of your maintenance team's work until the asset isn't useful anymore. There's more to it, though. An EAM solution should consist of: Real-time asset lifecycle information visualized in graphs, charts and tables on a simple dashboard. Predictive analytics to forecast repairs or replacements. Work order management to notify technicians when maintenance is due. Cost controls for inventory and repair tasks. Contract management for additional specialists when you need them. More data surrounding work order costs, project budgets and integrated financial platforms. Ultimately, then, you aren't just overseeing assets but controlling everything that makes maintenance effective and affordable. EAM software sheds light on the tools, skills, money and information required for optimal repairs, as well as tracking trends for iteration. With EAM, you can set priorities for technicians and alert them to new repairs, giving them more context and guidance. It's the end-to-end platform that never leaves anyone in the dark. Where it differs from CMMS management You may have heard of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), or already use one. It's similar to EAM software, but there are key differences. They might decide the course of your next asset investment. CMMS has been around for almost four decades, primarily serving manufacturing and specialized plants. Like enterprise asset management, it automates your maintenance schedule, creating detailed registers with work plans and component data. The software sets tasks, priorities and alerts for your engineers, directing them towards critical projects or telling them when inventory drops below a desired level. It also generates reports on all maintenance activities. However — and here's that phrase again — CMMS doesn't monitor the asset lifecycle. In other words, you have a centralized database and automated task manager for maintenance, but can't see how these endeavors tie back into performance, budgeting, compliance or some aspects of human competency. For example, a good CMMS tracks how long an engineer takes to finish the job, yet it doesn't share perspective on whether the repair brought your asset back to optimal functionality. It can't link asset uptime to profitability. That means you might be fixing a piece of equipment over and over, unsure whether the time, effort and funds are worthwhile. Equally, you're missing procurement and disposal details, which suggest when and how the asset should be retired, as well as how much a modern replacement might cost. CMMS doesn't account for warranty periods, either. That being said, there are situations in which a CMMS might be preferable to EAM: CMMS is generally more affordable upfront: If you have limited funds for preventive maintenance, or want to test the waters before committing to a larger investment, you might favor this platform. EAM suits enterprise business: While EAM is incredibly useful for any organization, it becomes more effective when you have a huge spread (hundreds or thousands) of assets on your hands and complex costs to weigh up. CMMS helps you manage a handful of asset vendors: More vendors bring additional agreements, warranty conditions and invoicing demands on your business, which EAM is well-placed to support. Side note: You may have also come across the term Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). This refers to software that helps you manage all business activities e.g., maintenance and beyond. Finance, sales, HR, marketing and other disciplines are guided from a single data center. Since ERP supports more, broader use cases, it's less essential for asset-heavy businesses. Of course, you can integrate both platforms; this is a common method for installing EAM. Insights for Professionals has a great explainer on the split between ERP and EAM and their mutual benefits. How EAM software works Okay, so let's get to the nitty gritty. How does enterprise asset management software launch and start tracking everything in your facilities? Installation and integration At MicroMain, we have a clear six-step process for bringing your EAM online. We get to know your current system, the premises you're managing and the outcomes you're looking for. Step #1: We'll schedule a kickoff call to discuss the project's timeframes, deliverables and requirements. Afterward, we'll send you Excel data templates and documents to make the transition more seamless. Step #2: Next, we offer pre-data import consultation, improving data transfer by discovering how you work and what systems support it. You'll have a database engineer and Software Implementation Specialist (SIS) for guidance throughout this meeting. This is when we'll start to fill out those Excel templates together. Step #3: The asset data is imported after you've done the final sign off Step #4: We'll arrange a meeting to review the quality and consistency of the data we're transferring. If anything appears false or needs to change, we'll resolve it. Step #5: In our penultimate step, the SIS provides a three-day on-site consultation and training service, so your key maintenance personnel get a grasp of EAM. Step #6: That's it — we're ready to go live! Real-time data collection Once the EAM software is active, it'll gather data across your organization: equipment, sensors, IoT devices or whatever else reveals your assets' condition. Additionally, it'll receive information from existing CMMS or ERP software. Geographic data, meanwhile, helps the EAM pinpoint necessary asset maintenance activity at several sites. All of these details are immediately analyzed and displayed to your users. MicroMain's EAM solution uses several core metrics for variables like the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) across the asset lifecycle. Asset groups Maintenance is easier when your machines and equipment are sorted into neat and tidy boxes, each grouped under custom parameters. For instance, you might want to view a particular type of physical asset in one location. High or low-performing assets can be separated, as well as those undergoing or due for maintenance. Grouping assists inventory management, too, digging into the specific tools and materials you have on hand at any given time. Automatic alerts and updates EAM software constantly looks at asset performance indicators and plans maintenance for you. When a repair is on the cards, you don't need to do anything. The platform will alert the relevant team members and map out their workflow, reporting on what they're doing and when it's complete. Throughout the process, you have a digital paper trail for compliance standards, which can also be used to benchmark vendor quality. Finance support Remember when we talked about financial insights? They live here, too. Enterprise asset management software stores reports for your finance department, informing cash flow and expense claims. From the dashboard, you can set alerts around your budget, discovering when repair tasks or replacements are creeping over the line. That's the grand overview, but there's much more to explore once your EAM is up and running. For now, let's explore the advantages you can look forward to, making your maintenance kingdom a bountiful place for decades to come. What maintenance mastery brings to your business Once a choir starts singing and you're a grownup Simba surveying the asset landscape (metaphorically speaking), your business has a lot to celebrate. For starters, every asset will be working more consistently and effectively. Preventive maintenance leaps to action ahead of time, so you're almost never caught off guard for repairs. That doesn't mean that surprise breakages won't happen — they're inevitable. But when sudden asset downtime does occur, you have the confidence and awareness to send the right technicians out to fix it. Since these professionals have defined workflow orders, they know what to do, which tools to use and where they need to be. Therefore, you'll return to peak production much faster than you would without an EAM. If several repairs aren't showing good results, however, then something's wrong. Either the asset has a severe malfunction or your maintenance teams aren't using the appropriate techniques. This opens the door to further investigation. You might want to retrain the technicians on best practices, use third-party specialists or replace the asset altogether. One metric in particular, Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), reveals how long machines or components tend to last before they're irreparable. Are you seeing a high number of low MTTF rates? It's probably wise to reinvest and switch suppliers, because these assets are costing your business more than you may realize. Either way, the burden of responsibility is taken off your hands, letting you focus on other tasks while the schedule continues and reports on maintenance activity. As EAM data piles up, you'll make stronger business decisions based on your most profitable assets. It's a cost/benefit equation. In effect, you're working smarter, not harder. Future investments have much firmer ground for a positive impact on your business model. So, you'll optimize output, repair tasks, inventory management and investment strategies. What about the customer experience? Better maintained assets allow you to meet product quotas and delivery deadlines. If you're a customer-facing business (a gym or sports center, say, or remote working environment), then preventive maintenance chases gremlins out of your system before they become a problem. With less asset downtime, people place more trust in whatever product or service you're providing to them. Customers aren't let down or frustrated. Steadily, you'll strengthen your reputation in key markets. Customer, supplier and wholesale relationships improve, leading to repeat orders, subscriptions or memberships. We can't leave without mentioned health and safety, too, both for employees and anyone visiting your sites. Restoring or replacing your assets before an issue occurs limits the risk of a serious injury. It's another mark in your favor for trust, accountability and consistency. And even though we're Lion King fans here, "hakuna matata" has no place in our maintenance philosophy. We should worry about the assets in your care. Squaring up to the reality of the asset life cycle — and all of its complexities — improves your stake in a competitive industry. With MicroMain, you have the only EAM software you'll ever need. We'd be happy to show you a demo or discuss your asset goals. Okay, Elton. You can go home now.