Learn How to Keep your Facilities Comfortable and in Tip Top Shape

The importance of keeping your facility in shape from the inside and out, not only prevents costly repairs- but creates a comfortable facility for occupants.  The relationship, communication and mutual trust and understanding among building engineers, management and occupants is critical to a smoothly functioning building. Click here to read more…

Six Reasons to Ditch Spreadsheets for a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

Spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel can be handy for organizing basic information into simple charts and lists, but for more complex tasks, like asset management and planning, spreadsheets are woefully inadequate. Using a jumble of spreadsheets to track maintenance tasks can add considerably to the complexity of maintenance planning, as well as dramatically increase the likelihood of errors.

Here are six reasons why you should waste no time in replacing them with more robust CMMS/EAM software.

  1. They are astoundingly inaccurate. A recent study shows that some 88% of all spreadsheets contain errors—some of which have caused multi-million dollar mistakes.
  2. They are deceptively simple. Companies often begin using spreadsheets for simple tasks, but don’t make the move to a more robust program until the tasks they are being used for have become highly complex, and the potential for disaster is already intolerably high. Keying errors, incorrectly assigned cells, erroneous data Continue reading “Six Reasons to Ditch Spreadsheets for a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)”

How to Create Maintenance Log Types very Easily in ManagerPlus

It’s pretty unusual for a maintenance department to track just one type of equipment. And even on the rare occasions when they do, they still have to track different makes, models, etc. (think about a fleet of vehicles, for instance).

This is why ManagerPlus allows you to set up different “Maintenance Log Types” for different types of assets. For instance, you can set up miles as a maintenance log type for your vehicles, and create a log to track hours for your forklifts. That way, when you create a work order for a fleet vehicle maintenance, only the maintenance log for miles will appear (rather than both hours and miles, which could lead to data entry errors and confusion).

Before I walk through the steps of setting up a log type, let’s define a few of ManagerPlus’s maintenance management software‘s log related terms you’ll need to understand first.

Metered Log:

this is a log taken from an odometer or other type of meter. Each log value you enter replaces the previous entry (each entry is tracked separately, so you can always go back and see each submission, nothing is erased or over-written). Meters can be set as “Descending” meaning they begin with a higher value and drop lower with each log entry (this way the system knows whether to expect a lower or higher value for each subsequent log entry).

Allow Meter Reset:

Turning on this option will ‘save your place’ in the event that a meter is reset or replaced. For example, if you’ve been recording miles for a given vehicle and have to replace the odometer, this option will save your place and add subsequent log values to the last reading from the odometer before it was replaced.

Calculated Log: 

this type is dependent on another log – it will automatically, with no additional entry, take each log entry and calculate an average, max, min, or sum for a period.  Calculating the “average temperature over 30 days” or “total weekly hours” would be examples of these types of logs.

Uses Log Warnings: 

you will want to turn this option on if you are concerned about data entry errors. If, say, a log value of 2,250 is entered when the previous log entry was 20,000, the system will create a pop up alert and highlight the entry so that you can further review it and make any corrections that may be necessary. Continue reading “How to Create Maintenance Log Types very Easily in ManagerPlus”

Enterprise Asset management software

For any company, regardless of size, standardization is a vital business objective. When it comes to tracking, maintaining and managing assets, standardization can be the difference in making a company’s operations efficient and high-functioning. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software, like ManagerPlus, can help simplify the standardization process. Here’s how:

+ Common reporting metrics. Asset data can only become actionable if reporting is consistent across sites and entities. Discrepancies between the reporting criteria used by different sites/entities, or at different periods of time, make for distorted assessments of operations and asset performance. Needless to say, decisions based on bad information can exacerbate existing problems or create new issues where none previously existed. One of the key advantages of ManagerPlus products is that they come with built-in reporting capability that uses consistent criteria to ensure that information is accurate and actionable. Our implementation and training teams are adept at customizing reports to the specific needs of our clients and ensure they have precisely the data they need.

+ Information Sharing. One of the most common problems our implementation experts encounter is the internal “tug-o-war” over equipment and parts, leaving work sites without the resources they need to function at an optimum level. Our EAM software features asset and tool tracking functionality to help eliminate this problem. With our software, managers can quickly see where tools and equipment are and who has them. This book of record makes it easy to hold workers accountable by cutting down on excuses stemming from equipment downtime/unavailability. Continue reading “Enterprise Asset management software”

Guest Blog: CPM Industries on the Importance of Maintenance

Our guest blog this week comes from CPM Industries, a leading manufacturer of prototype, short-run, and low-volume castings in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. 

CPM-logoThe manufacturing industry and every company within the industry relies on some type of machine or tool to be successful. CPM Industries lies within the manufacturing industry and is a perfect example of a company that relies on a machine. CPM Industries is a privately held, ISO Certified, company located in the greater Chicago area that produces turnkey prototype and short-run production parts for its clients using a method known as sand casting. Sand casting involves creating a mold, or pattern, of the part to be created and using that mold to form the shape of the part in sand. The sand is chemically bonded allowing the sand to hold the shape of the part long after the pattern is removed. Once the desired shape is in the sand, molten metal is poured into the sand and allowed to cool forming the shape of the desired part (there is much more to the sand casting process than explained, for further details on sand casting please visit our website). Continue reading “Guest Blog: CPM Industries on the Importance of Maintenance”