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| Implementing a Computerized Maintenance Management System - The Planning Phase |
| by Jock Howard |
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Introduction:
In the current business climate, companies need every edge they can get; the worldwide marketplace has induced very aggressive competition. Only the fittest will survive - downtime is not an option. |
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| The most difficult challenge for maintenance professionals is to convince the executive that money spent wisely on maintenance is an investment in the company's physical assets. While many maintenance managers are sufficiently versed in the technical knowledge of maintenance management, many are not well trained in the art of finance. This training would enable the maintenance manager to better communicate with the Executive to invest in the caring for plant equipment. Richard Beer, in his recent article "Bridging Communication with Finance" published in this journal, writes eloquently to this very issue. To gather process and analyze the required data manually requires time and effort. A well chosen and properly implemented Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is like a well oiled machine. The software becomes an effective tool providing timely performance and financial information. |
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CMMS Solution:
The question then becomes how to best implement a CMMS. Too often organizations will purchase software and expect to install it and voila, they are off to the races. A CMMS is not a "genie in the bottle" solution, but a highly sophisticated program. Implementing a CMMS can be a daunting task. In trying to decide how to implement it, many companies find themselves in a Catch-22 bind. They know they want to improve the company's maintenance management efforts but, what is the best approach? |
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| In reality there is no mystery to success. Effective software implementations start with good planning. Determining what data should be made available from the system and defining the desired performance indicators is paramount to its success. It is the process of defining the performance indicators that help determine what data to gather and in what format. This will in turn define the CMMS that is most suitable for the organization. |
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| Key Performance / Measurement Indicators (KPI, KMI) are based on data retrieved from the system which must eventually be translated into knowledge and from knowledge to action. |
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The sequence from data to action is as follows (paraphrased from Dr. Kuonen):
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from data to information (data becomes information, when it becomes relevant to the decision making process); |
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from information to facts (information becomes fact, when other data supports it);
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from facts to knowledge (facts become knowledge, when they are used in the decision process);
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from knowledge to decision (decision making must have a knowledge base);
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from decision to action (a decision must be used to act).* |
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| An experienced Maintenance Management Specialist can be very helpful in defining the data that should be gathered and then extracted from the system. The specialist can also assist in defining the KPI's knowing what data the system is capable of capturing. The critical success factors at the planning phase of the implementation are, |
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- Executive Buy In
- Plant Management Buy In
- Define Business Objectives and KPI
- Maintenance Vision
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1. Executive Buy In:
Just as location, location, location is the mantra for defining today's real estate, planning, planning, planning is the mantra for implementation of a CMMS. Starting at the top and getting the Executive to buy-in to the idea is the first part of the plan. Without executive buy-in, statistics say the plan will fail, because that buy-in often defines company policy and is an integral part of the business plan. |
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2. Plant Management Buy In:
Getting the plant or facility level buy-in is next on the list. Even if the Executive Committee agrees, Plant Management has been known to drag their feet, making project implementation tedious. Active support from both the Executive and Plant Management is the key to success as opposed to mere agreement. Resources from all parts of the company may be required and without that active Executive support, those resources will be scarce, untimely, or non-existent. |
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3. Define Business Objectives and KPI:
One very important part of the planning process is to closely define the KPI's. Bear in mind that the KPI's are directly related to the knowledge drawn from the database. Therefore, a keen understanding of the kinds of data available from the database is critical to establishing those KPI's. Equally important is the definition of those KPI's relative to the rest of the organization; creating them in isolation may well make them worthless. |
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| A small company decided they needed a CMMS to help manage their operations and duly set about creating an implementation plan by defining a large number of objectives, some down-to-earth and some rather lofty. Many of these goals had no basis grounded in the operations of the corporation. As a result they were never implemented. Other objectives, while much more practical, were based on the need for disciplined data entry which was never properly managed. The end result was a CMMS that didn't fulfil any of the goals defined for its use. Because of the expense of implementation, the company could not afford to shelve the software, and so continued to use it, but only the most basic of some of its capabilities. To manage their operations, they still needed the extensive data gathering and reporting capabilities of the program, and eventually they decided they needed help. But consultants had to start from scratch, redefining the goals the company wanted to (and could) achieve and the KPI's that would help them to do so. |
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4. Maintenance Vision:
Another challenge facing the implementation process at this stage of the planning is the vision for the CMMS. Determining what software, which modules of the software to utilize and defining the coding approach to the main records, is an important task. The decisions need to reflect the maintenance vision not only in the short term but also long term. This will allow the software to grow as the organization evolves. Cost of implementation of future modules and field usage is then minimized. As an example, a maintenance manager purchased a good CMMS package and did a reasonable job of implementing it. Asked early on if he believed add on features might be of future benefit, he was uncertain and put off making the decision. Years later in trying to implement some of the additional features it was discovered that the coding structure would have to be redone. A database cleanup was performed at great expense to permit the new features to be implemented. By not having a maintenance vision, the organization could not foresee what would be important for them in the future. Had a vision been in place, a proper coding structure would have followed. |
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Conclusion:
Planning for the implementation of a CMMS is much more than a Maintenance Department exercise. Getting the active support of the Executive and Plant Management for defining the KPI's and planning out the implementation of the CMMS is vital to the successful use of these systems. Taking the time now in planning for the implementation though not a guarantee for success, brings the organization on a path for success. The reward is then the ability to measure and base decisions on meaningful data.
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* "Is Data Mining for Gold Statistical déjà vu?'"
by Dr. Diego Kuonen of Statoo Consulting,
March 2003 issue of the Bulletin of Swiss Statistical Society |
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