What it takes to make a computerised maintenance management system work.
An interview with our maintenance planning expert, Dave Kastelein
The use of a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) has become accepted as the standard in modern, large scale maintenance organisations, so I thought it would be of interest to have a discussion with one of the EnterpriseIS maintenance management specialists to get his thoughts on what it takes to make them work effectively.
Dan: To get started, how long have you been working within the maintenance-planning field and where did you first start using a CMMS?
Dave: My maintenance journey started in 1985 as a trainee at the BHP Steelworks at Port Kembla in the Shipping Department, where I was part of the maintenance teams that looked after the ship loading/unloading infrastructure. From there I move into a maintenance planning roll full time from 1988 with the introduction of computers into BHP Steel maintenance departments and let me tell you, they were not the same computers most junior planners start with today… Computers were only in their early day back then and our boss actually encouraged the planners to play games on them in their breaks so they could get familiar with how they worked.
Dan: Definitely a different approach to systems training than we see today! Since then I know you’ve worked across a broad range of operations and locations. From these experiences, what would you say are the main benefits to an organisation as a result of the adoption of computerised maintenance management systems?
Dave: The key benefits are the availability of information, management of routine tasks and integration with the supply chain.
Firstly, by having all of information required to manage maintenance into one system, which is available to everyone in the maintenance organisation you have a “single source of truth” for all maintenance activities. This includes the ability to search or run reports and easily schedule work in available downtime.
Secondly, having the ability to manage all routine inspection / service jobs through system generated work orders, especially statutory compliance, frees the planners time up to better plan corrective work and defect elimination activities.
Lastly, by integrating or linking the maintenance system to supply, purchasing and warehousing functions, it makes purchasing of goods / labour less time consuming. All of these benefits flow onto the maintenance personnel and the costs of maintenance to the organisation.
Dan: Given the effective use of these systems has significant tangible benefits, it’s easy to see why companies chose to continually refine and improve their use of their system/s. From your observations, what would you say are the key attributes of successful maintenance teams in regards to their use of the CMMS?
Dave: That’s an easy answer; all of the teams I have seen who manage maintenance and their CMMS well all do a handful of key things really well. The things that they do well are;
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They manage change well by leading effectively and including everyone in the journey by coaching, mentoring, reinforcing positive attitudes and not forcing or dictating the path everyone takes to get there.
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They train everyone in theory and use of CMMS at a transaction level and let everyone develop at own pace and interest. This may mean that not everyone progresses at the same speed, but over time this approach means that everyone is engaged in the process.
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They keep it simple to start with and only implement detail and complexity as their “maturity” in system use grows.
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Lastly, they use the correct data from start by conducting a full review of their master data using an agreed set of business rules and with representatives from each area.
Dan: So if those are the good side of setting up a CMMS, what are the most common mistakes you see companies make when it comes to setting up or changing over to a new maintenance system?
Dave: That’s also pretty straight forward as it’s essentially the opposite of the good practices. The key areas that I see people fail to do correctly in setting up a CMMS, either from scratch or in transferring to a new system falling into one, or all of the following categories:
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Data quality is poor from the start, resulting in people “loosing faith” in the system and making work-arounds
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Not effectively engaging the users during system implementation by focusing on the theoretical side of the system i.e. data collection for reliability analysis, cost collection/reporting, rather than practical (doing maintenance) activities. Start with the simple activities like job planning and then move forward as the users are ready, not the trainers or managers…
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Poor change management. As I discussed before, this includes poor communication regarding the “why” of the change, training the wrong level of detail for target audience, and not taking the whole organisation on the journey.
Dan: It’s interesting to note that all of those things you pointed out are all well within the organisation or project teams control and not, as most would think, limitations of the system. So to finish up, if you were giving advice to a new maintenance planner who was about to set up a CMMS for the first time, what are your top 3 “must-do’s”?
Dave: Again, that’s an easy one, my top three (in no particular order as they’re all important):
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Get the data correct from the start. This isn’t always easy, but it must be done if you want the system to work and the users to engage with/trust it.
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Change management must be effective. This starts with the organisations leadership and flows through to the training/mentoring to ensure that the “correct” level of understanding is delivered and the users remain engaged / interested throughout the process.
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Keep It Simple. To start with, keep system customisation to a minimum, ensure the reports/forms to only contain relevant information (keep within one screen) and then build from there once your organisation has reached the level that all users are proficient.
Dan: Thanks Dave, appreciate your time and I’m sure there are some good reminders in here for anyone going through this process at the moment, or planning a project in this space.