Embracing Level One of the Maintenance Maturity Model: From Pen and Paper to CMMS

Embracing Level One of the Maintenance Maturity Model: From Pen and Paper to CMMS

The vast majority of people today rely on technology in just about every aspect of their life. Devices, apps, and software make us more efficient, help us communicate effectively, and deliver an array of products and services to our doorstep. Yet many small- to medium-sized businesses are still relying on pen and paper manual systems to manage their maintenance activities. As we move into 2024, it’s time for those organizations to embrace the first level of the maintenance maturity model: moving from pen and paper systems to a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

The Challenges of Manual Methods

Businesses that have a small footprint or only a skeleton staff often rely on phone calls, emails, verbal conversations or sticky notes to communicate maintenance needs. While this process may be effective for the smallest of organizations, it can quickly result in a host of inefficiencies and difficulties.

First, such requests can easily get forgotten or lost, requiring someone to follow-up and ensure that the task gets completed. Second, work records either don’t exist at all, reside in one person’s mind, or get filed in an inaccessible location. And, third, if spreadsheets are used, they can be cumbersome to complete and prone to human error.

These challenges then cause a domino effect throughout the organization, causing potential slowdowns in production or order fulfillment, double-work by others who do not have complete information, and confusion or errors due to communication breakdowns.

Finally, since most people, especially the younger generation, experience the efficiencies of technology in their personal lives, they can become frustrated in working with such an antiquated system, leading to job dissatisfaction. This can mean higher turnover and difficulty attracting fresh talent in an already-tight labor market.

How to Embrace Level One of the Maintenance Maturity Model 

Before selecting a CMMS solution, it's important for you to define your current maintenance priorities, requirements, and goals. Look at the areas where a CMMS can make the biggest difference and begin there. Besides looking at the specific functionalities a solution must have right now, don’t forget to consider its ability to scale as your company grows and becomes more efficient.

With many CMMS solutions offering a subscription-based payment model, smaller organizations can often find an affordable solution that can deliver just what you currently need in the short-run with the ability to scale and add features and functionality down the road.

In addition, you’ll want to look at what kind of user support and training is available as most failed implementations revolve around a lack of understanding and buy-in. Employee workarounds can easily sabotage any new software implementation, reducing its effectiveness. Request a demo, talk to existing users, and review service level agreements before making a final decision. Be sure to include your maintenance technician and managers in the selection process and obtain their feedback as they will be the ones responsible for utilizing the new system.

Expected Benefits

One of the first things that small- and medium-sized businesses often use in a new CMMS is work order management. The simple ability to computerize work order requests means that all these tasks are collected in a complete, organized, and timely fashion. Both the requester and the technician can return to the CMMS to check status, add information, ask questions, or review progress. This, in turn, means that tasks are completed in a more timely fashion, which results in better overall performance of equipment and critical assets, directly affecting a company’s bottom line.

This system also creates a history of equipment performance, giving the management team accurate data to make better decisions about whether to continue to repair older equipment, when to refurbish assets, or the best time to upgrade and replace machines all together.

Asset tracking and management can also be immediately useful in a CMMS solution, giving companies information about where assets are located, monitor their usage, and track maintenance requirements for scheduling preventive maintenance tasks.

Advanced Analysis and Insights

Once your data resides in a CMMS, many more opportunities for advanced insights become available. Ideally, your company now has a single source of truth when it comes to your assets, providing the foundation for making strategic decisions. More accurate data and a single location for accessing that data means that your entire team is making the decisions based on common information.

In addition, once this data repository exists, it becomes easier to implement advanced maintenance technologies such as predictive maintenance. Today, sensors can provide 24/7 condition monitoring, helping your team keep an even closer eye on your critical assets. When certain factors such as temperature or vibration fall out of acceptable ranges, an alert can be sent to your maintenance technician so that an inspection can be conducted before major breakdowns occur.

Conclusion

If your organization is still relying on pen and paper or spreadsheet-based systems to track your maintenance activities, make 2024 the year to move to a CMMS. Request UpKeep’s free guide on how to help your company embrace level one of the maintenance maturity model.