Tres conclusiones de la Conferencia Anual SMRP 2019

I attended the SMRP Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky this year for the first time and man it was a wild ride! Here are my takeaways from an epic maintenance and reliability event...

Maintenance Teams Have 99 Problems, and Data is Central to all of Them

For most technicians, entering data is the cumbersome desk-work after the real job has been completed. For those who manage asset operations, data is essential in making informed and data-driven decisions. This gap between the two roles can leave everyone frustrated.

At SMRP, I spoke to many vendors offering EAM/CMMS implementation and training for technicians with the goal of bridging the gap between data entry and analysis. These tactics are essential strategies for change management, but they don’t solve for the clunky UX of technology at the point of data entry. If it’s difficult to update and create work orders, no amount of training will improve inputs.

Listening to technicians and managers at SMRP talk about data problems demonstrated the need for software like UpKeep that mobilizes and modernizes the workforce. The best way to get accurate data is to remove the work out of work orders, and that’s what UpKeep does.

SMRP United Maintenance Titans From Every Industry

During the conference we talked to people from a swath of industries – from Automotive to Food Processing, and everything in between. A big takeaway for me was that regardless of the industry, maintenance teams are often underappreciated until an asset breaks.

That’s one of many reasons why we created a weekly podcast, Masterminds in Maintenance. Our purpose every week is to honor facility managers, technicians, reliability leaders, and the stories and insights behind the amazing maintenance teams they’ve built.

So, attention all maintenance titans who visited our booth at SMRP, please join me on Masterminds in Maintenance Podcast and share your new ideas in maintenance, because learning doesn’t end when the conference is over.

The UpKeep Community Converged at SMRP

We created the UpKeep Maintenance Management Community on LinkedIn in June 2019 as a space for professionals in maintenance to connect and share ideas about the industry.

Before SMRP, we posted in the community inviting everyone to visit us at the booth fully prepared for no one to respond. But, to our surprise, people not only responded, but actually showed up at the booth!

It was SOOO awesome to meet members of our community in person!!! The community is a labor of love for our Marketing team, so it was extremely gratifying to see so much support at SMRP.

HUGE thanks to our community all-stars: Ricky Smith, Adrian Messer, Bob Latino, James Kovacevic, Tammi Pickett, Howard Penrose, Jay Kriner, Paul Crocker, Joseph Lonjin, Jill Vassallo, Brooks Forsyth, and Shawn McGuire. Also, CONGRATS to LaWayne Smith for passing the CMRP exam!

Special shout out to our booth neighbors ProAxion and BDB Solutions, and our friends at Eruditio and enVentur.

Until next year!