COMPUTERIZED
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
CMMS techniques become more necessary
than ever to ensure productivity, quality, timely delivery, and availability,
low cost, safety particularly in lean manufacturing. CMMS are increasingly
being used to manage and control plant and equipment maintenance in modern
manufacturing industries.
Developing and implementing a
maintenance program is a difficult process that suffers from many problems. Its
often suffers from lack of a systematic and consistent methodology. In
addition, since the process of developing the program relates to different
parties with interests in maintenance, it becomes difficult to achieve all
round satisfaction of these parties and at the same time achieve the objectives
of the company. In deriving these objectives maintenance managers usually try
to achieve multiple, and sometimes, conflicting objectives such as maximizing
throughput, availability, and quality subject to constraints on production
plan, available spares, manpower, and skills
CMMS
Definitions
The following are various definitions
given by different authors and organizations. They are:
A computerized maintenance management
system (CMMS) provides historic information for various types of work;
availability of materials; costs by job, facility or type of work, and much
more. It can increase effectiveness of planning, scheduling, and cost tracking
by as much as 50 percent. In addition, it will establish an electronic
information warehouse, which will be available for many other queries and
reporting, at no additional cost4. CMMS is a centralized repository for maintenance
related information. Ideally, a CMMS provides an easy to use interface to
modules tying together purchasing, work requests, work orders, equipment
records, labor resources, inventory, and history of work orders. The
effectiveness of a CMMS depends on how well the software accomplishes this
integration, the acceptance of the user community, and the quality of the
maintenance data loaded into the CMMS. A
CMMS is a powerful tool that
simplifies day-to-day activities in maintenance, planning and scheduling,
inventory control and purchasing. It also provides event and history tracking
facilities that will enable the overall performance to be monitored and
optimizes the equipment and personnel resources.
Need for
CMMS
Maintenance departments are under
tremendous pressure to provide more information faster, and at a lower cost to
the company. At the same time many companies have reduced the staff to the bare
minimum. Maintenance professionals are presented with more difficult challenges
today than at any previous point. The biggest
obstacle of all confronting maintenance professionals is being forced to do more
with fewer resources. Maintenance departments must deliver superior service,
comply with regulatory requirements and provide detail financial accountably
all within the confines of limited and/or reduce budgets. In order to meet
challenges, maintenance professionals are arming with economical computerized
maintenance management systems (CMMS). Maintenance organizations can improve
their agility and cost effectiveness through implementing and deploying a
latest generation CMMS. CMMS are now a necessary part of managing and
controlling assets, plant and equipment maintenance in modern manufacturing
facilities management and service industries. CMMS are
designed to provide today’s
maintenance professionals with the tools needed to reduce downtime, increase
equipment life, maximize productivity, lower overall costs and simplify the
maintenance process. The importance of CMMS has increased dramatically in the
past few years, especially in resource-based companies such as mining, oil and
gas, pulp and paper, utilities, and heavy manufacturing. This is because lean
companies realize the enormous savings potential due to improved equipment
reliability, lower spare parts inventory, and higher operator/maintainer productivity.
The more sophisticated CMMS packages provide excellent analysis tools for lean
manufacturers to identify problem areas, root causes, and actions required.
Many problems can be avoided in the first place through various modules of
CMMS.
The following
characteristics should be in CMMS
·
Minimal learning curve required.
·
Quick easy to set-up.
·
Easy to use with powerful
features.
·
Minimal time required for
operating.
·
Bullet proof software system that
requires no computer experience to install or maintain even on a network.
Basic Components of CMMS
The following flowchart
(fig.1) highlights the basic components of CMMS. Work Order is the key feature
of the system. It consists all of the labor data, materials data, contractor
data, preventive maintenance data that is written against a piece of equipment
(or a facility or a building etc). The information collected is then stored in
a database called the equipment history. It is here that all of the data is
drawn to reproduce all of the reports needed by the organization to manage the
equipment or assets. The CMMS most basic function is to organize all equipment
information into a workable database.
Implementation
The actual implementation
of the CMMS was performed in two parts: warehouse and procurement process, and
work control process. During each conversion, a partial changeover was not
considered. This total conversion worked only because of the modifications made
to the system by each team prior to implementation and because all training was
conducted prior to the actual implementation.
Implementing a CMMS is a
systematic process of evaluating the correct order of application implementation.
This process can be conducted if the knowledge base of the new CMMS is well known
along with the knowledge of current and future maintenance operations.
Therefore, the first step in implementing a CMMS is to take all-available
training (user and system administrator) to become an "expert" on how
the system works and can potentially be modified. Next, a phased implementation
has to be developed, reviewed, modified, and accepted by management. The
following phased implementation:
a. Test and validation:
The CMMS was tested against all established requirements to assure that it would
perform all maintenance processes. The entire work control process (with all
appropriate data loaded) was tested to understand how the new CMMS administered
work from one application to another.
b. Decisions: After
a thorough understanding of the system (through training) and a general understanding
of how the CMMS administers work were achieved, decisions had to be made to
merge the old system and set up the new system. The biggest decision was how to
define and set up the equipment assemble structure (EAS). The EAS is the
foundation of a CMMS, and a good deal of time was spent defining maintenance
tracking levels. All installed facilities systems were defined to the lowest
level of equipment maintenance that was to be tracked. This defined what
equipment records. The greatest contribution of the EAS is the ability to track
maintenance costs at the equipment level (then roll-up them to the system
level) in order to perform optimal replacement analysis.
c. Modifications: Every
application in the CMMS was reviewed for its applicability to the existing work
control process. Each team learned every application, evaluated its
functionality, and made recommendations to modify the application (field
modifications or additional table requirements) to better fit. Modifications
were then made to the application. This approach insured that the existing work
control process was included in the CMMS prior to implementation.
d. Training: Training
of all users was developed and conducted by in-house personnel because they had
the system knowledge combined with the work control process knowledge (both
current and future). The training program was broken into two groups: inventory
and purchasing, and work control. The inventory and purchasing group consisted
of all users responsible for procuring and storing maintenance materials
(excluding work control flow through the CMMS). The implementation team trained
all planners and supervisors on work order flow through the CMMS (excluding
inventory and purchasing). Users learned the application and then learned how the
application was going to be used.
e. Warehouse and
procurement: The Materials management and purchasing modules were the first
to be implemented because the CMMS is set up to check for materials before a
work order can be moved to in-progress status. All stored material data was
converted into the inventory database and procurement personnel started
submitting purchasing orders to the Purchasing Department. Most inventories
"bugs" were worked out prior to full implementation of the work
control process.
f. Work control: The
work control implementation consisted of a comprehensive use of most of the applications
in the CMMS. Work control flow through the CMMS consisted of work order
generation, receivable of new work order, detail of work order, assignment of
work order, posting of craft daily time, completion of the work order, and
closing of the work order.
g. Equipment: The
equipment application is the foundation of a CMMS and great care should be
taken to correctly set up this application. Each piece of equipment was then
placed into the correct location of the defined EAS with the appropriate
priority assigned to it. Then the correct equipment specification screen was assigned
to the equipment for additional name plate data acquisition.
h. Job plans: Generic
preventive maintenance (PM) job plans were written for all equipment types that
require PM. These job plans would serve as a template when the PM Masters were
to be created. The objective was to build a library of job plans that could be
used in future PM development.
i. Preventive
maintenance: Preparing a PM Master in a CMMS takes a great deal of effort,
but yields many benefits. A PM Master will automatically generate work orders when
they are due and specify appropriate operations, materials, labor, and
specialty tool requirements. The warehouse will always know what materials are
needed for PM and when they are needed.
j. Failure analysis: Tracking
why equipment failed and how to fix it is the final leg of the implementation
project.
How to avoid the pitfalls
Most mistakes are made
when the basic information is entered into the system. Basic information answers
such questions as "What is a piece of equipment?" "What is a
part?" and "How is preventive maintenance handled?". More
importantly, "How much detail gives us the information necessary to run the
department?" What is a piece of equipment? Is it the cost, the critical
nature, or a life/safety issue that determines that the piece needs to be set
up in the system as a unique entity? Is it anything over
N82, 500 or maybe the cost
is less but it would have a significant impact on the operation (like the lock
on the front door) or a fire extinguisher for safety? A policy needs to be created
defining what a piece of equipment is Parts vs. equipment. Parts are typically
items that make up a piece of equipment and are replaced, not repaired.
Disposable filters are typically parts. Electric motors can be both. Smaller electric
motors are replaced as parts. As an example, a ¼ hp motor most likely would be
a part, while a25 hp motor probably would be a piece of equipment. Generally,
setting up a ¼ hp motor as a piece of equipment would create a cumbersome
situation for maintenance history Preventive maintenance. The caution with
setting up PMs is again the amount of detail you need. As an example, an air
handling unit can be set up as a number of pieces of equipment (fans, motors,
condensers, etc.) with each having a separate PM or it can be set up as one
piece of equipment with a number of PM tasks. Typically setting the unit up as
one piece of equipment reduces the number of work orders or pieces of paper the
system generates. I have been at sites where the volume of paper generated for
PM work orders stalled or exterminated the project. An option to reduce some of
the paper yet get the detail is to set up the PMs on the larger unit (the air
handling unit) but then do the corrective work against individual pieces of equipment
(fans, motors, condensers, etc.). People are very good at their jobs and now
are being asked to change; how do you get them as comfortable with the new
process as they were with the old one? Training and practice is the only way
they will overcome the natural human resistance to change. There is no magical
solution, but the correct timing and quality and quantity of training is
crucial.
Shortcomings
of TPM (Total Preventive Maintenance)
The TPM concept is simple
and obvious, but there are some reported shortcomings. Managers tend to focus
on early results rather than activities aimed at reducing losses in the long
run. Improving personnel and changing the corporate culture is more easily said
than achieved. The traditional cultural division between operator and
maintenance, “you bend it, we mend it”, must be altered by mutual consent.
Continuous improvement means data analysis. Often data are collected but not
analyzed.
There is a need to find a
less time-consuming method that is also precise. While its philosophy is sound,
its implementation lacks focus, and a systems approach that is compatible with
different environments. Hence, an appropriate approach is presented. This approach
is aimed at extending TPM in an effective and efficient model, rather than
contradicting it. In addition, this approach addresses maintenance practice in
both the strategic and operational domains. The trend in recent maintenance literature
seems to emphasize the cultural difference between the Japanese culture and the
Western. pointed out the cultural differences between the Japanese and the
West, stressing the Japanese affinity for small groups and consensus decisions17.
It confirms this and emphasizes that the work ethic is very strong in Japan,
coming before self and family. Also, in an article18 about uses and limits of
TPM, the authors of the article conclude that TPM succeeds not because of its
systems or engineering techniques but because of its attention to the
management of human factors. Any TPM program is supposed to go through four
stages: self-development, improvement activities, problem solving and
autonomous maintenance. However, it seems that most groups do not transit from stage
two to stage three. They die before they are really grown up. An analogy of
adopting TQM and TPM is of having a good brain and strong muscles. It seems,
however, that a nerve system (data and decision analysis) is missing in this
analogy. Through personal experience, industrial collaboration, and research,
the author has formulated the opinion that while TPM is obviously a step in the
right direction, it is clear that there is a need for a revised, ``appropriate'',
approach regarding TPM. There is also need for a more appropriate approach that
is dynamic, practical, focused, adaptable, and integrated with other functions
of the organization. Need for a revised, appropriate, approach the above
literature survey shows that TPM in its pure form is not totally applicable to
Western industry. TPM appears to be in danger of being just an activity
centered management theory rather that a result driven approach.
Therefore, there is a need
for a revised approach to TPM, an appropriate one. The revised approach is intended
to be keyed to specific results, rather than to too large scale and diffused
objectives: an approach that is a management thought process rather than a
thing unto it. It is not intended to contradict TPM philosophy, but to
complement it. The proposed approach is a further step that puts a concept into
practice. This revised approach is intended to account for differences from the
ideal case, which embodies ``best'' practices yet, which can be ``tailored'' to
yield an appropriate system.
