Chris van den Belt, Head of Product Management at IFS Ultimo and I recently joined Plant Works editor, Thomas Wilk on the Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast to discuss the many practical benefits of digitizing maintenance processes. The potential impact is immense.
We all know the saying: time is money. In most industries, relying on outdated labor intensive methods for asset management isn’t just inefficient. It is a missed opportunity – and a very expensive one at that.
This is where a modern Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system can help. Transforming the way you approach maintenance management from a reactive, isolated theory to a proactive and collaborative strategy helps drive efficiency and provides sustainable long-term value.
This starts at the very frontline, where efficiency matters most. Operational teams spend their day close to the assets they manage. Anything that is out of the ordinary with regards to the functioning of the assets is usually registered in a logbook. Many organizations still use physical logbooks, which play a big role in shift handovers.
However, critical asset information and observations are often lost in the physical logbook or in disjointed systems. Accessing the data when it matters most is difficult to do. Drawing sensible conclusions and taking informed decisions is equally complex.
Digitizing this process of information capturing and handover opens up the data to the entire organization. All stakeholders are empowered to access critical asset information anytime, identify trends and take informed decisions. This transparency helps foster collaboration between departments. Everyone is on the same page, further dissolving the finger pointing and blaming culture that often exists between maintenance and operations teams.
Giving operators ownership over first-line maintenance tasks like inspections, lubrications and adjustments means that response time are significantly reduced. Operators know the machines they manage in and out, and are often best positioned to quickly identify potential issues. This helps free up maintenance teams to focus on complex, higher value-add tasks instead. This shift in ownership increases uptime, reduces failures and incidents and optimizes resource allocation, while cutting costs at the same time.
Generating alignment towards shared common goals and business objectives also increases data accuracy and usability. An EAM system turns data into actionable insights. Integrating data with reporting and analytics features allows organizations to keep tabs on asset health, and better predict maintenance requirements.
Moving away from costly, unplanned downtime to scheduled, proactive maintenance further optimizes the use of valuable resources. A solid dataset also forms the foundation for working towards more advanced maintenance management strategies, such a predictive maintenance, further extending the asset lifecycle.
An EAM system furthermore helps ensure all relevant safety processes are seamlessly embedded in the way operations and maintenance teams work together with the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) teams. Issuing a permit to work only after a lockout/tagout procedure is completed is not only logical, it also ensures all work activities are executed in a safe and compliant fashion. Having the right safety measures in place helps protect workers, and being able to easily produce them demonstrates compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.
At the end of the day, an EAM system is your trusted partner to transform an organization with the future in mind. A new generation is joining the workforce, often with their own requirements and ways of working. So, digitized systems ensures that institutional knowledge isn’t lost with people leaving the organization. The EAM system stores and organizes this information, so that new employees can benefit from access to the right data and be productive straight away.
By adopting an EAM system, your organization deploys the most powerful tool to boost collaboration, improve productivity and work towards your desired future maintenance strategy. It is time to stop reacting and start leading the way with pro-active, data-driven maintenance. To find out how, book a demo with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ultimo offers powerful out-of-the-box software with supreme flexibility, adjustable to your preferences. Invest in a system that can grow with your organization and your needs.
If your organization utilizes capital-intensive assets, IFS Ultimo’s best-of-breed EAM is an invaluable tool for optimizing your asset management. Ultimo excels in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, infrastructure and utility sectors.
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