The world is changing, the exploitation of new technology has changed the lives of companies and their employees in their daily lives. The advantages of an interconnected system cannot be denied: better maintenance policies, increased team availability, improved performance, consolidation and information tracking. In short, better management of production equipment to get the best performance possible. Today, most modern companies need what is called Computer Assisted Maintenance Management.
Computer Assisted Maintenance Management (CMMS) software is designed to list all the devices used by the company, to plan maintenance operations, identify failures and operations that must be performed. Its usefulness is known to improve spare parts management and conclude machine downtime through more efficient maintenance. Troubleshooting is another major use of CMMS software. This is the basic building block from which other information can be taken and actions to reduce costs can be defined: Implementation of a preventive action plan to reduce the frequency, optimize the stock of spare parts.
Beyond this classic use, it is possible to go further with CMMS. They can also be cost hunters. Good reading of the data and the indicators they provide highlight the consequences of dysfunction that looks bad. This makes it possible to detect it and thus eradicate it.
Detects weak signals
The TNT hub at Liège Airport in Belgium is a center for sorting European logistics experts. Every night, Eurohub accommodates 40 aircraft and 125 trucks. No fewer than 30,000 packages can be processed on time every day. Individual packages weighing less than 30 kilograms are automatically delivered on a network of conveyors with a total length of 7 kilometers, a forklift moving in ballet that is unrelenting. On sites of this size, it’s hard to find small hiccups. But it is not impossible. They must be able to target their origin and notice that this tractor is about objects that hit the windshield.
After the information is up, it’s possible to fix the problem including planned downtime. And that’s where maintenance management software can help. If the Excel spreadsheet is limited to storing facts, CMMS plays the full memory role. This software maintains all history of interventions, making it possible to know who did what and when. This is very important if an incident occurs, because it allows tracking. It is even possible to track this weak signal faster. At present, for reasons of cost, very few companies connect their hardware with automatic monitoring.
This software highlights abnormal failures
In centers like Liege for TNT, the information is multiplied and daily, but the quality depends on seizures. Reliable production of inventory from all machines and spare parts is an important foundation needed by the collaboration of all users. At TNT, electromechanists, members of the purchasing, accounting and management, health and safety departments … All must be sure of the importance of implementing this new tool. Teams that make daily contact with these fields have practical understanding and may want to have software that is enforced “from above”, as is often the case with ERP. They must have ownership of this tool.
Decision support tool
Based on the calendar, preventive maintenance did not cause great difficulties on TNT. Although of course it is necessary to carry out a complete census of 5,487 equipment and 17,150 references in stock. CMMS has proven to be very useful for optimizing operations. There are 25,000 work orders per year! Every operation is codified. They know exactly what type of operation is carried out on which machine. Progress is always possible thanks to the flexibility of the software.
