Making the move to CMMS
Published: 02 January, 2018
Turbine Surface Technologies (TST), started its managed maintenance improvement project by using a paper-based maintenance system. PWE reports.
TST, a key supplier of anti-corrosion and thermal barrier coatings for some of the most well-respected names in the automotive industry, says it is imperative that its procedures are standardised with relevant documentation available to carry out each task.
TST started its managed maintenance improvement project by using a paper-based maintenance system.
This was based on an excel spreadsheet and involved printing 180+ sheets of paper daily; organising, stapling, completing, inputting data back into the spreadsheet and finally storing or recycling the print-outs. The process was laborious, with huge amounts of time needed to complete administration procedures, before any physical maintenance had taken place. It also became difficult to complete every day and so research was undertaken into how to eliminate these issues and streamline the maintenance efforts.
CMMS continues to be one of the most advanced and useful investments available to industry today. Regardless of the size of the business, a CMMS can provide significant benefits to the professional maintenance management of the organisation and deliver savings to the bottom line. Businesses can take advantage of highly affordable systems and expect a return on their investment within months rather than years.
The company says it was initially attracted to Idhammar MMS (in addition to decreasing the administration side of the maintenance), by how thorough the system is in generating documents required to support the maintenance procedure. Senior management met with Idhammar specialists to understand the capabilities of the system; generating reports, helping shape KPIs and giving TST the ability to track maintenance procedures and machinery performance more easily
Electronic paper trail
Demonstrating regulatory compliance is often a key driver for purchasing a CMMS. It’s not just the heavily regulated industries like food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals that are required to keep an auditable record of maintenance. Health, safety and environmental regulations apply to all manufacturing operations, and Idhammar MMS records both the details of the maintenance activity on vital machinery and prompts you to ensure that the work is actually carried out as required.
Idhammar MMS makes compliance easily traceable for audits and supports statutory plus quality compliance standards, including ISO 9000, GAMP, BRC Audit and FDA 21 CFR Part 11. Additionally, user-restricted access (RBAC) is a standard feature. If the system is hosted by Idhammar it will also comply with ISO 27001 security management requirements.
Usable system
TST commented that its staff find the CMMS very easy to use: in just 3 clicks a work order is generated with relevant documentation attached. Reports generated on the data collected from the CMMS also sparked interest across other departments, leading to an increase in users wanting access to CMMS data.
Users at TST said they were additionally impressed with the level of guidance and support provided by Idhammar, highlighting the high level of support received from the CMMS implementation specialist on site: assisting in implementing the system and delivering training on all areas of the CMMS.
Time saving
Since the system has been implemented, TST has estimated that 12+ hours a month have been saved with the removal of printing sheets of work orders and inputting data. Further time saving is made from having a more organised and considered maintenance procedure, which has moved from reactive to pro-active.
This means the breakdown of machinery happens less frequently as machines are maintained more effectively. Engineers are able to have a better idea of possible machinery faults when they do happen, due to more thorough recording of previous issues. Idhammar MMS has also helped reduce human error when inputting information due to the more automated data capture of information.
