8 Manufacturing Insight

H istorically, ComputerizedMaintenance ManagementSystem (CMMS) programs

were developed with limited featuresand functions, operated under aminority of operating systems,required little to no integration withexisting systems, and were reason-ably priced. The list of software ben-efits was almost magical: increasedequipment uptime and utilization,enhanced preventive maintenanceprograms, improved MRO inventorycontrol, increased maintenance pro-ductivity and efficiency, andincreased service levels to customers,to name a few.

Today’s CMMS programs havean expanded list of benefits, havebecome extremely complex and fea-ture robust, operate under the major-ity of operating systems, requiremore integration and, of course, thecosts have escalated proportionately.

And the claims of benefit were nomore true yesterday than they are

Computerized MaintenanceManagement Systems —Just Another Information Tool?

system benefits, establishing enter-prisewide support, ensuring thoroughimplementation, and providing train-ing.

User buy-in: Proper “buy in” isparticularly important if no CMMSexisted in the first place. The organi-zation may feel it needs to moveaway from a manual system andautomate the process. The greatesthurdle to overcome is cultural: Manyof the folks involved in the program’suse may have emotional resistance tothe program for various reasons.Some may have no computer skills.Others may be so resistant to changeitself that they will undermine thebenefits by continually talking downthe program. The list is endless. Thefact remains that there will always besome people who will constantlyfight change.

There is also a possibility theproduct was selected without inputfrom the true system users. All toooften, the software has been “sold” tothe end user, with the seller essen-tially dictating the users’ needs.Instead, the users should be specify-ing the system’s requirementsthrough a functional specification orsome form of needs analysis. Thereshould be an immense level ofinvolvement and perspective in thesoftware selection phase.

All in all, the aspect of buy-in hasall the social and psychologicalimpediments one can imagine. It isoften deemed the most difficult andcritical step toward exploiting thesystem’s benefits.

Clearly defined expectations ofsystem benefits: As mentioned ear-lier, most systems today have becomeextremely feature rich. Along withthose added features comes the salespitch that using specific features will

today for one simple reason—thesoftware doesn’t call the shots. Inshort, the software serves one pri-mary purpose—acting as a host fordata.

In some cases the maintenancetool whose goal was to help the workforce has instead become a hin-drance, driven by the magnitude ofcomplex functions and capabilities.Recent studies estimate that organiza-tions use only 9 percent of the func-tions of their CMMS. The immediatequestion is “Why is usage of programfunctions so low?” Another strikingfact is that 45 to 50 percent of allCMMS programs fail in the first yearof life. Why is the failure rate sohigh?

Let’s take a deeper look at thesetwo questions.

WHY IS USAGE SO LOW AND THEFAILURE RATE SO HIGH?

One might initially assume thatthe low level of usage is because the

software was the wrongtool, but we don’t wantto jump to that conclu-sion as many of us havespent $50,000 to$75,000 for softwareand support, and another$25,000 to $50,000 onimplementation costs.

With the assump-tion that we have theright software, what rea-sons could be behindlow system usage? Theanswer often lies in thefact that the followingissues aren’t properlyaddressed: obtainingbuy-in from users,developing clearlydefined expectations of

Manufacturing Insight 9

increase, reduce, or have some posi-tive impact on the majority of“important” maintenance businessmetrics your organization might use,which couldn’t be further from thetruth. None of those increases orreductions will occur if no one under-stands the tool’s intended purpose.The CMMS is just another tool in thework force’s toolbox. If people don’tunderstand what it does or how it canbenefit them, they will never take itout of the box.

To realize benefits, some funda-mental criteria must be met. Youmust have:

◆ Credible data—critical for theproper use of any program

◆ A clear understanding of how pro-gram functions relate to the output

◆ Working knowledge of how toexploit the program’s outputs

The outputs allow the user to gaininsight and direction for problem res-olution and decision making. Theoutputs are the sole source for attain-ing the beneficial increases andreductions inherent in the program’sdesign. All of these requirements aredirect functions of the user. Withoutclear definition and understanding ofthe system’s capabilities, limitations,and benefits, the users will not beable to exploit the program to its full-est potential, leading to failurethrough lack of acceptance and use.

Enterprisewide support: Every-one must support the system’s use. Itmakes no difference if one is a directuser or an end user, the president orthe plant manager. Implementationof enterprisewide software requiresresolute change managers in thetrenches and a cast of thousands tooffer ongoing support.

Thorough implementation: Oneof the most important steps in anyprogram installation is performing athorough implementation. The firststep is to create an approach toclearly define how the system will beimplemented. The next requirementis a well-structured, realistic, andexecutable implementation plan to

support the approach.The most significant mistake

made by CMMS implementors isunderestimating the level of involve-ment and total time required to “to doit right the first time.”

The implementation team will berequired to move into unchartedwaters. They will need to define andclarify items such as new work ordercoding and data entry structures,nomenclature customization, stan-dardization of work methods, creat-ing master preventive maintenanceschedules, connecting soft side issuesto hard code, and system integrationissues. Without a thorough imple-mentation plan, many of the system’skey feature requirements will bereduced to nothing more than a database of useless information.

Training: Training on any newprocess is critical, but CMMS pro-gram training differs from other soft-ware programs in a multitude ofways. Outlined below are four levelsof training associated with the intro-duction of CMMS programs:

1. PC literacy: The first level oftraining is assessment of basic PCskills. We can’t assume that every-one is comfortable with computers oris PC literate. People must feel con-fident in using the PC before everattempting to tackle a new piece ofsoftware.

2. CMMS structure knowledge: Ifyour organization is performingimplementation without any outsidehelp, the implementation team musthave an intimate knowledge of whatthe system can do. They must fullyunderstand the program’s structure asa whole, as well as the functions ofindividual features. They must beable to go from a macro aspect of theprogram down to the most detailedlevel. The type of training in thisstage of the program’s imple-mentation has nothing to do with howto use the program.

3. Basic system functions: Thislevel of training can begin once theimplementation team has definednomenclature, developed the appro-

priate coding structure, made appro-priate system changes, and addressedall integration issues. They will havecollected the host of base datarequired, which includes such itemsas equipment and component num-bers, spare parts, and preventive andcorrective maintenance tasks. Thislevel of training occurs before thesystem is launched into mainstreamuse and also acts as the debuggingstep in the implementation process.

Users will range from work man-agement and central dispatch work-ers, to work order generators, to themaintenance work force. Each ofthese user groups requires differentskill sets for proper system use. Cus-tomized workshops become a suc-cessful tool for performing this typeof diversified user training.

4. Continuous improvement train-ing: There will be users who willappear to take the program’s use as areligion and demand more from it,regardless of enhancements made bystandard program updates. Theseinquisitive individuals will be yournext-generation trainers.

SUMMARYBy knowing the up-front relation-

ships of key events required for fullutilization of the system, one canbuild greater confidence and ensuresuccess for the system’s use and lifeexpectancy. Having managednumerous CMMS implementationsin varying operational settings andsizes, we have seen that when com-bined with strong change managers,top-down support, software selection,and solid implementation planningand execution are critical to success.

Todd McCann has over 10 years’ experience in the manufactur-

ing and service industries. His career focus has been on CMMS,

and his professional practice areas include developing and imple-

menting scheduling systems, training production staff in manufac-

turing methods, and implementing total productive maintenance

management systems.