Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine, August 2014

and what was done to correct them And ONeal can get the information he needs without having to visit the far corners of the vast complex Our CMMS enables me to track equipment in remote locations and we can monitor facilities remotely he says I can determine whats going on and what the technicians did to make the repairs With that capability we make sure customers needs are being met We can stop by their desks to ask Did you get what you need and we can follow up with them more easily Staggered Maintenance Schedules While meeting customer needs is paramount managing the workload for the maintenance professionals on staff is equally important We work with various members of our staff to balance the service requests with the number of field personnel who do the hands on work ONeal says For example we dont want all of the PMs for all of the equipment coming out at the same time so we have to stagger the maintenance schedule Theres a responsibility on both sides to put all equipment in the CMMS with input from our field team and from the manufacturers he adds Continuous Improvement While automating maintenance management has led to a higher level of customer satisfaction ONeal encourages his team to avoid being lulled into a false sense of security We cant get complacent he says Our customers are happy and have told us this is the best maintenance service theyve ever had But we have to stay on our toes We have to continuously improve Paul Lachance is president and chief technology officer for Smartware Group which produces Bigfoot CMMS Under Lachances leadership the company has completely redesigned its flagship product in two new versions Bigfoot Enterprise and Enterprise Lachance has been developing and perfecting the companys CMMS solution for the maintenance professional for more than 20 years Contact Lachance directly at Paul Lachance@ BigootCMMS com or for general product information visit www BigfootCMMS com pans for trapping water were not working properly On occasion excessive condensation in the air handler would collect in the drip plans and leaks would occur in the floor office ceilings etc By using the CMMS to analyze repair data ONeal discovered the drip pan problem at several sites We kept seeing that drip pans were faulty in different locations ONeal says When three of the pan repairs showed up in our CMMS we discussed ways to get to the root of the problem We found some pumps that were malfunctioning so we put in back up pumps with a limit switch Our CMMS helped us figure out the solution for that Remote Tracking Because federal workers are spread out across three buildings totaling 250000 square feet in three different locations ONeal depends on the service requests submitted through the CMMS to keep him abreast of customer needs I log into the CMMS first thing in the morning to check the PM alerts and any work orders generated from requests for repairs from federal staff that may have come in the previous day ONeal says I look at trends from these service requests to see if equipment is breaking down more often than it should Throughout the day ONeal also follows up with the on site supervisor and staff members to review the service requests and discuss where repair problems cropped up GSA offices to sophisticated electrical equipment in NOAAs wind tunnel building and weather balloon lab To help manage that broad array of responsibilities his company chose a computerized maintenance management system CMMS that could be adapted for use in multiple buildings We needed a flexible enterprise CMMS that could expand across a variety of facilities but was easy enough to train our technicians ONeal says Database Detectives While ONeals team has entered more than 500 pieces of equipment into the CMMS database some older machinery had little or no documented maintenance history making it difficult to know what had been done to service those items in the past Weve used the CMMS database to track the work order history for all equipment so we can take a systematic approach to preventive and predictive maintenance ONeal says We have to plan for problems that may occur such as getting hard tofind replacement parts for old equipment in our older buildings Even the intricate instrumentation used in NOAAs weather balloon and wind tunnel systems has been assigned several PMs The CMMS database also helped ONeals team solve one maintenance dilemma that was difficult to detect through the spreadsheet his department used previously While repairing stained ceiling tiles staff members discovered that some of the drip www CMMOnline com 41 Software can help a maintenance manager get information without visiting the far corners of a vast complex Image courtesy of robertomm iStock Thinkstock