CMMS Solution Saves Money & Increases ROI
Every maintenance manager who has used one knows what it is worth. The difficulty is never the maintenance department — it is the person approving the spend.
In today’s world, companies are always looking for new ways to increase productivity and work more efficiently within very tight budgets. A CMMS software solution is intended to help maintenance and facilities professionals do their jobs more effectively, lower costs, boost productivity, and make the workplace safer. It is easy for maintenance managers to quickly see the advantages of using a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). However, the challenge is trying to get decision-makers to see that investing in a CMMS solution provides cost-saving opportunities and increases Return On Investment (ROI). How can you justify this to upper management?
Implementing a CMMS Solution and Uncovering Cost-Saving Opportunities
The savings come from six places. Each one is a line an approver can check against your own numbers.
Extending the Life of Equipment
A CMMS software solution provides maintenance teams with easy-to-use tools to manage their preventative maintenance plans. The CMMS software provides an automated process for scheduling necessary inspections and planned maintenance activities, which keeps equipment operating efficiently. Some of the other benefits include:
- Implementing a preventive maintenance plan prolongs the life span of assets and equipment.
- Moving from a reactive to a proactive maintenance plan saves money on unplanned maintenance activities such as repairs and replacements. Relying solely on reactive maintenance often results in increased downtime and costs.
- Analyzing the complete history of assets helps determine their reliability and stability.
- A preventive maintenance plan keeps equipment running at peak performance and reduces energy costs.
- Equipment running at optimum performance saves on downtime, repairs, labor hours, expenses, and more.
Work Order Management
- The CMMS work order module gives users the ability to quickly log and respond to issues.
- CMMS centralizes work order information, prioritizes work orders instantly, and provides real-time status updates. Regular updates and system checks are core to effective CMMS software maintenance.
- Everything is stored and accessible in one centralized database.
- Notifications when work orders are closed out.
- View work order status at any time from anywhere.
Increasing Labor Productivity
Time tracking is a critical component of CMMS. It factors into labor availability, reporting, costs on work orders, and more.
- Optimizing the employee workday and accurately estimating labor hours for preventive maintenance tasks help in maximizing employee work hours and balancing the workload.
- Accurately estimate labor hours for preventive maintenance (PM) tasks, making sure your staffing levels match the workload, and decreasing overtime costs.
- Employee performance tracking helps determine which employees are most efficient at which tasks, enabling managers to balance the workload.
- CMMS eliminates employee hours spent on creating purchase orders by automating the process.
- Using the full power of a CMMS to improve processes gives organizations better control and management of employee time and reduces labor costs.
Managing Parts and Inventory More Efficiently
Inventory is a key component to optimizing a maintenance department. Businesses can’t afford to have downtime because spare parts are not available. Trying to plan ahead and stock the right parts can also be a problem. Having parts sitting in inventory for a long period of time can be very expensive. With a CMMS, organizations can:
- Take control over parts and inventory management, automate cycle inventory counts, and streamline ordering processes to help prevent downtime due to the unavailability of spare parts.
- Automated cycle inventory counts can determine your current inventory levels and automatically generate purchase orders based on need, reducing unnecessary purchases. This improves cash flow, and hence results in greater ROI.
- Streamline ordering processes, ensuring that parts will be ordered in optimal quantities at the optimal time.
Meet Regulatory Compliance
CMMS helps organizations meet regulatory compliance, ensuring that maintenance standards for grounds, facilities, and equipment are established and followed.
- CMMS software aids in complying with safety and environmental regulations through automated scheduling, tracking, and documenting processes.
- Tracking employee health and safety information.
- Documenting work procedures to show proof of presence.
- Keeping production equipment safe and reliable.
- Ensuring all inspections and tests are done properly and on time.
- Ability to analyze the lifespan of any asset.
- Documenting preventive maintenance on key assets.
- Generating reports for unexpected audits.
- Archiving work history.
- Storing employee training and documentation.
- Tracking incidents.
Reporting and KPIs
The reporting features within the CMMS software give users the ability to see the overall performance of their assets, and to analyze asset performance, failures, downtime, and resource utilization.
Customer Satisfaction
Investing in the right tools to regularly manage your maintenance department, equipment, and assets plays a big part in the success of your business. The growth of your business depends on your reputation to provide good and reliable customer service. Your future is dependent upon the quality of the goods and services you provide, and their quality is dependent upon how well you take care of your equipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I justify a CMMS to upper management?
Not on maintenance grounds. Put it in the terms the approver already uses: what unplanned failure costs the business, what overtime costs when staffing does not match the workload, what carrying parts you do not need costs in cash flow, and what a failed audit costs. Each of those is a line in someone else’s budget, which is what makes the case land.
Where does the money actually come back?
Six places. Equipment that lasts longer because it is serviced on schedule rather than after it breaks. Work orders that stop being chased. Labor hours estimated well enough to staff properly instead of paying overtime. Parts ordered in the right quantity at the right time. Compliance documentation that generates itself. And reporting that shows which assets are costing you.
How does preventive maintenance reduce energy costs?
Equipment drifts out of specification as it wears — a fouled coil, a slipping belt, a bearing under load. It keeps running, just less efficiently, and draws more power to do the same work. Scheduled servicing keeps it at the performance it was specified at, and the energy line reflects that.
How does a CMMS reduce overtime?
By making labor estimates real. Time tracking builds a record of how long tasks actually take, so preventive maintenance can be estimated against evidence rather than guesswork. Staffing then matches the workload instead of being corrected at the end of the week with overtime.
Why does inventory affect ROI?
It cuts both ways. A missing part means a machine waits, which is downtime you did not plan for. Parts sitting on a shelf for a year are cash tied up in something you have not used. Automated cycle counts and purchase orders generated from actual need keep you between the two.
What does a CMMS give you in an audit?
The records, without a week of assembling them. Inspections and tests logged with dates, work procedures documented, preventive maintenance on key assets on file, work history archived, employee training stored, and incidents tracked. An unexpected audit becomes a report rather than a scramble.
Final Thoughts
Implementation of a CMMS solution not only streamlines processes but also saves organizations money by reducing maintenance inefficiencies, such as equipment downtime and overtime labor. It is a valuable investment that enhances operational efficiency, ensures regulatory compliance, and ultimately increases return on investment (ROI).
Bring Your Own Numbers
Downtime hours, overtime spend, what is sitting in the parts room. We will work the arithmetic against your operation, not a generic example.
