What software is used for maintenance?

What Is Maintenance Management Software?

Maintenance management software creates work orders for maintenance activities (such as preventive maintenance tasks and predictive maintenance scheduling) which help limit machine and equipment downtime and lengthen the lifecycle of assets. A properly implemented system will automate maintenance work and maintenance programs, lower maintenance costs, and provide real-time KPIs and maintenance history for your maintenance team.

The primary reason businesses use maintenance management software is to ensure production levels are never interrupted and that their profitability remains at a consistent level and is not threatened by equipment failure or downtime. Maintenance management systems will increase the reliability of your production facilities, maximize the life of your equipment, and increase the safety of your employees.

Often referred to as a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS software), a properly deployed maintenance management solution will keep your business proactive rather than reactive with how it approaches maintenance. This is accomplished by tracking and controlling all of your company assets such as equipment used in daily operations, or the facilities you conduct your business out of (although a facility management software may be used as well).

Features of Maintenance Management Software

• Maintenance Request Portal: Allows employees to submit maintenance requests that are sent to management personnel for approval or denial. Ensures all requests are viewed and prioritized based on their urgency.
• Work Orders: Create a trackable document identifying what work needs to be done and how it should be accomplished. Helps maintenance managers ensure tasks are being performed in a timely fashion. Includes widgets such as rules-based approval management, scheduling management, change orders, and reporting.
• Preventive Maintenance: Schedules routine maintenance tasks to reduce the risk of production errors, work injuries, and asset damage. Creates schedules, tracks procedures, sets maintenance routines, balances workloads, and more.
• Predictive Maintenance: Scans equipment data for performance trends and uses condition-based monitoring to alert the appropriate staff of any potential issues.
• Equipment and Asset Management: Records general information on company assets (buildings, vehicles, technology, and more) such as the frequency of asset use, issues, ongoing costs, and asset specifications. Includes repair history, work orders associated with each asset, images and warranty info, meter readings, and floor plan management.
• Inventory Management: Tracks information on equipment used in maintenance and repair operations such as tools and parts. Creates alerts to warn of low stock levels to ensure the proper materials and tools are always available for both routine and emergency maintenance.

Types of Maintenance Management Software

For every type of maintenance, there is an equivalent maintenance software that will work best for the situation. These can be broken down into the type of maintenance being performed, such as reactive, preventive, predictive, condition-based, or reliability-centered maintenance. Most of the time, software options will be marketed and sold based on your industry or the type of asset/equipment that may require maintenance:

• Fleet Maintenance Management Software: Maximizes the uptime, efficiency, and life of your fleet vehicles. Assets typically include cars, trucks, and trailers, but can also include construction equipment, machinery, and tools needed to maintain them. A unique feature module is fuel tracking. An example product is Fleet Maintenance Pro.
• Property Maintenance Management Software: Maintains the maintenance activities involved with the property you own and potentially lease out. Maintenace request portals give access to tenants rather than employees in your company. Can view maintenance activities on a per unit basis, and store documents such as floorplans. This Includes homes, apartment buildings, hotels, and even golf courses. An example product is UpKeep which has property maintenance capabilities.
• Facility Maintenance Management Software: Monitors the health of buildings, spaces, and the equipment residing in them. Lets facility managers maintain ongoing maintenance and repair which includes asset management, contractor sourcing, work orders, payments, and analytics. An example product is ServiceChannel.
• Asset Maintenance Management Software: Intended more for broad use of combinations of similar or unrelated types of assets. Includes building and importing asset hierarchies, tracking the history of assets, and organizing parts inventory. An example product is Fiix Software.
• Aircraft and Aviation Maintenance Management Software: Tracks maintenance, repair, and operations on aircraft and aviation vehicles. Also known as Aviation MRO software. Handles aircraft airworthiness by ensuring compliance with maintenance activities, sourcing the right parts, and improve logistics controls. An example product is Ramco Aviation Suite.

Benefits of Maintenance Management Software

Companies may ask themselves, “Why should we invest money into software that’s purpose is to tell us when to spend more money on repairs?” However, maintenance management software can help your company become more profitable than ever before and ensure your business doesn’t lose business. Some of the top benefits of maintenance management software include:

Avoid Downtime and Improve Efficiency

Proper preventive maintenance procedures will keep your assets running at optimal levels with limited downtime. This means your assets can continue to work for you and generate revenue for the company. A maintenance management software will automatically generate work orders for preventive maintenance tasks, eliminating the need for a human to properly time and submit work orders. Rather, these preventive tasks automatically generate repair tasks for your staff during non-peak times so your machines can continue to thrive when needed.

Save On Future Expenses

Without proper maintenance features put into place, assets will depreciate at a quicker rate and become overused. This can lead to machines breaking down quicker, and means machines and equipment are at a greater risk of malfunction. Predictive maintenance can help spot problems before they occur. It will also save on labor expenses that could be incurred when a machine becomes faulty.

Catching errors in equipment early and often will lead to less frequent turnover of assets, as well as save on labor costs involved with performing the maintenance. Companies who invest a solid amount of money into their core assets will want to maintain them as long as possible. Sometimes, spending money now will save an exponential amount of future spending.

Keep Customers and Employees Happy

Customers are happy when they receive their orders on-time, and want to do repeat business with companies that can meet their demands frequently. Assets and equipment that are kept in a serviceable and easier to manage condition will consistently help you produce quality products that your customers enjoy, without any delays due to unexpected machine downtime.

Likewise, employees are happy when they can get through the work-day uninterrupted with non-routine tasks such as maintenance. It could be something as simple as a faulty air conditioning unit in a warehouse. Keeping your facilities fully functional can prevent needless repairs from being necessary and keep your staff focused on the production and moving towards the company’s goals.

CMMS Software vs Maintenance Management Software - What’s The Difference?

Computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) or maintenance management software: which does your business need? What’s the difference between the two? Is the word “computerized” in front of maintenance management software the only major difference?

In short, CMMS and maintenance management software will provide you with the same functionalities. The goal of CMMS is to provide you with maintenance management capabilities, such as preventive and predictive features that can help you prolong the life of your assets. Both types of software will provide you with the means to create work orders, record spare parts inventory, scheduling preventive maintenance, and record asset histories.

Another type of similar software is enterprise asset management software or EAM software. This type of solution was created as a type of CMMS software for enterprise-level organizations looking to implement global maintenance initiatives. EAM software differs due to the scope of assets being tracked, as this usually happens across multiple departments and locations and will have a much larger impact on your business when it comes to the manufacturing process, procurement of goods, and even human resources due to how it may affect personnel.

Pricing Guide for Maintenance Management Software

The cost of maintenance management software will range from $29 to $70/user/month. This price range will give you an entry-level system for less than 3 users. Common capabilities included in these entry-level options include work order management, preventative maintenance, asset management, document management, and reporting. Onboarding costs for these types of systems will vary depending on your provider and the level of services needed, but will usually average between $600 to $2,500 one-time.

Companies that require more advanced capabilities such as maintenance request portals, barcode scanning, KPI dashboards, custom interfaces, and interactive floor plans can expect to spend as high as $400/user/month, with onboarding costs of a few thousand dollars. These mid-level and enterprise type systems can handle a larger amount of users.

A majority of maintenance management software is sold as a subscription and is web-based (SaaS). These options provide smartphone mobile device flexibility with the use of mobile apps. There are a few options that can be sold on-premise with only a one-time purchase cost.