To run smoothly and ensure that each component can reach its life expectancy, every equipment requires regular maintenance. Applying the right maintenance approach will minimize costs and unplanned downtime, extend the assets life while enduring a safe working environment.

Depending on the size of the company, you may be responsible for maintaining hundreds or thousands of assets. This could get difficult as each equipment needs its schedule and spare parts. Use of right digital tools and softwares could help you succeed in your digital operations. There are several of them with varied focus allowing you to choose the one most suitable for your purpose. Some softwares and methods focus on enabling a regular maintenance with the help of weekly schedulers, some enable easy task management and allocation through work order management system. According to a survey by ServiceMax, more than eight in ten respondents were willing to admit that their organization could improve its effectiveness when it comes to asset management. Another study by DuPont, found that during a 10 hour day, average technician spends only 2-3 hours on actual maintenance work. This means the rest of 7-8 hours are spent on task planning and scheduling due to lack of effective planning tools. Having an effective maintenance, planning and scheduling process can boost your productivity to world class levels of 55% - 60%.

Here are 5 ways to help you improve your digital operations:

1. Centralize data and communication
Maintenance teams experience a productivity boost of up to 21% when data and communication are centralized. By keeping data in a centralized location and making it accessible to both managers and maintenance staff, you can create a single point of access to everything from technical documents to maintenance tasks. When the team is working with the same data and insights, it improves consistency and coordination throughout the organization.

2. Identify and establish standards
To develop an effective maintenance plan, it is essential to outline a detailed maintenance procedure and schedule as well as set standards for measuring performance and improving efficiency. You must develop a sustainable and proven maintenance process or method that is unique to your organization.

3. Invest in a preventive maintenance solution
A preventive maintenance software simplifies the coordination of complex schedules. It stores all maintenance data to easily keep track of all inspections, repairs, and replacements. With all relevant data stored in one place, effectively manage work orders, tasks, inventory, and maintenance records. Prevent unplanned downtime and save time by staying ahead.

4. Automate processes in maintenance
Automating daily manual tasks such as filing reports, request approvals, and data entry using a CMMS increases the overall efficiency and productivity of your maintenance teams. Increase transparency and monitor processes in your maintenance operations to quickly identify and solve problems at their root.

5. Plan, measure & track using KPIs
Maintenance KPIs are quantifiable goals that measure the performance of your operations as well as given tasks. Some important KPIs to track are downtime, MTBF, MTTR, OEE, schedule compliance and backlog. These allow you to optimize performance and attain your respective goals.

Having a measurable KPI and using digital task scheduler are not the only ways one could improve their digital maintenance operations. There is much more to it. Even though a lot of maintenance professionals prefer to use paperwork and Excel sheets to manage their maintenance tasks as it gets their job done, they are missing out on a high untapped value that digital maintenance tools today have to offer.

Due to rising competition and complexities in processes, implementing a digital tool could help you accomplish your maintenance goals. As you implement digital tools, you tap into pockets of opportunity, simplify complex processes, improve efficiency and performance.

Get in touch with us today to explore opportunities of digitalization.

If you are interested in exploring digital solutions out there in the market, Dintegra offers a holistic EAM solution for various industries including fleet, facilities, manufacturing and more.