Asset maintenance and operations is quite complex for enterprise companies. You need to know and fully understand your most critical assets and how they contribute to and impact production, costs, and profits.
Enterprise asset management (EAM) software gives you the data and analysis you need to make informed, cost-saving decisions.
Here’s how you can manage your assets more efficiently with the right EAM solution.
5 benefits of EAM software for enterprises
1. Reducing reactive maintenance
For most asset types, a preventive maintenance approach is much more cost effective than a purely reactive one. In fact, the Federal O&M Best Practices Guide revealed that companies can cut their costs by as much as 18% by implementing a preventive maintenance strategy.
Scheduling maintenance activities ahead of time, either through regular preventive maintenance activities based on manufacturer recommendations, or by using business intelligence data to predict failures before they happen, significantly reduces downtime.
Your company can reach their goal of 80% preventive maintenance by choosing an EAM solution that gives you visibility into the entire life cycle of your assets so you can prioritize maintenance inspections and tasks.
The larger your organization, the greater benefits you can realize from a proactive maintenance strategy.
Metro Group, a multi-million-dollar metal recycling company, used an EAM platform to implement a preventive maintenance strategy and reduced reactive maintenance tasks by 67%. At the same time, their preventive maintenance completion rate rose to nearly 93%. Decision-makers at the company used the increased visibility into the total cost of owning their assets to make smarter decisions and extend the life of their equipment.
2. Improving asset performance
Larger organizations typically use a combination of EAM software, sensors, and other connected technologies to move from preventive to predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance takes an even more granular approach by using massive amounts of real-time data to identify and predict when equipment is most likely to fail based on conditions like increased temperature or vibration.
General Electric uses digital twins to monitor the health of the parts it uses in jet engines. Digital twins are essentially digital copies of the physical assets that maintenance teams can use to remotely asses the integrity of equipment.
Using sensors to gather and compare real-time data with a simulated version of the engine, they can determine the mean time to failure or when certain engine parts will likely need to be replaced.
This not only allows the company to maintain its assets but also helps improve the design of similar equipment in the future.
3. Calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO)
Once you have the total cost of ownership of an asset, you can determine your ROI for that asset and make an informed decision to either repair or replace it. To calculate TCO, you need full visibility into equipment runtime and the cost per mile or hour to operate it.
Then you can easily identify inefficient assets — those machines or vehicles that may be costing you significantly more than others, despite similar utilization.
The best EAM software makes it easy to discover an asset’s TCO by tracking and reporting key metrics, such as overall equipment effectiveness. With these insights, you can develop innovative ways to reduce costs.
4. Streamlining equipment inspections
Inspections are crucial to ensuring you get the longest life cycle out of your assets by ensuring compliance and identifying failing equipment before it breaks.
Companies who operate in highly regulated industries are required to keep extensive records of all inspections and quality checks.
Good EAM software stores all inspection records in a single, easily accessible platform. With the right solution, you can close the communication gap between your operations and maintenance teams by using cloud-based data that’s easily accessed from any connected device.
Reliability engineers can analyze inspection data and metrics to redesign inspection schedules and strategies.
For example, a huge linen retail company that uses washers and dryers to clean and press 40,000 pounds of laundry each day relies on an EAM to comply with safety and environmental regulations. The system stores inventory, inspection checklists, and automatically triggers PM work orders for technicians.
Gas Field Specialists (GFS) is another great example of how enterprise asset management software can improve operational efficiency. GFS technicians needed to calibrate large, complex equipment, manage close to 6700 schedules, and keep records of thousands of maintenance services, inspections, and certifications. EAM software helped them maintain records of safety inspections and corrective actions they had performed on any given asset, down to the smallest nut and bolt.
5. Optimize inventory
As an asset manager, you know how much time and money is wasted tracking down and constantly updating your inventory. EAM software makes it easy to see which parts your company has on hand before and after each maintenance activity. Replacing paper inventories and spreadsheets with a cloud-based, instantly updated database can save you real time and money.
The right connected solution is even more valuable for large enterprises. The U.S. Navy recently discovered a warehouse in Florida with $126 million in aircraft parts that nobody knew about.
Strong inventory management practices and EAM software can prevent the loss of expensive equipment and optimize your purchasing decisions.
GFS increased the value of their assets by as much as 70% by implementing a barcode system into their auditing and asset management strategies. Their operators and maintenance professionals were able to scan a bar code on the assets to instantly access and update all necessary information, including all outstanding and historical work orders.
How ManagerPlus can help
With Lightning from ManagerPlus, you can access detailed information about every piece of equipment throughout its lifecycle, manage preventive maintenance and work orders, optimize inventory, and create customized reports to track the metrics that matter most for your organization.
Our EAM software sets the foundation for predictive maintenance and other advanced asset performance strategies by bringing all your critical data into one place.
Begin optimizing your assets today by scheduling a demo.
