Alex Williams — inactive contributor

Author EAM & CMMS articles.

This author's archive lists contributions of articles and episodes.

About Alex Williams

Alex Williams is the Director of Sales and Professional Services at DPSI, an industry-leading provider of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and enterprise asset management (EAM) software.

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5 Tips for Improving Preventive Maintenance with EAM/CMMS Software

Any maintenance manager at a manufacturing plant or facility is likely aware of the problems caused by faulty equipment. Even if just one piece of equipment out of thousands breaks down, it could cause your entire operation to come to a halt. Preventive maintenance involves scheduling various maintenance activities to keep your equipment in peak condition and prevent breakdowns and failure. EAM/CMMS software is an essential tool for scheduling preventive maintenance and monitoring performance. The following are 5 tips to improve preventive maintenance with maintenance management software.

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5 Benefits of CMMS Software for Manufacturing Plants

The equipment needed to run a manufacturing plant is costly and expensive to replace. Furthermore, equipment downtime leads to lost production, which directly impacts profits. Replacing reactive maintenance with proactive maintenance through the implementation of CMMS software for manufacturing plants will give you more control and help you prevent equipment breakdown and failure. The benefits of CMMS software are numerous for manufacturing plants.

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Effectively Integrating Your CMMS with Current Systems

Maintenance management software increases uptime and productivity, lowers maintenance costs and extends the life of equipment and optimizes inventory usage—provided that it integrates seamlessly with existing systems. One of the toughest aspects of managing this software is CMMS integration. If your CMMS doesn’t communicate smoothly and easily with your accounting, inventory, human resources, purchasing, and other systems, it can reduce response times and lead to an increased chance of error. [Read more…]

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What to Look for in a Computerized Maintenance Management Software Reporting Module

Reporting is one of the most important functionalities of computerized maintenance management software. Organizations spend a great deal of money to obtain data that they can use to make informed business decisions. The ultimate goal of implementing software for maintenance and facilities management is to achieve returns in the form of increased productivity and savings. A CMMS reporting module aids maintenance managers in achieving this goal by enabling them to receive data from maintenance technicians, analyze the data, and make continuous improvements. Reporting modules also allow users to produce graphs and charts of key performance indicators (KPIs).

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The Most Commonly Underused CMMS Features

Want to achieve a worthwhile return-on-investment (ROI) from your software? Then it’s important to learn about some of the most commonly underused computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) functions. Many organizations do not use all of the features their preventive maintenance software provides, or don’t use the functions to their full capacity. According to a national CMMS survey conducted by Reliable Plant magazine, a majority of plant maintenance managers feel they aren’t using their preventive maintenance software to its maximum capability.

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Using Your CMMS System to Identify Cost-Saving Opportunities

Companies are constantly looking for ways to identify and implement cost-saving measures. Computerized maintenance management software is used to record, manage, and communicate day-to-day operations in your maintenance department. It’s possible to use CMMS to save money in a number of ways. The following are areas in which large cost savings can result through the implementation of equipment maintenance software

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Facility Maintenance Software: 5 Benefits of Barcoding Technology

Reduce data entry time and costly errors while boosting productivity by integrating your facilities management software with barcoding technology. Many vendors are offering this technology for facility maintenance software as an included feature or add-on to improve the timeliness and accuracy of data input in their CMMS/EAM systems.

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8 Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Implementing an EAM System

Upwards of 95% of all EAM software implementations fail to deliver the desired results. The underlying cause of most EAM failures can be traced back to the early stages of the implementation process. Implementation activities often cost organizations more than the software itself, so it makes sense to learn about concepts and practices that can help prevent implementation failure. It’s important to maximize your chance of success when implementing facility maintenance software in your organization. Avoid these 8 common pitfalls when implementing EAM software:

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There’s More to Maintenance Software Than Work Orders

At its core, maintenance software is a tool that allows you to generate and schedule work orders and get the right people to do each job. Maintenance software automates paper processes by enabling people to create requests for maintenance work. Maintenance workers then enter the requests into the computerized maintenance management system software (CMMS), which generates the work orders. However, when it comes to the functions of a CMMS, work order generation is only the tip of the iceberg.

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Maximizing the Potential of Your CMMS System

It’s no secret that equipment maintenance software offers many benefits to your organization. However, organizations frequently find that the software doesn’t deliver the end results they anticipated. This often happens because organizations don’t maximize CMMS potential. In other words—they’re not using their software to its fullest potential.

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7 Tips for Avoiding CMMS/EAM Failure

Many maintenance organizations invest in a CMMS/EAM in hopes that it will solve their maintenance management problems, only to discover that the software fails to deliver the desired results. Faulty software might be to blame for some CMMS implementation failures, but more often than not, the problems begin well before the software is even implemented. Here are 7 tips for avoiding CMMS failure:

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Selecting CMMS Systems: Considerations for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

CMMS systems were developed and became available around 1965. Traditionally, CMMS software was reserved for big companies that needed to automate and organize large, complex maintenance operations. Only the largest manufacturing firms were able to use maintenance software back then, but things have changed dramatically since those days.

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Invest in Food Manufacturing CMMS

From demonstrating compliance and ensuring safety to maintaining assets and increasing productivity, food manufacturing maintenance managers have their work cut out for them. Thankfully, computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) can streamline processes and improve maintenance operations for the food manufacturing industry. Read on to learn how food manufacturing CMMS software can significantly benefit your organization.

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Most Commonly Underused CMMS Features

Want to achieve a worthwhile return-on-investment (ROI) from your software? Then it’s important to learn about some of the most commonly underused computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) functions. Many organizations do not use all of the features their preventive maintenance software provides, or don’t use the functions to their full capacity. In fact, a majority of plant maintenance managers feel they aren’t using their preventive maintenance software to its maximum capability.

Modern-day CMMS systems are crammed with various features, and users don’t necessarily need to access and master every feature of the system. However, it becomes a problem when users get so comfortable with their way of doing things that they avoid features they’re not familiar with. Especially if those features could potentially improve their productivity. Understanding what impact underutilized CMMS functions can have on your maintenance department will help you make the most of your software.

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Guide to Maintenance Management Terminology

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the vast amount of terminology used to describe maintenance concepts. Even those who are familiar with various maintenance management terms know there is a lack of consistency among sources. This guide to maintenance management terminology serves to help teams better understand the differences between key phrases used in the industry. Browse through our maintenance glossary below. [Read more…]