Why introduce maintenance software?
- Christian Lutz
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
Maintenance engineers at most companies maintain fleets of machinery that have grown over the years, with a wide variety of equipment. Planning maintenance activities is hampered by missing documentation regarding components, required spare parts, and sometimes even appropriate maintenance measures. This is where maintenance planning and control systems (IPS) come into play.
Maintenance software has 5 main tasks:
Collect and manage all preventive maintenance work.
Efficient fault management
Provide important information about existing facilities.
Material management
Document management
Every success in these five areas contributes to increasing plant availability and reducing maintenance costs.
Plant structure information
At the heart of a maintenance program are the systems and buildings that need to be managed. A graphical system structure should be created that logically organizes the existing components. Instead of laboriously importing all the data from existing manuals, a system information system is built up over time through the documentation of preventive maintenance and fault management, without incurring significant additional effort. This way, the machine-specific knowledge of experienced employees is not lost, and the familiarization of "newcomers" is made much easier . However, internal company benefits are not the only important factors today: Certifications such as ISO 9001 are placing ever higher demands on maintenance. It's unlikely that an auditor will be satisfied in the long run with homemade Excel spreadsheets! Professional maintenance software offers the option of providing both individual system histories and evaluations of the entire maintenance activity at the touch of a button.
Preventive maintenance
Plan work efficiently
Most companies introduce a maintenance program primarily to better structure preventative maintenance . First, all of the activities required for each piece of equipment are recorded in the system. Even in smaller companies, this can quickly add up to over a thousand jobs! Because the maintenance tasks are stored in the software, the person responsible for the equipment no longer has to constantly "keep them in mind" - this frees up capacity for planning specific activities and follow-up projects. The maintenance program informs the planner about which work is currently due, and the planner then assigns it to his or her employees. This creates clarity for the employee , who can view their open orders at any time. On the other hand, when completed work is reported back, a system history is created, and the workshop manager has an overview of which orders are still outstanding at all times.
Fault reports/workshop orders
Easily manage disruptions
No matter how much we care for our facilities and buildings, disruptions will unfortunately always occur. Managing such events is the second most common reason for implementing a maintenance tool. Hectic "fire drills" should be transformed into an orderly work process . While acute problems are addressed immediately and the solution is saved in the system, less urgent issues and emerging requests can be integrated into the workflow. This ensures that the incident reporter doesn't lose track of their concerns, while the maintenance technician doesn't have to remember everything themselves.
Material management
Find spare parts quickly
The more heterogeneous the machine park, the more different spare parts are needed in the maintenance engineer's daily work. An IPS helps us to maintain an overview of which parts are installed in which system and which material is required for which work. With intelligent systems, this knowledge can also be built up with each order confirmation. Response time is particularly important for fault reports - lengthy searches to see whether a required part is in stock and where it is located can result in high downtime costs. A well-managed warehouse system shows us at any time where and how many spare parts are available and from whom they can be ordered if necessary. Besides personnel costs, storage costs are the second biggest cost driver for maintenance. An IPS can help us to optimise warehouse management. If you would like to know how you can achieve optimal warehouse management in 5 steps then you can read on here .
Document management
Always have instructions at hand
Integrated document management in maintenance software is a true game changer. Operating instructions, maintenance plans, and technical drawings – all important documents are stored in a central location and readily available at any time. This saves time by eliminating lengthy searches and ensures that the most up-to-date documents are always used. This prevents errors caused by outdated information, and maintenance processes run more smoothly and efficiently.
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