Precision Reporting Needs Precision Data
I wish I had a nickel for every time a respected reliability leader said, "70% of all CMMS systems fail (to deliver promised value)". What makes me even more upset is, they are right. But if this is true (and it is), why aren't organizations doing something about it?
If anyone was listening, these would be the questions I would ask:
Is it because you don't know your database is inaccurate? Perhaps you've never run any error checks. When the internal QA department conducts audits, do they ever conduct a CMMS process and data audit? Is it because you don't know what a gatekeeper role is, or you wonder if they would be busy enough the whole day? Or, is it because you never really planned to pull any analytical reports from your CMMS?
What Does This All Mean?
This position, the gatekeeper, serves multiple functions. The review process is certainly important for all incoming work requests. The very first analysis is, the “level of urgency”. In other words, does this job need to be dispatched. Then, he looks for duplicate submittal. This role can be also used at job completion to ensure essential data (labor actuals, parts, services, failure data, feedback) is linked to the job. Feedback would be routed for review. And special attention could be applied to critical assets to ensure completeness on failed component, component problem and cause code. This role also performs proactive error checks in between WO reviews. There’s always something to be cleaned up. But maybe the most significant task for this gatekeeper is the following: (1) assign lead craft and (2) enter rough estimate. Many sites have backlogs greater than 500 work orders. Even though planner positions exist, I would bet the majority of that backlog has NOT yet been fully planned. But with the gatekeeper role, this position could start entering rough estimates. At some point the entire backlog would have a craft estimate. [Question: where do you enter a rough estimate in your CMMS?] But wait, there’s more! With a fully “estimated” backlog now I can perform automatic resource leveling. This process/routine creates a prioritized list of work for the planners to formally plan. In summary, the process is: LEVEL – PLAN – SCHEDULE.
Bold Ideas Sometimes Make a Difference
The urgency of the need means we have to try lots of different ideas and figure out quickly whether each idea will actually work. // Bill Gates
Path Forward
Essential services needs dedicated roles. Further you need a data quality plan. This plan would (1) define data, (2) define ways it can be inaccurate, (3) discuss accountability/responsibility, (4) ways to prevent bad data, (5) ways to find bad data, and (6) why accurate data is needed.
You need a Gatekeeper.
You need a Business Analyst.
You need a Core Team and Asset Manager.
Design for Reliability and Maintainability (DFRAM) Improvement Leader at Dow, Inc.
4 年I've come to the conclusion that "precision data" will only become a reality AFTER digitalization becomes a reality and that digitalization offers the ability to mandate data entry using pre-defined drop-down boxes. Even then -- the potential to pick the 1st entry will still happen. My Reliability Engineering Principles (REP) Demonstration Project in 1993 - a requirement of the late Paul Barringer's training, was to prove that it was possible to capture "good clean reliability data." I implemented run time counters in our DCS system. Each repair form had the counter variable listed, and our craftsmen would obtain the values when getting a permit. I had to manually log the data in MS Excel because back then a CMMS didn't have a way to store and retrieve the data for analysis. When I left the plant after 3 years, we had true MTBF data based on actual runtime and not calendar days from the WO's. Never been done since... Since then, I've seen article after article talking about the importance of good clean failure data to enable the use of analytics.
Hi John, (nearly) everybody in the industry will agree. Success in implementing EAM-type solutions (CMMS/EAM, CAFM/IWMS) depends primarily on the customer's Organisation and their future 'agenda', not on features & functions of SW tools. Too often an implementation means to replace an old tool with a new one (IT neccessities driving or freezing maintenance processes), while keeping old processes and well-known & beloved habits in place, in order not to hurt anybody in the current organisation. Often management level feels responsible for NOT demanding too much of process changes from aging shopfloor-workforce (question may arise, on which level the real 'Dummies' are located). On the other side, EAM-implementation agendas are influenced by professional 3rd party consultancies with their own agenda (e.g. identify and drive short-term efficiency for headcount reduction…) and SW-vendors who want to sell tools for 'rocket science' and services for 'tuning' standard SW solutions into traditional organisations with low level of maintenance maturity! At the end of the day it's still - sh...t in - sh...t out (sorry guys!). Data quality and completeness of data required for smart stuff is THE prerequisite for advanced analytics and data driven processes - and here the quality of leadership inside an maintenance organisation makes the difference! By the way - bad or missing data 'by design' is a good indication for issues in other areas of a corporate's business, incl. compliance and HSE. External auditors are starting to recognize this! To come to an end: life is a constant change process - and so is maintenance. If leaders are unable to sell this to their staff, good old Darwin will jump in and somebody else will do it (3rd party contractors, get out of business…). Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences - Stay safe and keep cool during crisis!
Superintendent - Fixed Plant Reliability at Fortescue
4 年Most of the time organisations go for CMMS without a full understanding of what and how they will implement the project to their full benefit. Support structures for the system and users are not thought of hence exactly what John mentions happens. For Reliability gains, data is the life blood......yet in most organisations the most important source of data (CMMS) is not given attention as say HR, finance or safety systems!
automated conveyor technician at McKesson
4 年That's the truth