Bachelor Of Science In Energy Systems

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

In today’s industry everything has to be fast passed from product development, supply of material, production, distribution and most importantly maintenance. Maintenance is of such great importance in industry as companies want to have as little down time (machine outage) as possible in order to maximise the profits of the organisation. This may be achieved through a Computer Maintenance Management System or a CMMS. CMMS are increasingly being used within the manufacturing industry to manage, control plant and provide maintenance on equipment. CMMS were originally applied to the medical industry to ensure that maintenance was carried out on medical devices where critical breakdowns could lead to life threating situations or even fatalities. However in recent years private sector companies have seen the benefits of using a CMMS as a maintenance and performance tool. Companies have also invested in CMMS as there are designed to support and document the requirements of ISO 9002:1994 model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing (Weir, 2009). This means that the company is question will have to operate to the standards in which are set out by the ISO International Organization for Standardization. This report will focus on three CMMS (of which one will be a free version) and will compare and contrast the three different CMMS.

Tasks

MP Software

Maintenance Planner

MB

Software

Main Boss

Mapcon Professional

Software

Equipment Catalogue

Maintenance Routines

Work Orders

Request Over The Internet

Calendars

Distribution Of Work Load

Update Of Jobs Performed

Predictive Measurement

Spare Parts

Labour Catalogue

Tools Receipt/Control

Resources & Activities

Resource Flow

Email Notification

Consumption

Automatic Supply

History Of Consumption

Graph Schedule

Failure And Root Causes Analysis

Accounting

Barcode Tracking

Smartphones, tablets and I pad’s

Currency exchange

Safety Procedures

Report Generators

Timecard Management

Failure and K.P.I analysis

Service Contracts

MP Software

The first CMMS software package that was investigated was the maintenance personnel or MP software package this is a free version which is available to download from their website www.mpsoftware.com.mx. The MP software package has some good attributes as a free CMMS package. The list includes equipment catalogue which will display an image of the parts required for the task. Maintenance routines will automatically appear in the operator’s screens for preventive maintenance to be carried out on equipment/machines. MP can create work orders schedule the job dates and reports the jobs that need to be carried out if an operator of a machines finds there is something wrong with their machine the operator can also send a job request over the internet to the MP software this job request will appear on the MP screen the maintenance manager will then see a description of the job and from what employee. MP can also distribute the work load evenly over the maintenance personnel according to their level of expertise. Once the jobs have been performed the maintenance manager must update the system to indicate that the jobs have been completed also when routine maintenance has been carried out this must also be updated to the system so that MP can create the next date for that routine maintenance to be carried out once again. Predictive measurement taking measurements such as temperature, vibration and wear and tear these measurements can be graphed and can provide an alert when they have reached a critical level. Tools receipt is a very useful as it can keep track of what tools have been issued to staff and can be used through the internet to see who or where each tool this is a very effective and efficient way organising the tools within a facility. Resources and activities recognise the resources, materials and consumables. Resource flow can identify what resources are needed to carry out each job MP can estimate the quantity of each resource to be used in the following days and months. Consumption of parts and labour allows MP to calculate and analyse the maintenance costs. Another good feature of the MP software is automatic supply which calculates the just in time supply of spare parts needed to carry out maintenance this will save of general space within the store room. History of consumption and job performance MP keeps records all the information regarding previous jobs performed and the resources needed to carry out these jobs. Another good feature of this software package is its ability to graph the schedule against the work performed this will indicate if the jobs are keeping up with the schedule this is often used in project management to indicate if the project is over budget and behind schedule this is also the case here, both graphs should be similar to show that the work performed is keeping up with the scheduled work. Failure and root causes analysis this with this feature MP can identify the equipment with the most failures, the most frequent type and their root cause. MP also has a library where the maintenance plan for each piece of equipment is saved and lastly the MP software has an added tool to add users to the software the users added may have limited access or full access dependant of what the main operator chooses.

MB Software

The second CMMS package that was investigated was the MainBoss or MB software package this is the first of two in which requires a one off payment. This CMMS has many features such as maintenance routines these routines will appear in the CMMS HMI so that the operator will become aware of the maintenance work that needs to be carried out. MainBoss can also schedule job dates and can let the maintenance manager know when the jobs must be carried out. MainBoss can select the jobs and auto creates the work order. Within this package request may also be carried out through the internet, if an operator finds something wrong with their machine they can request a work order through the internet this work order will be directly sent to the MainBoss package which is usually operated by the maintenance manager. The maintenance manager must update the system when jobs have been performed this allows the system to automatically create work orders for preventative maintenance in the future. Spare parts this function efficiently controls the materials used within the facility. Resources and activities MainBoss can recognise the resources and materials needed to carry out a job. Resource flow the software package can identify what resources are need to complete the job, estimate the quantity of resources in which will be allocated to that job. Emails can be sent to the CMMS for job requests from the employees the job request will pop up on the screen of the CMMS. MainBoss can calculate the consumption of parts and labour to calculate the cost of the maintenance work. MainBoss records the inventory levels of stock and can order materials so that maintenance personnel are never waiting for new stock to arrive. Accounting this module keeps track of the accounts associated with the expenses of the maintenance department. MB software also supports the use of smart phones, ipads and tablets to communicate with the CMMS.

Mapcon Professional Software

The last and final CMMS package that was investigated was the Mapcon professional software. This system has a routine maintenance schedule jobs will pop up on the screen when the relevant preventive maintenance is required on equipment. This software can also create work orders to schedule different jobs/tasks that need to be carried out. Employees may request a work order over the internet. The Calendar lets the user see what jobs are planned for the future. The maintenance manager must update jobs performed into the CMMS this allows the CMMS to automatically create another date for the work to be carried out again. Predictive measurements these measurements are taken from equipment such as vibration, wear and tear and temperature the measurements can then put into the software package to form graphs to illustrate there condition Mapcon can also provide an alarm or alert when these values have reached a critical level to inform the maintenance manager. Spare part’s Mapcon is able to control the flow of spare parts to ensure now down time is incurred due to not having parts available. Resources and activities Mapcon can recognise what resources and materials are needed for each activity or jobs that are scheduled. Resource flow Mapcon is able to identify what resources are required to carry out each job. Email notification Mapcon supports the use of emails as job request can be submitted through emails which then pop up on the CMMS screen. Mapcon can also monitor consumption of parts and labour and allows Mapcon to calculate and analyse maintenance costs. Automatic supply, Mapcon is able to calculate the supply of spare parts needed to carry out maintenance work. Within the Mapcon software graphs can be used to graph the schedule against the work performed indicating whether or not the jobs are keeping up with the schedule. Failure and root causes analysis Mapcon can identify the machines with the most failures and the cause of these failures. Accounting this module keeps track of the accounts associated with the expenses of the maintenance department. Barcode tracking Mapcon can identify where each part has been used. Safety procedures this software is equipped with safety procedures that must be adhered to when undertaking any maintenance job. Mapcon can also generate reports on maintenance work that has been completed. Timecards for maintenance workers this module keeps track of what time was spent fixing equipment. K.P.I analysis monitors the key performance indicators specific machines or equipment. Service contracts store the contracts for external contractors.

Conclusion

After reviewing the three CMMS it is clear to see why these software packages are used within the manufacturing industry. The first software package that was investigated was the MP maintenance planner software which is free to download, while this is a free version it doesn’t lack behind the other two software packages that were reviewed. MP has some very good attributes as previously discussed. Some of the features in which MB mainboss have not got are equipment catalogue, distribution of work load, predictive measurements labour catalogue, tools receipt, history of consumption, graph schedule, failure and root causes analysis. When MB mainboss is compared to MP maintenance planner software the only extra feature which it has is that the MB software package supports the use of smartphones, ipads and android devices. The last CMMS that was reviewed was the Mapcon professional package this package has the most features from the three packages that were reviewed. When Mapcon is compared with MP the extra features from Mapcon are as follows barcode tracking, currency exchange, safety procedures, generating reports, timecard management, K.P.I analysis and service contracts. When Mapcon is compared with MB the extra features from Mapcon are predictive measurement, graph scheduling, failure and root causes analysis, barcode tracking, currency exchange, safety procedures, generating reports, timecard management, K.P.I analysis and service contracts. After comparing the three different software packages Maintenance Planner and MainBoss have nearly the same amount of features and are both highly equipped CMMS but MP is better value considering that it is a free version. However Mapcon professional it the more proficient software package of the three Mapcon offers more detailed features than MP and MB and as a result of this the best CMMS of the three that has been reviewed is Mapcon professional.