{"id":64817,"date":"2007-11-05T17:17:27","date_gmt":"2007-11-05T17:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/article\/from-preventive-to-proactive_o"},"modified":"2007-11-05T17:17:27","modified_gmt":"2007-11-05T17:17:27","slug":"from-preventive-to-proactive_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/infrastructure\/from-preventive-to-proactive_o\/","title":{"rendered":"From Preventive to Proactive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While many cities use geographic information systems (GIS) combined with asset management software to manage infrastructure, buildings often get short shrift. Forward-thinking facility managers, however, are also using technology\u2014in the form of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS)\u2014to bring their role out of the basement and into the modern world.<\/p>

In its crudest form, these systems are a scheduling tool. But when deployed at their highest level, they empower managers to show even the least technical budget watchdog how $1 spent on preventive maintenance saves $2 or more through extended equipment life and reduced energy costs\u2014or what to budget for labor and materials to keep buildings at their current level of operation.<\/p>

Manipulate Data For Custom Analyses<\/b> <\/p>

The most important thing the software provides is a complete picture of a community’s investment in its facilities. It inventories and tracks every piece of equipment and every part\u2014from an air-handling unit to the bearing in a ceiling fan\u2014in every public building.<\/p>

The software identifies when each piece of equipment in a building was purchased, what maintenance it has received and when, and what’s scheduled to be done. When the scheduled time arrives, the system automatically generates a work order and sends it to the appropriate employee.<\/p>


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Instead of digging through an old, often incomplete, paper file, the employee can then look up the equipment’s history and get up-to-the-minute technical data. User manuals, drawings, lists of tools and parts needed, safety reminders, even maps of where the equipment is located, can be attached to the work order. Such complete documentation, even in languages other than English, is a key benefit when less-skilled or -experienced workers are maintaining complex equipment.<\/p>

When parts are needed for scheduled maintenance, the system will have ordered them, or issued a requisition indicating when they’ll be needed, well in advance. The system can even predict, based on experience, when equipment will break down.<\/p>

\u201cWe have it connected so that any problem on equipment being monitored automatically sends an alarm to the system, which then creates a work order,\u201d says Brian Gates, facility maintenance manager for the city of Milwaukee. His department uses Eagle Technology’s ProTeus software because it’s compatible with the Johnson Controls Inc. building automation systems installed in the city’s 50 buildings. Both manufacturers are located in the Milwaukee area.<\/p>

\u201cOn Monday, we print out all the preventive maintenance work orders that are scheduled to be done that week,\u201d says Gates. \u201cWork orders for both preventive and demand maintenance are assigned, the maintenance staff performs the work, and then they close out the work orders themselves. We require them to account for their entire 40 hours each week with all their time assigned to a specific project.\u201d<\/p>

Another valuable feature is the ability to capture how long it takes individual employees to complete a given task. \u201cAs workers do different tasks, you get a history of how long a task should take,\u201d says Harry Kohal, Eagle Technology’s sales and marketing director. \u201cThis gives managers data to look at from a performance review standpoint.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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Indeed, the ability to generate reports on parameters ranging from the big picture to the smallest detail is one of the software’s greatest benefits. A typical set of reports compares \u201cdemand maintenance\u201d (DM\u2014responding to a problem) to preventive maintenance (PM\u2014maintaining equipment to prevent problems), showing the percentage of each for every individual facility or even each piece of equipment.<\/p>

All this data is impossible to analyze manually. \u201cThere are so many controls and systems in a big building that we rely on it heavily,\u201d says Venu Gupta, Milwaukee’s superintendent of buildings and fleets. \u201cIt’s just not cost effective to have people trying to gather all this data.\u201d<\/p>

Budgeting for the Investment<\/b> <\/p>

Professional building managers use the system to improve the ratio of planned to unplanned work, with the goal of moving unplanned work as near to zero as possible. But like any software, a CMMS requires a commitment. Therefore:<\/p>