You’ve probably heard of the old adage, “time is money”. This holds especially true in the corporate world where companies regularly complain of plummeting employee productivity levels and increasing overhead costs.
Untimely equipment unavailability halts operations and directly pulls down employee productivity. To tackle this, companies now use equipment maintenance software to improve their maintenance management and prevent sudden breakdowns.
Higher equipment uptime directly correlates with employee productivity levels, which in turn, positively impacts company profits. Equipment maintenance software offers multiple features that help boost overall company efficiency.
It helps manage company-wide repairs and automates tedious functions for employees. It further expedites the maintenance management process and helps streamline communication between employees.
Organizations can use this software to maximize the potential of their employees and witness significant improvement in their profits. If you are struggling with low employee productivity, here are 5 ways you can automate maintenance management.
1. Use data to your advantage
Maintenance managers have to oversee mass volumes of data for analysis that can direct them towards improving workflows and employee productivity. Equipment maintenance solution features invoices, work orders, and timesheets.
These can be used to oversee maintenance costs, repair histories, vendor pricing, and employee activity. Accurate information regarding employee activity provides insight into the productivity levels of employees and helps compare performances.
You can identify underperforming workers and irresponsible equipment usage. Furthermore, companies use this information to create tailored training programs and make their workforce more responsible. With equipment maintenance software, the frequency of needed repairs can hint towards signs of a culminating lifespan.
If a machine is repeatedly requiring repairs, you might have to find a replacement. Handling these replacements promptly will ensure that your employees don’t have to struggle with any disruptions.
Additionally, the software allows you to generate charts for analyzing multiple aspects of your maintenance structure. At all points, equipment maintenance software ensures that all your records are accurate and accessible. This makes for reliable forecasting.
2. Create a cohesive workforce
Consistency and strong communication are two critical qualities of productive staff. Maintenance teams using equipment maintenance solutions enjoy higher levels of cohesion amongst themselves.
This is attributed to the fact that data can be instantly updated when it’s maintained digitally. When information is consistent across the board, maintenance teams stay connected with the rest of the workforce.
With smartphone users expected to rise to 2.7 billion in 2019, mobiles make for a great tool to encourage communication between employees. From a mobile app, employees can have real-time access to equipment data – any time and anywhere.
If an employee makes an equipment status update, all users can see it so mistakes emerging from outdated or incorrect information can be avoided. Additionally, it is recommended to capture information on the spot rather than waiting for employees to get back to the office.
Updating systems is complicated when relying on conventional means like paper records or spreadsheets. They are prone to errors and tampering. An automated equipment maintenance solution is thus, much more reliable and helps promote productivity.
3. Get going with a preventive maintenance schedule
The fastest way to slow things down is by ignoring regular maintenance. You simply cannot think ahead when your workforce is regularly contending with emergency repairs. Constantly fixing temperamental machines or scurrying around to replace equipment parts will leave you with little time for preventive maintenance.
This is the prime reason for frequent breakdowns – and your employee productivity bears the brunt of it.
It can be a tough trap to get out of. The solution, however, is as simple as task automation. Use emerging technologies to establish a preventive maintenance structure in your company. An equipment maintenance solution will help schedule all your inspections and calibrations so you can plan ahead of time.
The software also sends out reminders and alerts to relevant employees. This will ensure that deadlines are respected and all repairs conclude on time. If a notification for services is sent out every time, employees become less likely to miss repairs. All this boils down to fewer equipment failures and a less stressed out, more productive workforce.
4. Ensure accountability
An accountable workforce constitutes of individuals that perform their duties to the best of their abilities. They take responsibility for their mistakes and strive to improve. Being a manager, your role is to help your employees succeed in what they do.
You need to set high expectations and give them a helping hand in learning any discipline or skill that they require. An equipment maintenance solution will help you build a truly accountable team. It generates reports and allows you to view charts that show each staff member’s performance so that you can help them improve and succeed.
Secondly, employees take better care of equipment when preventive maintenance is in place. Equipment issued is returned in a timely manner so damages while in possession are avoided.
Furthermore, managers can create work orders so they can supervise multiple tasks without having to be physically close to employees. This way employees push themselves and take ownership of their tasks.
5. Take last-minute changes in stride
If you are still clinging to spreadsheets and binders, prepare for all sorts of communication lapses. In cases of accidents or sudden crashes, manually maintained data offers no reprieve; it is easily destructible and very hard to restore. Equipment maintenance software saves all changes to the cloud so they’re easy to retrieve after an accident.
Employees can also cater to incoming tasks and changes easily as the software allows for swift rescheduling and reassigning. Always plan ahead of time with an availability calendar. It helps show available alternatives for your concerned dates.
Equipment emergency protocols and handling instructions usually end up in a stack of spreadsheets that you’ve forgotten the names of or lost in the hoard of files swimming in your file cabinet.
In case of an emergency, employees waste precious time searching for the work order, skimming through files for operational manuals and parts list. A single repair ends up interrupting tasks and causing delays.
An equipment maintenance system lets you save all support documents. In case of an emergency, managers can instantly access concerned work orders from a mobile device or laptop. The required tasks can then be assigned to employees who receive prompt alerts via their computer, tablet or phone.
March forward with a well-connected team!
While an equipment maintenance plan might not be a top priority for businesses, it’s likely that you’ll face several roadblocks in the absence of one.
Untimely equipment downtime, insufficient data, poor accountability, and flustered employees, all lead to poor business performance. With an equipment maintenance solution, companies can combat all of these while getting the most out of their assets’ useful life.
If you’re ready to get your software, be sure to read about the equipment maintenance best practices so you can get the most out of your investment. Always ensure that your assets are performing at their very best for smooth sailing through the corporate terrain.
About EZOfficeInventory!
EZOfficeInventory is an equipment maintenance software solution that lets companies schedule tailored maintenance, activate service alerts, create work orders, track service histories, and much more.
