One journal reported last year that the average maintenance department uses between 15 and 30 percent of its maintenance software's available functions.  A 1999 study by Tompkins put the figure at 30 percent.

Whether its 15, 30 or 50 percent, many maintenance management software experts say low utilization is cause for alarm.

"It is amazing the amount of people who aren't making the most of their CMMS investment," says Hannelore Fineman, the director of business development for NTech (formerly Pearl Computer Systems), which markets online CMMS and EAM products under the eMAINT brand.

"Basically, maintenance (and other production support) departments are missing out on opportunities to save time and money," says Daniel Teachey, the marketing director for Datastream, maker of CMMS products under the MP2 brand and EAM products under the MP5 brand.

If 15 to 30 percent is a failing grade and 50 percent utilization is average, at best, what percent of available functions should departments be using?

Fineman and Teachey, as well as representatives from PSDI and Siemens Westinghouse Technical Services, put the "must-get" minimum figure between 60 and 75 percent.

"A department that wants to be world-class needs to be at least at 75 percent, pushing 80 percent," says Bruce Casperson, Siemens' performance center manager for integral plant maintenance.

The company's technical services department teaches clients how to optimize their computerized maintenance management systems.

These experts say as utilization increases, so does overall productivity and profitability.

You want a four-seater, or a two-seater?
Richard "Doc" Palmer, the author of "Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook," isn't disturbed about low utilization figures.  "My family has a four-seat car, but we don't use all four seats all the time," he says.  "I don't want a two-seat car.  I like my car."

Palmer says off-the-shelf software packages are created for the many, leaving the buyer with plenty of extra bells and whistles.

"If a software provider plans to sell its system to 1,000 different users, all with different wants, it's going to want to support one system instead of 1,000," he says.   "The end result?  The buyer gets what it wants, plus what everybody else wants."

Instead of pushing utilization, Palmer says a department should focus on ways to grow with the system and show a full return on the financial investment.

Rob Bloom, the director of marketing for PSDI, maker of EAM products under the Maximo brand, agrees, to a point.

"The product is built to meet the needs of different classes of plant-floor people," he says, citing specific functions geared toward electricians, plant managers and operations managers.

But Bloom says "dynamic" plants need members working closer together, and maintenance management software helps achieve that.

"It comes down to whether you want to solve daily, trivial problems, or whether you want to look at the bigger picture," he says.

Bloom says most departments hover at the 25 to 50 percent utilization rate because they focus solely on a system's core components, such as work-order requests, work-order tracking and inventory control.

Sometimes, that focus is intentional.

"They're trying to solve some of their major pains with CMMS software," he says.

In that case, customers can look to a provider of software specifically designed for that pain.  Using Palmer's example, it's kind of like buying a two-seat car, or even a motorcycle, instead of a four-seat model or a minivan.

For example, NTech created a host of eMAINT products to meet various levels of need.   That includes elementary (eMAINT.com) and basic needs (eMAINT.com Plus), as well as more advanced needs such as purchasing, billing and total asset management (eMAINT LAN and eMAINT SQL).

Other companies provide a similar strategy, using basic modules as building blocks for a more advanced solution.

"Some use the basic programs as a starting point, others as a stopping point," says NTech's Fineman.

Palmer says an ability to start and build depends on the plant's culture and the ability to change traditional ways of thinking.

"Most people happy with the way they're doing something won't try to automate it," he says.  "But if you can get them to try . . . Once they decide to use the computer to automate that function, chances are high they won't go back to the old way."

Roadblocks to optimization
Many experts say intentionally or unintentionally underutilizing a software system points to glaring problems with maintenance leadership, the software program and/or the software vendor.

"Many times the maintenance department doesn't know enough about its CMMS," says Arne Oas, an executive with Computerized Facility Integration, which provides manufacturing software products and consulting services.  "It's from a lack of training on what the product can do, or a lack of understanding on what the product can really give them."

Siemens' Casperson ties that to a lack of vision.

"Most departments fail to draw up a comprehensive project plan before buying a system, or don't have the leadership or buy-in to enact such a plan," he says.   "They don't create a plan that says, these will be the outcomes of the CMMS, these are the things I need to get out of the CMMS.  Also, the project doesn't get the upper management buy-in and the leadership that says, 'We will use this.  This will be the system for all maintenance activity.'  Therefore, the data collection part of it isn't enforced, so the information that it's supposed to be used for -- to be a tool to help manage the maintenance business  -- isn't collected or it's in an inconsistent format.  So, you can't benefit."

Oas says many times a department without a plan partners with a software vendor who fails on the support end.

"Some vendors don't train or educate clients enough on the CMMS and what it can do for them," he says.  "And, some clients don't take the time to plan the entire process."

The end result?

"One city's sewage treatment facility wasn't really educated on how to actually set up the files in their new CMMS," says Oas.  "So, they put in three-quarter-inch plastic valve as pieces of equipment, which gave them a database of around 75,000 items that they had to track.  Just trying to maintain those files killed them.  Did they really care about a plastic valve?  Did they want a history on it?  Want to track that?  Want work orders on it?  The answers, of course, were no."

Roads to optimization
So what can a department do to maximize its maintenance management software?   Siemens' Casperson says support from upper management and craftspeople is critical.

"A CMMS comes as a shell and a company can spend tens of thousands of dollars for it," he says.  "But, it might be eight times that amount to get it properly functioning, and the company doesn't invest in that.  They see this big impact up front, this cost they weren't planning on, and, all of a sudden, they cut the resources or never dedicate resources to truly making it a functional system.

"On the other end, craftspeople have to deal with the maintenance plans and all the activities inside this system, the brains of the database information, on a daily basis.   If you don't get buy-in from the craftspeople when you develop the system, you don't seek out their help to develop and refine it, it won't be as successful."

PSDI's Bloom says clients must take advantage of all vendor-sponsored educational opportunities, including training, user groups, conferences and chat rooms.

"We provide basic schools, advanced schools, schools segmented for a specific audience, whether it's a systems analyst or a plant-floor person," he says.   "We have an annual user group meeting that draws 1,200 to 1,500 people."

PSDI also offers regional "PULSE" (PSDI User Learning, Sharing Exchange) events for those who can't make the user group meeting.

"We listen to their needs and ask for a synopsis of how they use the product," he says.  "We also get their opinions of new features."

Teachey says Datastream's annual user conference stresses communication and education.

"They tell us what they need, and we tell them what they already have in their system that they might not even know about," he says.  "The answer may already be in their system."

NTech has a training center at its headquarters where seven different courses (from introductory to intermediate to advanced, from specific topics to specific modules) are offered every other month.

CFI's Oas says clients must tell vendors what they truly want.

"These programs used to be designed in a 'black box.'  Programmers would get together and say, 'This is what we want to do, these are the features and this is how customers are going to pay for it,'" he says.  "Now, they listen more and pay attention to customers."

This article appeared in the April/May 2000 issue of MRO Today magazine.  Copyright 2000.

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