In our previous blog post of the maintenance software mini-series, we illustrated the most effective way to process your work packages and guarantee that the inspection results are received directly in digital format.
However, the maintenance process does not conclude with the completion by the maintenance company or the inspector. Several aspects still require attention to complete the process.
As the client, you need to examine the results and finalize the work package at a minimum, if not sign it off, to ensure that the tasks were performed appropriately.
Two things can assist you in this process: Firstly, you can request the service provider to scan the object to be inspected, ensuring their presence on site. Secondly, by requiring them to take photographs of the asset’s condition, you don’t necessarily need to personally inspect every asset, particularly if you’ve structured your contracts to transfer maintenance responsibility to your service provider. In such cases, spot checks are sufficient to verify the results.
How to handle inspection results, particularly irregularities?
If a system could not be maintained because it was not accessible, you can generate a follow-up order through the software with just a click of a button, in which the outstanding activities move. This way, you can ensure that you won’t miss out on execution in this maintenance cycle. Once the organization has been set up, this follow-up order will then flow into the normal processing routine on the specified date when the plant will be accessible.
If defects are identified during maintenance, you must decide whether to fix them right away or have them corrected during a later action on the plant. If you choose to postpone the rectification, you should make sure to keep an eye on the defect separately from the actual maintenance process. It’s best to have a defect management system integrated into the maintenance process for this purpose. By having an overview of all defects, you can coordinate the orders much better as the customer, as you only need to bring in the service provider once to eliminate all defects.
What happens with safety-relevant defects?
Safety-relevant defects cannot be ignored or put on the back burner, they must be acted upon immediately. Including them in defect management is a good start, but there is a risk of them being lost if they are not prioritized accordingly.
There are other options available, such as triggering a ticket automatically in a ticket system when a safety-relevant defect occurs. It is also important to prioritize this issue so that it can be resolved in a timely manner.
Another option is to automatically trigger an order for a safety-relevant defect, through an appropriate interface directly in SAP or any other ERP system. It is important to clarify whether feedback to maintenance is needed for completion. It is also recommended to have all the information in one place and be able to evaluate it, even though changing systems can be difficult.
In the last part of our mini-series on maintenance using software, we will take a look at the future and explore how new technologies like AI, image recognition, AR, or robotics can efficiently support maintenance processes as digitalization progresses.
If you don’t want to wait and want to get more information about the benefits of software for maintenance now, call us at 0049 6251 584 0 or send an email to info@speedikonfm.com – our employees will be happy to advise you.