Did you know? Research demonstrates that preventative maintenance helps companies produce an ROI of 545%. As a company offering preventive maintenance services this is an excellent point to drive home to clients who are on the fence about investing in this routine service.
In fact, there has never been a better time than now to encourage companies to schedule routine preventive maintenance. With fewer field workers on the ground, your service teams can carry out thorough machine inspections to ensure all equipment is ready for when operations resume. This COVID-19 pandemic is a fine opportunity to reach out to old clients, establish new leads, and grow your preventive maintenance business.
Preventive maintenance explained
Before we get into answering the important question of how you can convince your clients of the value of your preventive maintenance service, it’s imperative that you get them to understand the meaning of preventive maintenance.
Put simply, preventive maintenance is a structured process of assessing, checking, testing, and evaluating the state of machinery and equipment. The goal is to keep the equipment in a prime state so as to reduce downtime incidences. Preventive maintenance can be subdivided into two major strategy categories: reactive maintenance and predictive maintenance. Before looking at these maintenance strategies, here’s why this entire process is so important.
Why your clients need a preventive maintenance program
It’s no secret that the actual implementation of a preventive maintenance program can be expensive and time-consuming. These are often the biggest factors behind most companies choosing to neglect this important issue. However, when preventive maintenance is done right, it is often discovered that the ensuing advantages far outweigh the operating costs and this is what you must stress to your clients.
Here is a list of reasons you can present to clients as to why they should consider putting in place a preventive maintenance program:
- Catch potential equipment problems before they become bigger issues
- Reduce downtime, save money, and help your business grow
- Preventive maintenance increases your assets’ life expectancy
- Avoid costly machine and equipment replacements
- Machines and equipment that is routinely maintained helps guarantee site safety for workers
The different types of preventive maintenance programs
Now, preventive maintenance can be based on two main factors: time or usage or both. Below are examples of usage and time based preventive maintenance.
Preventive maintenance based on usage
With usage-based maintenance, assets are scheduled for a checkup after they have surpassed a predefined target. This may be the number of production hours, number of kilometers or miles. This runtime maintenance is not programmed using time as a factor as is the case with time-based maintenance. So it does not matter how much time has elapsed between one routine check and the next so long as the asset has reached its usage trigger. Examples of runtime maintenance include:
- Checking service cars after they have traveled every 10,000 miles
- Inspecting belts after 200 hours of production
- Lubricating moving parts after the asset has run 12,000 hours
Preventive maintenance that’s time-based
This particular type of maintenance operates on time. What this means is that checkups are done based on a predetermined time. For example, after a number of days, weeks or months. Most companies have a preventive maintenance schedule for important equipment such as HVAC systems and fire hydrants. Here are examples of time-based preventive maintenance:
- Verifying integrity of safety equipment once a month
- Changing HVAC filters every quarter
- Inspecting operating systems and network firewalls weekly
Creating a winning preventive maintenance program for your clients
Field service management is undeniably a very critical part of routine maintenance. Field service managers are very aware of this fact but may not know where to start. This is where companies like yours step in to help. Shed light by taking a proactive approach and actively showing them how engaging the services of a certified field service management firm is in their best interests.
Broken down machines can be costly to repair, interrupt critical field operations and pose potential workplace hazards. By introducing your clients to innovative field service management solutions you’ll not only save them time but money. They’ll have access to asset information when they need it in order to make better in field decisions.
In case they need more convincing, here are several ways field management software helps them stay organized and ahead of the competition.
Easily locate assets and inspect them
What do you do when you need to locate an asset but the factories, offices and warehouses have multi-levels with different assets on each floor? This is where location-based asset mapping comes into play. This very practical field software allows users to search through a pre-configured database consisting of each floor plan map and the assets on that floor to find the set assets that need to be inspected or services as part of the preventive maintenance program.
Create preventive maintenance schedules hassle-free
The availability of field service work order management software ensures that preventive maintenance scheduling can be efficiently carried out. Know what work is being done, when, on which days and which orders to delegate to team members. With an automated system to remind you of upcoming preventive maintenance checks, never miss a PM inspection.
Create a centralized data bank of asset documentation
Having a centralized data bank with information pertaining to each asset will make information retrieval easier. Asset receipts, manuals and information regarding the state of equipment should be easily accessible as and when needed. The most reliable field service management software must cater to this. Those working out in the field should have access to this critical information so they can make the right decisions. Through this software field managers will be able to upload machine warranty information, O&M manuals and receipts for commissioning reports.
Employ the data reporting dashboard to track success
A lot of your clients may ask you about preventive maintenance success. How will this be measured? Where will they obtain metrics to prove the effectiveness of preventive maintenance? One way for them to obtain this information will be through the use of the data reporting dashboard. The evidence and data these field managers seek will be readily accessible through this portal. They’ll be able to obtain departmental data and statistics required to create monthly and annual reports.
Field service management software allows asset access remotely
It often happens that information regarding a particular asset is needed at headquarters. A centralized field service management software will allow information pertaining to this asset to be accessed remotely on almost any device. When the entire team has access to the information they need, better decisions can be made both at HQ level and out in the field.
Use QR codes to store asset information
QR codes can now be used to keep an asset’s preventive maintenance history. By simply scanning the QR code using a mobile device equipped with a camera, you’ll be able to obtain asset history immediately. Your clients will also be able to see any scheduled maintenance checks to be carried out.
Adopt a fool-proof preventive maintenance checklist today
MSI Data provides clients with cutting edge field management software which enables you to create preventive maintenance checklists stress-free. Our software is innovative and has streamlined the business operations of countless companies. MSI Data is a pioneer in the field of management software apps. We’ve been helping organizations improve productivity for many years. Our products are easy to acquire because of their low monthly user fees. In addition, there are no expensive upfront investments or subscription fees.
Furthermore, the apps are easy to deploy. We provide support for iOS, Android as well as Windows-based machines. Our services can be hosted on or off-premise. Integrate them into your “home office” business systems if you’d like. The icing on the cake is that these apps are fully operational within weeks. Therefore, you can enjoy a rapid ROI. If you’d like to run a trial before investing fully, sign up for our free demo. Alternatively, get in touch with our sales team to discuss your specific requirements and we’ll see how best we can help you.
