Integrating CMMS and IoT to change the future of your business
By Lindsey Walker, NexGen Asset Management
Pretty sure you have come across the term Internet of Things (IoT) more than you would have expected in the past few years.
IoT refers to a network of physical objects that are connected through the internet and function automatically without any kind of human involvement.
IoT can be applied in several areas – right from household appliances, industrial applications to fashionable wearables.
Of late, the potential of IoT for business and industrial usage has blown up. As a business, you can no longer ignore the plethora of advantages that IoT can bring to the table.
The future looks brighter when IoT is integrated with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS). Not only will your productivity increase exponentially but the integration will also cut costs to a great extent.
Let us see how and why the integration of IoT and CMMS is an absolute game changer.
IoT plus CMMS: The game changer
What is the benefit of incorporating IoT into an organization’s maintenance process?
It will generate real-time data which can be stored and analyzed by the CMMS.
This data gets transformed into a predictive analysis by the CMMS, which further turns into a predictive maintenance routine.
When you incorporate CMMS and IoT into one seamless system, you can drive improvements through real-time data analytics and the valuable insights they deliver.
All the connected devices with embedded sensors have leveraged analytics to predictions, which will allow you to perform the appropriate actions and prevent issues before they occur.
For example, if there is any piece of equipment that shows some deviation, maybe in its thermal properties, vibrations or lubrication levels, the sensors will immediately detect the deviation and stream the concerned data to CMMS.
Once this information is relayed, the maintenance managers will be able to launch the work orders before the asset fails completely.
You can potentially prevent catastrophic breakdowns and even predict future problems with high accuracy when you combine predictive maintenance and CMMS.
Finally, the synergy between the IoT and mobile CMMS helps in improving the accuracy of all key performance metrics by precisely and automatically calculating availability, reliability, mean time between failures (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR).
How does IoT benefit maintenance management
Cost savings: Integration of IoT and preventive maintenance software helps you cut down the overall costs of the business. This integration helps in performing interventions on machines only when it is required, which would immediately reduce the parts and labor costs that are associated with replacements.
Time savings: CMMS and IoT help in streamlining the processes between various departments of your business. This would accelerate the purchase orders and approvals. You or any member of your team can access the entire intervention history of any asset which would greatly ease and improve the schedules of the different shifts.
Longer equipment life: When you gain insight into the working history of each and every asset through asset management software and IoT, you would be able to maintain your equipment easily, thus making sure that the maintenance is up to date and extend the asset’s lifetime.
How does it improve inventory control?
You can significantly improve inventory control and spare parts management by connecting the stockrooms and departments.
The warehouse management software helps in tracking inventory movements like components replacements, stock control and purchase of urgently needed spare parts.
Every organization can find its own approach to adopt the IoT effectively, but efficiency will only occur when the Internet of Things is interacting with all the other technologies, especially with the CMMS.
The seamless connection between the IoT and CMMS is about to become a key player in every business organization.
It won’t take long for the integration between IoT and CMMS to become fundamental in improving productivity through ongoing monitoring, analysis and a reduction of unnecessary maintenance costs.
Find a way to adopt the IoT efficiently as its interaction with a technology like CMMS will undoubtedly propel you to success.