MAPCON CMMS Blog

February 20, 2025

Facility Maintenance & Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Optimizing Operations

In the realm of maintenance activities, you hear terms such as facility, industrial, and property. Many people frequently use these interchangeably, often blurring their distinctions. However, each term carries specific connotations and applications. Generally, "facility" denotes commercial structures devoid of manufacturing equipment, whereas 'industrial' spaces typically incorporate manufacturing assets. On the other hand, "property" primarily encompasses residential buildings.

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the intricacies of facility maintenance. Topics include:

• Exploring various roles within this domain.
• Exemplifying facility maintenance in action.
• Accentuating the advantages of adopting a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).

Key Roles in Facility Maintenance & Management

Effective facility maintenance employs two key roles—a facility manager and a technician.

February 19, 2025

10 Best Maintenance Practices for 2025: A Proactive Approach to Maintenance Management

In the landscape of maintenance management, managers ever strive for operational excellence. As industries evolve and technologies advance, maintenance departments must sustain and enhance operational efficiency, asset reliability, and organizational effectiveness.

In this article, we'll delve into the ten best maintenance practices for 2025. We'll expand upon each to provide a thorough understanding of their significance. For success in your own company, you should adapt some, if not all, of the concepts.

The Foundation of Effective Maintenance Management: Asset Inventory

It starts with assets. The foundation of effective maintenance management lies in understanding and cataloging the assets under its purview. This entails more than a mere enumeration of vehicles, structures, and equipment.

February 18, 2025

Corrective vs. Preventative Maintenance: Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Assets

When companies develop a maintenance plan, they have several choices. In this article, we'll look at two types: preventive and corrective. Included in this discussion:

• Definitions and traits of each.
• Advantages and disadvantages of each.
• Considerations for using each (or both).
• Benefits of a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

What Is Corrective Maintenance?

This means you don't tend to assets until after something happens. A breakdown, a failure, etc. You correct the problem to restore the asset to an operational state.

Examples: You repair a processor after gears lock up. You replace a gutter after it falls. You change a light bulb when it burns out.

Keep in mind that maintenance departments conduct corrective-type activities all the time. In fact, a CMMS might have this as one of the types when you create a work order. This gives the technician more information about the job.

Many times, a worker might make a "quick fix." While this may solve the issue, there might be an underlying problem. Look for repair patterns. If you see constant similar repairs, you should consider investigating a root cause.

February 17, 2025

How to Improve Asset Management: Tracking Assets for Maximum Efficiency

Put Maintenance Management at the top of the family tree. From there, you'll branch out to the members of that family. These include Assets, Inventory, Preventive Maintenance (PM), and Work Orders.

In this article, we'll focus on the first family member. You understand the purpose of maintenance: To keep your assets operating at a baseline functionality. How do you start? Read on for tips on tracking assets, benefits of tracking, and how a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) benefits.

The Importance of Data Gathering in Asset Tracking

For success, you must familiarize yourself with every intricacy of each asset in your company. Let's bring in the CMMS right at the beginning. This software will help organize your existing maintenance plans.

Within the system, you'll create a list of your assets. You'll include information such as Name, Location (within the facility), Cost, Manufacturer, and any other pertinent data.

You can use barcoding or QR coding to identify your assets further. A quality CMMS will offer scanning from a mobile device.

You want relevant information for everyone who operates and works on the asset. That way, if you have several workers inspecting/cleaning/lubricating/repairing the machine, they all have the same data.

You'll add safety protocols and related inventory. This benefits the worker because he doesn't spend time wondering what parts he needs. Perhaps you've created "kitted" parts, a bundle of parts/supplies you know the worker will use each time he services a particular asset.

February 13, 2025

Preventative Maintenance: Mastering Maintenance Scheduling for Success

Most businesses understand the importance of preventive maintenance. Do you have assets in your company? They range from buildings and other structures to vehicles to equipment. They all require preventive maintenance (PM).

What Is Preventative Maintenance and Why Does It Matter?

We'll talk more about the importance of PMs, but how do you define it? Simply: Routine activities to keep your assets operating at a baseline functionality. Let's break down this sentence.

Routine – When you devise your PM plan (also discussed later), you decide how often to execute the maintenance. You base your time frames on manufacturer recommendations, regulations, or maintenance history.

The cycles all depend on the asset. They range from daily to annually.

February 12, 2025

A Comprehensive Guide to Maintenance Mechanics and Maintenance Management

We use a lot of terms when we discuss maintenance. Management, technician, supervisor, etc. Some terms work fine when used for multiple concepts.

However, when you want to refine an area, then you have to use specifics. In this article, let's highlight the idea of a maintenance mechanic.

We've used the term technician before. That's appropriate. So, too maintenance worker. You can refer to a broader term: maintenance team member. It depends on the area of discussion.

Maintenance mechanic needs a narrower definition. This person primarily works on machines and equipment within a facility.

"But so does a technician," you say. True, but you can use technician for someone who deals with plumbing, painting, siding, ceiling, ductwork, etc. With a mechanic, you know they work with machinery.

February 11, 2025

A Complete Guide to Industrial Maintenance and CMMS Software Benefits

If you have assets in your business, they require maintenance. From resorts to hospitals to education institutions to so many more, a dedicated maintenance team conducts various types of maintenance. In this guide to industrial maintenance, we'll look at:

• Understanding Types of Industrial Maintenance.
• Key Roles in Industrial Maintenance Teams.
• The Role of CMMS Software in Industrial Maintenance Management.

The term industrial maintenance (also known as plant maintenance), covers numerous industries. Food production, ethanol, chemical development, manufacturing, etc.

Understanding Types of Industrial Maintenance

You might ask: What is maintenance? What's its purpose? The answer: To keep assets operating at a baseline functionality.

Let's break down this answer. Assets include anything from structures (office buildings, etc.), property, equipment, and vehicles.

February 10, 2025

How to Write Successful Work Orders and Instructions

In the workplace, you don't want to hear, "I don't understand" when it comes to work orders. From simple opening procedures to complex maintenance jobs, you want employees to know what to do. In this article, we'll address the following:

• What Are Work Orders and Work Instructions?
• The differences between instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Why Quality Work Orders and Instructions Matter.
• Ensuring Clarity and Accuracy in Work Orders.
• Steps to Create Effective Work Orders and Instructions
• Streamline Work Order Management with MAPCON CMMS.

February 06, 2025

Maximizing Preventative Maintenance ROI: Strategies for Success

When it comes to maximizing return on investment (ROI), businesses meticulously analyze a multitude of factors. From company to company, expenses fluctuate in both number and amount. Yet, preventive maintenance remains one area that you shouldn't neglect. This week, we'll delve into effective strategies for measuring preventive maintenance ROI.

Key Benefits of Preventative Maintenance for ROI

Preventive maintenance encompasses a regimen of regularly scheduled inspections, repairs, and upkeep tasks. The goals? To keep the equipment reliable, extend asset lifespan, reduce unplanned downtime and failures, and increase production efficiency. It stands in stark contrast to reactive maintenance, which involves waiting for a piece of equipment to conk out before fixing it.

Preventive maintenance takes a proactive approach. Let's highlight the benefits mentioned above.

Reducing Downtime for Better ROI

Reduced Downtime: Every maintenance job translates to expenses in labor and/or parts. Why escalate these expenses with unplanned downtime? Preventive and predictive maintenance go hand-in-hand in demonstrably reducing downtime, as highlighted in an article on LinkedIn.
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February 05, 2025

Intermittent Asset Failures: Understanding and Resolving Equipment Issues

Asset management includes many aspects. Most of the time, you plan and schedule both regular preventive maintenance (PM) or general repairs for a breakdown. You track equipment reading to help shape your PMs. You track depreciation values.

Your goal: To keep assets operating at a baseline level. Over the years, of course, that level lowers due to age and other factors.

One of the challenges you might encounter involves intermittent failures. These often perplex technicians and engineers alike, continually teasing with their elusive nature. They stand as the enigmatic disruptors, sporadically impeding operations, playing a game of hide-and-seek with the root cause.

Unlike straightforward, persistent failures, you find intermittent failures capricious and unpredictable. Example: A system or component functions as designed for an extended period, only to falter unexpectedly, before inexplicably resuming normalcy.