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Supercharge your maintenance strategy

Learn and discuss ways to evolve your maintenance strategy including predictive, prescriptive, AI, IIoT, integrations and more

  • 72 Posts
  • 51 Replies
72 Posts
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Melissa MeyerRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Getting started with failure codes in FiixGuide

No one likes when things go wrong, especially when it happens without an explanation. How are you supposed to prevent a problem from occurring again when you don’t even know what caused it in the first place? In the world of reliability, failure codes exist to try to avoid this situation.Failure codes are shorthand descriptions of how an asset failed. When attached to work orders, they help you track a component’s failure history and determine ways to prevent future issues. Fiix customers with an Enterprise subscription can use failure codes to see trends in asset performance, costs, and more. In this post, we’ll explore how failure codes work in Fiix, the benefits of using them, and how to set them up. How failure codes work in Fiix They are made up of problem, cause, and action codes (e.g., Leak → Hole → Replace) Failure codes are attached to work orders to document where and when action was taken CMMS admins can nest failure codes so problems, causes, and actions are clear and easy

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
How to build an effective preventive maintenance program 💡

For facilities looking to break out of a reactive maintenance rut a preventive maintenance plan can do wonders, but where do you begin? While this may sound easier said than done, this article will break down the 8 steps you should take to build a solid foundation for your preventative maintenance program (and set it up for success).   But first: what is a preventive maintenance program? 🗒️It’s a series of processes, guidelines, and tools for conducting regular and routine maintenance on equipment and assets to keep them in good condition to avoid failure and costly unplanned downtime.A preventative maintenance plan makes everything clearer, so the path to reliability is obstacle-free. Goals and responsibilities are defined, timelines are understood, and all necessary resources are accounted for. Everyone knows what success looks like and how to sustain it. A preventive maintenance plan should include eight steps at its foundation:Remember, Each facility has different goals, assets, a

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2 years ago
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Melissa MeyerRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Quick start guide for creating a preventive maintenance checklist

Very few modern processes don’t benefit from a good checklist—and that goes for preventative maintenance programs. A preventive maintenance checklist takes all the steps and information out of a manual and puts it into the hands of your experienced technicians. In this post, learn the benefits of having a preventative maintenance checklist and the key elements every checklist should have.  Three benefits of having a preventative maintenance checklist 📝These checklists ensure preventive maintenance tasks are done correctly and in the same sequence of steps, regardless of which maintenance team member completes them, which:Helps standardize tasks and outcomes, eliminating guesswork or miscommunication, and reduces the chances of error and the need for costly repairs.   Makes work more efficient and maximizes labour, which reduces downtime and allows technicians to move on to more skilled tasks in less time. It can also free up a technician’s time by allowing other facility members, like

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2 years ago
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Melissa MeyerRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
How to create and maintain a data-rich equipment maintenance log

While many things in maintenance are not predictable, equipment maintenance logs are. They help you perform preventative maintenance to ensure equipment is in good condition, runs as efficiently as possible, and provide a useful reference point for discovering failure patterns, expenditure, and repair. This post will explore how you can create and maintain a top-notch equipment maintenance log and the 6 ways you can make the most of the data you’re collecting within them.  How to create an equipment maintenance logThis will all depend on a variety of factors that are specific to your team and facility, but any log should keep these 3 questions in mind: What asset and maintenance information do you need most? How detailed does that information need to be? Who will be using this information and how will they use it?Your log will include two sections: Asset Information Maintenance Work Information Equipment name Serial number Location within your facility Manufacturer detai

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2 years ago
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Melissa MeyerRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
7 steps for building a maintenance analytics program by starting small

Following up on our last post on the benefits of starting small with any maintenance project, we’ll now walk you through our step-by-step guide for creating a maintenance analytics program by starting small and growing it piece-by-piece 🧱.  Step #1: Ask the right questions You need to be clear on the reason/purpose of why you’re collecting data in the first place, so consider questions like: What are your business’s biggest goals and how can maintenance impact them? What challenges is your company facing and how can maintenance solve them? What opportunities can your organization pursue and how can maintenance help?Answering these questions will give you a clear view of where your team can make the biggest impact with the fewest obstacles. To help you get started, here are a few examples of how you may answer these questions: What are your business’s biggest goals? Ex. Reduce waste across all business units How can maintenance impact those goals? Ex. Increase preventive

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
How to start small with any maintenance project 🔧

It can be tempting to go all-in on a project and get big results as fast as possible. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. In fact, 70% of all projects fail. So what can you do to avoid a similar fate? Start small! Starting small means implementing an idea or project in small steps instead of all at once. In this post, learn the benefits of starting small, how you can start small in your next maintenance project, and when to take them from small to big.  Three benefits of starting small? ➕Starting small eliminates a lot of the problems that plague larger projects, which helps you:Catch problems while they’re small and reduce risk: If something goes wrong or isn’t working, the consequences are contained. You can also identify and plan for risks when expanding the project. Get adoption and buy-in faster: Change is always hard, but is easier to navigate when it’s smaller. This gets people on board quicker, which gets you results faster. Implement projects with fewer delays: Starting small

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Analytics 101 🎬

Fiix’s analytics tool allows you to access valuable data about your organization’s maintenance activities. In this training video, Gail Mowatt (@gmowatt), Fiix's Senior Manager of Training and Education, will help you get acquainted with the Fiix analytics tool and key features like dashboards and looks 📊. Watch this ~7-minute video to learn how to:  Access analytics  Navigate dashboard and looks Apply filters Drill-down on a look If you have any questions or feedback for Gail please post in the thread below👇.

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
How to use data to answer five big questions about your maintenance team’s performanceBlog

Maintenance involves many moving parts, which means more chances for something to go wrong. And when problems arise, you want to tackle them with as much information as possible. In other words, you want problem-solving to be predictable 🔮.🚨 Data is key to achieving this goal 🚨.Our most recent blog is all about using your maintenance data to answer your big questions and how Fiix analytics can make the whole process a lot easier. In it, we look at the 5 ways you can use data to solve common maintenance issues and lead your team to success: How do I make sure the right maintenance is being done at the right time? ⏰ How is maintenance affecting the performance of equipment? 🔧 How can my facility organize our storeroom so parts are easily accessible? 🏬 Where should I be allocating my maintenance budget? 💰 What obstacles are our technicians facing? ⚠️ Wanna learn more? Grab a cup of ☕️ and head over to our blog to check it out.

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2 years ago
ChrisLee
Team Fiix
ChrisLeeTeam Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Considerations when mobilizing your maintenance team

Hey Fiixers! I’m Chris, and I’m an Implementation Consultant at Fiix based in the UK. Before joining Fiix I ran my own software and training consultancy for 13 years helping people build both Facilities and Asset Maintenance Systems. As businesses are driven towards compliance and improved working efficiencies, people are starting to look towards mobile solutions to help in these areas. During the process of rolling out these applications to customers, I have identified some considerations that I feel may be important ahead of implementing a mobile solution and this article may just provide you with some answers to your questions or prevent you from making a costly mistake. First we need to consider the hardware Mobile maintenance applications are quite often written for the popular Android platform, with some companies also offering an Apple equivalent. There is a wide variety of Android products available to select from, including commercially available devices from companies such

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ChrisLee
Team Fiix
2 years ago
ChrisLee
Team Fiix
ChrisLeeTeam Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Implementation FAQ's

Hey fellow Fiixers! I’m Chris, and I’m an Implementation Consultant at Fiix. You can learn more about me and my CMMS experience here in our Welcome & intros thread.  During my time here I have noticed a trend among frequently asked questions I get during implementation. So I thought I’d share my findings with all of you.  No two implementations are ever the same as each organization will have different requirements, resources and budgets. What does remain pretty constant is the process which surrounds implementing the system with the only differing feature being the level of planning, resource and detail that is required in line with your business needs. I do tend to focus on maintenance software sectors (CMMS & CAFM) but the questions and answers in a lot of cases are quite generic, as is the implementation process. FAQ’s on new implementations:  How long will it take?  How long will it be before we can start using it?  What are the cost benefits and how long befor

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ChrisLee
Team Fiix
2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
The Bad Actor Report: What is Failure Analysis?

Hello everyone! Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting about the bad actor report and recommended sort metrics. If this is a topic you would like to learn more about make sure you subscribe to this thread to see my series.The purpose behind failure analysis is to identify the problem and then the cause so you can prevent this event from happening again. Although it is “after the fact” (i.e., a lagging indicator) it is a valuable tool for performance improvement.Some organizations have trigger points that require a root cause failure analysis (RCFA) for serious events. This is where a team of people identify the problem, surrounding circumstances, and document all possible causes. The RCFA can last from days to weeks. In industries where a vehicle assembly line is stopped, the O&M shift might perform a 5-why analysis. This method involves asking "why" multiple times until the individual believes they have reached the cause of the problem. Chronic failure analysis (CFA) is

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New Member
2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
The Bad Actor Report: May be the most important report

We've reached the final article of The Bad Actor Report. Let’s review why this report is the most important report in your toolkit for improving your maintenance strategy in this article.If you missed any posts in my series, you can check them out here ⤵  Chronic Failure Analysis may be the Most Significant Process you can Run. Well-known reliability professionals have stated that close to 80% of maintenance cost can be due to chronic failures. And because they are almost routine, their frequent occurrence impacts the bottom line.Thus, organizations should focus on ways to attack the worst offenders and eliminate the cause. The figure shown below is the complete process which if performed correctly will help reduce reactive maintenance.  Possible Corrective Actions There are many possible actions that can result from reliability team reviews. It is not as simple as adding a new PM or conducting training. Lastly, it is possible that the reliability team may recommend multiple actions. B

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john reeve
New Member
2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
The Bad Actor Report: What does one look like?

Continuing with The Bad Actor Report series, in this article we go into detail about what a bad actor report looks like and how you can take advantage of this important data.If you missed my first few posts, you can check them out here ⤵  Before a Pareto-style report can be finalized, it is required to identify the sort metric as this is what provides the sort order on the report. A Pareto-style report is a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where individual values are represented in descending order by bars and the cumulative total is represented by the line. There are many possibilities of which several could be of use, meaning, it may be beneficial to run the report using multiple sorts. The sort-metric options would be shown as report prompts, shown below: Those assets with the most work orders written against them.  This structured query language (SQL) selection would focus on completed repair work with functional failures.  Mean time between failure (MT

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john reeve
New Member
2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
The Bad Actor Report: How are decisions made in your organization?

Continuing with The Bad Actor Report series, in this article we’ll go into the importance of how decisions are made with failure data and the impact it can make in your facility.If you missed my first or second post, you can check it out here ⤵  Some organizations want the CMMS to help them make better decisions regarding repair/replace, maintenance strategies, understanding which sensors to use, perform risk management, and identify recurring failures. Asset management also involves people, process and roles. With so much to worry about, it is critically important that stakeholders do the right work at the right time using the right staff. And when there is more work to do than resources allow, it is imperative to manage by exception.This is where failure data can help. Below are the most common ways these decisions are made in order from least to most effective.  Decisions can be Subjective – Ignoring the CMMS and its Failure Data: In this instance, leadership only wants a basic work

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john reeve
New Member
2 years ago
E
Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Good, fast, cheap - You get all 3 with OT integrationsOn-Demand

The saying goes “good, fast, cheap, pick two” but when it comes to linking your operational tech to your CMMS, you don’t have to choose. Fiix’s open API has enabled customers to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. And realizing these efficiencies is easier, faster, and cheaper than you think.  Watch Fiix experts Alex and James as they demystify operational technology (OT) integrations by: Busting misconceptions around the cost, complexity, and effort required to get your equipment talking to your CMMS Showcasing the benefits, including how OT integration is the pathway to condition-based and predictive maintenance Providing real world examples of how quickly Fiix users have realized ROI When and how you can get started  

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
James' Hot Take ​​on OT Integrations

“Having been a part of many of the integrations we've completed at Fiix, this is a topic I have a lot of excitement for!” James Binckly, Product Manager at Fiix.  Integrations are often seen as a daunting task, however, in James' experience it's quite the opposite. Watch to hear what an OT integration looks like in reality and how it can save you time, money and improve your asset performance.  Watch the full webinar recording! 

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Integrate Fiix with your operational technology without blowing your budget or doing any IT work

Huge shout out to @Tdufton  for participating in a case study with our team! It’s great to see Fiixers share and celebrate their success.Read the story of Perth County Ingredients, a food processor that integrated its PLCs with Fiix in two weeks and used this integration to save $40,000 in nine months. If you want to read the full case study check it out here.But first, what does it mean to integrate with operational technology (OT)?How it works Getting equipment data from a PLC, MES or another OT system into Fiix is hard to do manually. But, the good news is, there’s software that eliminates manual data collection. This software receives information from your OT systems and automatically sends it to Fiix. The connection between the three systems is an integration. What happens to the data in Fiix? Once equipment data is flowing to Fiix, it can be used to automatically create and schedule work orders based on your pre-set triggers. For example, if a machine runs for a certain number o

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2 years ago
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Emma MuldoonRetired Team Fiix
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Alex's Hot Take on OT Integrations

“It’s changing the game for maintenance in a lot of different ways.” Alex Topper, Customer Success Manager at Fiix. Watch to understand why Alex thinks operational technology (OT) integrations have been a game changer for his clients, saving them time and money by automatically triggering work orders in Fiix with real time data. Watch the full webinar recording!  

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2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
The Bad Actor Report: Reasons Why Organizations Fail to Perform Failure Analysis

Continuing with The Bad Actor Report series, in this article we’ll take a deeper dive into the reasons why organizations fail to perform failure analysis. If you missed my first post, you can check it out here ⤵  There are a few different reasons why organizations fail to perform failure analysis: Many fail to leverage failure data from their CMMS due to bad data.  Some organizations simply do not believe the CMMS should be used for failure analysis.  In other instances, leadership teams do not believe the working level will consistently enter failure data due to a fear of being micro-managed by the data they enter.  Lastly, some administrators set up failure codes but they are too high a level to add value, e.g., “mechanical issue” which is too vague for analysis. As it is, many organizations capture nothing. But at the other end you have root cause failure analysis, which is quite extensive. Which leads to my next point of what is the right level of detail for failure data? The

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john reeve
New Member
2 years ago
john reeve
New Member
john reeveNew Member
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Defect Elimination Discovers Hidden Problems

Some organizations form defect elimination teams which include representatives from operations, maintenance, and engineering. This team may be assigned to performing a walk-down of a problematic system. When issues are discovered, they may be tagged and assigned a work order, but in some cases, the defect team may perform an immediate fix. As shown in the figure below, defects can be introduced anywhere in the life cycle.   Example DefectsOperating procedure incorrect Excessive rust/corrosion Broken indicator light Potential hazards; missing guard covers Excessive fluid leakage; oil leakage at joints Pipe hangers missing (or not adding proper support) Defective wiring; broken conduit; broken junction box Operating valves not tagged (as commonly used in LOTO) Sight glass broken; Gage missing acceptable range coloring Gage too small -- ergonomic issue; proximity sensors not working Missing CMMS Asset Identifier; Asset altogether missing in CMMS Housekeeping (cleaning) needed – which may

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john reeve
New Member
2 years ago
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
Christa BrownFiix Community Team
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
A maintenance manager’s guide to creating and using FMEAs

Risk can never be eliminated, but it can be managed. This is especially true in maintenance. Equipment failure is inevitable. But knowing how to reduce the likelihood of failure, and how to react when it happens, is critical to success.This article - by @marccousineau in consultation with Fiixers @jasonafara, @crog jr, and @Thibaut - outlines a strategy maintenance teams can use to manage risk with FMEAs.A failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a tool for understanding and anticipating failure so you can limit its impact. In this article, you’ll learn:What an FMEA is The different types of FMEAs How to create an FMEA And how maintenance teams can use an FMEARead the full article on the Fiix website →  And post any questions or comments you have regarding the article right here 👇

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Christa Brown
Team Fiix
3 years ago
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
Christa BrownFiix Community Team
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
SPECIAL OFFER: 20% off a Fiix Health Check 🩺

Just as it's recommended to visit your doctor for an annual physical, Fiix recommends performing an annual CMMS health assessment to reveal certain areas where you can take action to improve KPIs. @Steve_Ricard hosted a great session about this at Fiix Forward 2021 (available to watch on-demand) where he explained how a Fiix health check can help you: Identify new KPIs that were not envisioned during your implementation Adopt more advanced CMMS features to gain workflow and communication efficiencies Review and adjust your data structure for enhanced reporting to better inform business decisionsAnd now, the exciting news… We’re extending our Fiix Forward special offer to all Fiixers community members  Community members get 20% savings! See flyer for all the details →​​​​​*Offer available until December 31, 2021 

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Christa Brown
Team Fiix
3 years ago
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
Christa BrownFiix Community Team
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
How to manage an effective storeroomFiix Forward 2021

During this session at our user conference, Fiix Forward 2021, @NickRamkay shared his 4 pillars for managing an effective storeroom.  1 - Clear roles & responsibilities using RACI chart (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) 2 - 9 strategic processes that are enacted no more than 4 times a year 3 - 15 tactical processes that are enacted no less than 12 times a year4 - Storeroom KPIs to measure and adjustInventory accuracy Inventory service level Inventory turns 🎬 Watch the full session ⤵ It became clear from the chat that this is a topic a lot of us struggle with:“I started at a new company June 2020 as Parts Coordinator and it has taken me 15 months to get 80% of our stock room/stock area inventoried. I started with machines components first. It is a big mountain to climb, but doable!”“I am a Maintenance Manager, so can focus just on store room. How I did it is the same idea: one bin, one shelf at a time. You will see results in a year or so.”“In my experience, there is

2022
mtperkins
Specialist
3 years ago
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
Christa BrownFiix Community Team
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
Wow. You made Fiix Forward 2020 a HUGE SUCCESS 🎉

Thank you to the 550+ of you that registered for our first ever user conference. It was incredible to connect (virtually) with hundreds of Fiix users from all over the world 🌍We had messages from the UK, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, all over the US, and even from the honorary 8th wonder of the world, Niagara Falls (not sure if from the US or Canadian side 🤔)We would have loved to bring our community together in person (it would have to be a BIG room). However, there’s something special about a virtual conference bringing people together in times like this across many miles and time zones. 👏👏👏 A round of applause and heartfelt kudos to our Fiixer community members Thank you @Leombruno94 and @cstevens for bringing to life our conference theme, Discover what’s possible. Be sure to check out the recording of their session!  You can binge on-demand 👀There was a lot to take in over the 2-days with topics ranging from strategies for growing and developing as a leader and ma

2023
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
3 years ago
Christa Brown
Team Fiix
Christa BrownFiix Community Team
published in Supercharge your maintenance strategy
🏁 Session Highlight 🏁 Do you know the maturity of your work order data?Fiix Forward 2021

By popular demand, we’re bringing our Best-in-class work order series from the community to Fiix Forward 2021. Join @Alex.Topper and @jasonafara as they step through this 5-staged framework to progressively improve the quality and level of detail in your work orders so that you can unlock deeper data insights and improved performance. They’ll outline the goal for each stage, the value you can unlock by conquering it, and tips for how to get there. This is a great session to attend with your whole team, so you can asses what stage you’re currently in, and what you can all focus on next to continue to improve.  Get my virtual conference pass → + add this session to your conference scheduleTuesday, September 28, 3:30PM - 4:15PM ET

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Christa Brown
Team Fiix
3 years ago

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