What is CMMS and Does Your Business Need It?

Manufacturing with speed and efficiency is the hallmark of a great business. It’s how Toyota came out of nowhere in the 1980s and hammered American competitors. This was in a market that the USA owned and took pride in.

The cost of maintaining manufacturing equipment can be as high as 70% of the cost of goods sold (COGS). When your COGS are so high, then you need to price your products higher to be profitable.

You’ll have fewer sales because the market can’t bear a higher price. CMMS can help you bring down your maintenance costs.

What is CMMS? Keep reading to learn what CMMS software is and how your business can benefit from it.

What Is CMMS Software?

CMMS is a Computerized Maintenance Management System. It’s a software solution that lets companies track the maintenance of their equipment.

Both large and small companies have to maintain equipment, inventory, buildings, and more. The maintenance of these items is tracked manually on spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets are local, meaning they appear on one device for the maintenance team updates manually. This can cause data entry errors and it’s not updated in real-time.

CMMS is cloud-based, so employees just enter the information as they’re doing the work. Everyone on your team has access to that information immediately. Plus, it’s much easier to view a dashboard with all of your business assets listed.

Where CMMS really shows its value is in predictive capabilities. The software can tell your team when to order replacement parts, perform preventive maintenance, and renew vendor contracts.

The end result is that your maintenance team is focused on preventative maintenance, rather than fixing things as they break down. Your business will lower unplanned downtime, lower the risk for workers using the equipment, and lower your repair costs.

Your equipment lasts longer because it’s maintained, and all of your assets are used to their potential. You’ll see the result in your profitability because your COGS is greatly reduced.

How Much Does CMMS Software Cost?

There are a couple of ways to look at the cost of CMMS software. There are the upfront costs of migrating your systems and training your staff. There are also licensing fees to use the software.

CMMS vendors have a few different pricing structures for different types of businesses.

Some vendors have a one-time fee for a lifetime license. The license allows you to use the software for a set number of users. If you buy this type of license, you need to make sure you can grow into the plan and add users on an as-needed basis.

To make the software affordable for all businesses, you’ll find a monthly or annual licensing fee. This will lower your upfront costs and make the purchase more manageable. The amount you’ll pay depends on the number of users and the types of features you need.

There are tools that start as low as $30 a month per user. Other plans cost about $600 a month or even several thousand a month.

Does Your Business Need CMMS Software?

For big businesses, investing in CMMS software is a no-brainer. They have the money, time, and resources to devote to it. They have the budget to afford it, and they can put staff on duty to oversee the implementation.

What if you’re a small to mid-sized business? You might already have a tight budget and a skeleton crew. The decision becomes a bit more complicated.

The upfront costs are huge, which can turn off many business owners. However, there is an ROI on the software. You have to weigh what doing nothing will cost your business vs. how much the initial costs are.

There are additional costs in training time and implementation. You may need to upload your data from your spreadsheets or manually enter them into the new system.

You also have to overcome the almighty resistance to change. Your maintenance technicians might be resistant to change and use CMMS.

If you can’t get your staff on board, then the migration will be a failed investment. Another reason why the investment fails is that you choose the wrong solution. That could cost you your business.

The most important thing to do is to make sure that your investment isn’t a failure. You have to get buy-in from your team and get a CMMS software solution that works for your business.

Finding a CMMS Software Solution

What should you look for in a CMMS solution? You need to find something that has the features you need within your budget.

The best thing to do is to look at the assets you need to maintain and make a list of items that would be most useful to you. You might need the software to generate work orders or manage your entire supply chain.

Once you have a budget in mind and the features you need, you can start to evaluate different vendors. You’ll need to get the maintenance team involved in the selection process. That will help lower their resistance to the software.

Take a look at the integrations with other software tools you use in your business and the level of support you’ll get from the vendor. You want to make sure that there is ample training and customer support as you implement CMMS.

What Can CMMS Do for Your Business?

You have to use every opportunity to lower production costs to have a more profitable business. Manufacturing maintenance costs are a great place to start. You can start

What is CMMS and is it right for your business? CMMS is a maintenance tracking software that you can use to predict issues and lower your overall costs.

You have to take the upfront costs and set them against how much your current systems cost your business. Then you have the hard work of finding the right system for your business.

Do you want more entrepreneurial insights? Head over to the Tech section of this site for more ways to use technology in your business.