You and CMMS, Part 2

One feature of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMs) is the ability to track material usage and labor costs. Some maintenance departments rely on the techs to record time and materials. Usually, techs “fill out paperwork” several hours after work completion, guesstimating everything. A “solution” to this is the work order writer guesstimates the job in advance. Another approach eliminates guesswork. The clock starts when a tech “checks out” a work order and stops when the tech turns it in. For materials, the tech scans barcodes and enters the work order number. With this third approach, you have efficiently obtained accurate information you can analyze to see where your costs actually are.