4 Essential Features for Mobile Maintenance Technology

What features should asset management decision-makers consider in their search for the right mobile solution to integrate with their CMMS?

No matter where in the asset management evolution a business is – be it corrective, preventive or predictive maintenance – industrial mobile technology supports all technicians by helping them respond to work orders or equipment failures with efficiency and intelligence.

What features should asset management decision-makers consider in their search for the right mobile solution to integrate with their CMMS? To answer that question, they must answer this one first: What would make the jobs of field service and maintenance professionals easier?

4 essential features for mobile maintenance technology

1. Tools and materials consolidation

Before maintenance professionals set off to their daily work orders, they need to swing by inventory to pick up supplies. But what happens if technicians forget to grab something crucial to the upkeep or repair of the assets they'll attend to over the course of their shifts? They must return inventory or leave the unfinished work for someone else to save time. Neither situation is ideal.

Modern CMMS solutions compile lists of tools and materials required for work orders, so for added speed to work mobile applications should carry that feature over. All the better if mobile apps can consolidate separate work order supply lists into one.

2. Maintenance time clock

Aside from financial losses caused by downtime events, labor costs for calibration and repairs represent significant portions of any maintenance budget in an asset-intensive facility. Is there any business that wouldn't love the ability to optimize labor and track its accumulation with secondhand precision if need be?

Mobile-optimized "punch clocks" allow maintenance teams to record their exact time spent completing work, but they also turn labor time into an actionable data point supervisors can visualize and manage, especially if mobile asset management apps segment labor time by work order.

3. Real-time approved work order prioritization

Adherence to asset criticality ensures that maintenance professionals align the greater goals of the business with how their operations actually run. Technicians must therefore calibrate and repair according to approved sequence of work orders. Otherwise, they risk putting off a much-needed task or spending their valuable time on things that aren't important.

Itemized work order assignments over mobile device networks connect maintenance professionals' smart devices to the centralized CMMS hub, which helps the whole crew collaborate with supervisors on what requires the most attention at any given moment. But the mobile devices technicians carry should do more than reiterate information, however valuable that information may be. Apart from transmitting data on asset location and specifications, supervisors want to invest in mobile asset management solutions that compartmentalize discrete tasks within a work order. That way, maintenance teams can record completion in steps. Think about it like a bookmark for progress. If technicians go on their breaks or end their shifts, they or their replacements can pick up right where they left off. Moreover, this increases accountability and transparency as supervisors can monitor actions with greater granularity.

"Supervisors should invest in mobile solutions that compartmentalize tasks within a work order."

4. Local save and synchronization

Not every place a maintenance professional travels to has internet connectivity, which is crucial for transmitting any updated progress data back to the main CMMS. Does that fact alone render mobile maintenance planning solutions ineffective in certain conditions?

Not if the application in question has offline functionality, as well as manual or automatic synchronization capabilities. With both of these features, users have the power to download lists and information to their devices before leaving headquarters, utilize them on the go, record necessary readings or labor times, then upload it all once they regain Wi-Fi.

Are you currently managing your assets with IBM Maximo? Reach out to an ABS Group EAM expert today for more information on how the latest version of Maximo Anywhere can help you kickstart a mobile maintenance program at your facility and offer calibration support to your crew members who need it most.