Advanced roadmap to take maintenance to the next level in 2024-2

In the era of ever-evolving technology, ensuring the sustainable and efficient operations means that maintenance and reliability practices should keep pace with the technology advancements. In the last article: A roadmap to take maintenance to the next level in 2024-1 we went through the steps needed for keeping systems up-to-date using basic free tools. This article continue the step-by-step roadmap on how to revamp and maintain a maintenance system using basic tools free and online digital resources. By the end, you’ll be equipped with a roadmap to make your maintenance processes better in 2024.

We shall start by a summarizing the Basic Steps. Then, we shall take it a further step to more complicated systems. Lastly we shall have few words about setting up a strategy to govern and guide our actions.

The Entry Level Roadmap to sustaining, updating and improving Maintenance

I. First stop on the roadmap: Assessing the Current State:

1. Documentation and Inventory: Start with the Basics: Begin by documenting all existing equipment and inventory.

2. Maintenance Logs and Records: Review Historical Data: Dive into maintenance logs and records. Analyze past maintenance activities to identify recurring issues, areas of improvement, and patterns.

3. Team Feedback: Engage Maintenance Teams: Gather feedback from the maintenance teams. They are on the frontline while implementing the roadmap and can provide valuable insights

II. Next station: Identifying Key Areas for Improvement:

1. Prioritize Critical Systems: Identify Systems criticality: Prioritize critical systems that impact overall operations and can jeopardize your roadmap.

2. Evaluate Maintenance Procedures: Review Current Procedures: Assess the efficiency of current maintenance procedures.

3.Define Key Metrics: Establish reliability metrics to measure the performance of the existing maintenance procedures. Same measures will denote the success of the upgraded system. Basically use MTBF, MTTR, OEE, Uptime, etc.

• Make use of SimpleWays maintenance consultancy and coaching sessions to properly set and tune your maintenance roadmap. You can unlock this opportunity via this link: Store for Maintenance and Digital Services

III. Get help with your roadmap: Basic Tools for Upgrade:

• Utilize Spreadsheets: Excel or Google Sheets can be powerful tools for organizing data, creating maintenance schedules, and tracking inventory. Google sheet is available for free with your Gmail account.

• Explore Task Management Tools: You can build and customize your own task app as we had done together in the Google Apps training. Otherwise, you can look for the free tiers of apps like Trello.

• Implement Cloud Storage: Platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox provide secure cloud storage for maintenance manuals, schematics, and documentation. Moreover, this ensures easy access to crucial information for the entire team anytime anywhere.

• Leverage Communication Apps: Personally I had relied on social media groups for years to communicate to work team. Otherwise Tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams facilitate real-time communication among team members.

The Advanced Roadmap to improve Maintenance

IV. You can find advanced tools from Free and Online Digital Resources:

Explore Free CMMS Versions:

Platforms like UpKeep and Limble offer free versions of their maintenance management software. These tools provide features for work order management, asset tracking, and reporting. Or, you can create your own simple system using Google Apps as Forms and Apps Script to automate those activities. You can join our Google Apps training. Celebrating 2024, You can get this training at the minimum possible price for only 5 days from the date of this article using this link for the English version: Jump-Start Google Apps. And this link for the Arabic version: إنطلق بقوة إلي تطبيقات جوجل . After the welcome 2024 special prices, you can get it with the special discount for our readers using the links in the ads below.

Utilize Online Training:

Leverage free online training platforms like Coursera or LinkedIn Learning to enhance the skills of maintenance teams. Courses on reliability engineering, equipment diagnostics, and preventive maintenance can be particularly beneficial. Or you can take this training potential to the next level by joining Secrets of Building a maintenance Program. Celebrating 2024, You can get this training at the minimum possible price for only 5 days from the date of this article using this link for the English version: Secrets of a Maintenance Program. And this link for the Arabic version: أسرار بناء برنامج ناجح للصيانة . After the welcome 2024 special prices, you can get it with the special discount for our readers using the links in the ads below.

Consider Open Source CMMS:

Open source Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) solutions, such as CMMS Studio or Mainteno, offer flexibility and can be customized to meet specific needs. They are valuable in case you are a digital savvy.

Put an eye on the future & Explore IoT Solutions:

Internet of Things (IoT) platforms like ThingSpeak or Blynk can enable sensor-based monitoring. Implementing IoT for condition-based maintenance can significantly improve predictive capabilities. Utilizing some smart sensors and connecting it to the IoT or service apps is a milestone on the road to AI. In order that AI agents may serve you, you need to prepare them a considerable amount of data and train them on how to use it. To start with just receiving the values from the smart sensors that are connected to the web, you can use a 2-3 lines of code to create a web app using Google Apps Script that receives theses data automatically and stores them to Sheets. Furthermore, you can find the details on how to create this freely in this video:

V. The roadmap Implementation Strategy:

We need to start by understanding what is a strategy and how to build one.

Literally Strategy has a lot of synonyms Action, approach, blueprint, design, game plan, method, plan, planning, policy, procedure, program, project, scenario, scheme, system, angle. You can see that all those synonyms of strategy implies the way of doing things. The literal meaning of strategy: a long-range plan for achieving something or reaching a goal, or the skill of making such plans. So it includes the goal and the plan that we shall implement in steps to reach this goal.

Mainly we focus on the tasks, goals, plans, milestones or functional strategy. When their origin is the organization strategy, then, they represent its variants based on your position in the organization. If you are in the managerial level, you might see the strategy as a plan, a project or a policy. When you are on the execution side, it is procedure or a method that you will execute. While the board will see the strategy as a blueprint or a game plan.

Actionable Steps

Some of the basic elements that need to be in your 2024 strategy can be:

• Plan a Phased Approach: Avoid overwhelming the team by planning a phased rollout. Start with one critical system, gather feedback, and gradually expand the upgraded system to other areas.
• Invest in Training: Provide comprehensive training for the maintenance team on the new tools and processes. Ensure that everyone is comfortable with the changes and understands the benefits.
• Encourage Feedback: Establish a feedback loop for continuous improvement. Regularly check in with the maintenance teams to gather insights, address challenges, and identify further enhancements.
• Embrace the new technological trends: This will be our next step on our journey to a better maintenance approach in 2024.

In Conclusion,

Advanced roadmap to take maintenance to the next level in 2024 is simply an extension of our efforts for Upgrading or maintaining our maintenance system. By leveraging basic free tools and online digital resources, we can position our maintenance career properly on the track to the next level. The key lies in a strategy that will take us from assessing the current state to implementing new technological tools. With this guide, your maintenance system can continuously evolve as time goes on. It is the roadmap that we can rely on for 2024.