Equipment Management Software... Need Advice!

[scoops25]

What are people using to manage there fleets? I am looking at getting something and unsure what to get, never used any sort of software yet.
Want to be able to store machine history, track warranty, components and over hauls for now, future schedule PM's and possibly inventory. It would have to work with JDE so we are not entering data twice.
Looked at HCCS Equipment360 online, any users?

2nd question, what else are businesses doing with there software to make there lives easier? What should I be looking for down the road once we have something in place and working?

 

[FMD]

What are people using to manage there fleets? I am looking at getting something and unsure what to get, never used any sort of software yet.
Want to be able to store machine history, track warranty, components and over hauls for now, future schedule PM's and possibly inventory. It would have to work with JDE so we are not entering data twice.
Looked at HCCS Equipment360 online, any users?

2nd question, what else are businesses doing with there software to make there lives easier? What should I be looking for down the road once we have something in place and working?

The programs that I used were Enrich, Maximo and TMW. All three of these interface with JDE.

JDE even has a maintenance program also.

I like the TMW program the best for it is a comprehensive maintenance program that includes, inventory controls with cycle counts, bin locations, avg cost, vendor information, PM's, predictive maintenance, man hours, payroll, tire inventorys, warranties, equipment modules with specifications, dispatching, logistics, failure causes and the TMC VMRS codes.

 

[FMD]

I didnt really answer your second question.

I carry a laptop and smart phone that is linked to our maintenance programs. I can access this anytime (I have two working shifts).

When you decide to go live with a choosen program, remember it is only as good as what is being inputed. Garbage in = Garbage out.

Set up a though training program and include everyone who will be using it. Your management, mechanics, accounting, parts et el. Have a person picked for being the go to guy/gal as the guru. Someone computer savy yet knows the maintenace habits of your company. Have the manufactuer do the intial training. This will cost $$, but it will be worth it. Make sure that you back up your information daily. Usually this is done like at around 2am when nobody is on the pc's and the internet is moving a little faster. I would suggest to have your back up at another location. I have a buddy that works for another company and they had a fire and lost everything. What they found was that the back up servers were at thier garage and they lost all of their maintenace records, payroll records et el. That was more devastating than loosing the building (their insurance took care of replacing the building). They lost years worth of data.

I try to take full advantage of the program that we have. PM runs and tracking, PMd's and tracking, parts cycle counting, warranties tracking and recoveries, man hours, JSA's reports, trend reports on cost and breakdowns. Time standards on specific jobs with real time time studies (using trends for the history of past jobs). I do very little on paper. Even our accident and near misses on the PC's now.

 

[Joe Sullivan MZ]

What are people using to manage there fleets? I am looking at getting something and unsure what to get, never used any sort of software yet.
Want to be able to store machine history, track warranty, components and over hauls for now, future schedule PM's and possibly inventory. It would have to work with JDE so we are not entering data twice.
Looked at HCCS Equipment360 online, any users?

2nd question, what else are businesses doing with there software to make there lives easier? What should I be looking for down the road once we have something in place and working?

There's alot of companies starting to use ERP's ( Enterprise resource planning) software companies, who help them sell their stuff moreso than finding work. They do stuff like manage advertising on sites for clients- maintaining the inventory database etc. They go much further than that too if you want to pay for it, integrating every system in the company to increase efficiencies. I can't recommend any, but they're out there and many companies get alot of valuable use out of them.

Some decent reading on the viability of ERP's here if you're really bored or need some toilet reading;

ERP John reading from ze Germans

Other than that (at a less complicated level), it's amazing the availability of free software and apps out there that are really useful and that can be adapted, once the specific problem/need in the business has been identified; paying for software isn't always necessary.