Artificial Intelligence is upgrading many traditional and ‘offline’ industries with advanced analytics and automation. Facility Maintenance will not be an exception here – as the era of modern facility maintenance is taking shape with better security and intelligent mechanization. Facility management involves various maintenance activities of a manufacturing facility or commercial property. Maintenance is crucial to ensure the facility is reliable 100% of the time Many of these tasks are reactive in nature – which means, that whenever there is a problem, the field service technicians come to fix the same. It is possible to implement a proactive maintenance schedule using the latest technology, especially SaaS and AI-enabled software tools. The best way to get started at upgrading your facility’s maintenance is to adopt a field service or property management software – read more to learn why.
What is property management software?
Property management software is a specialized field service management solution that provides a central platform to automate, manage, and streamline various facilities and preventive maintenance work. For example, using property management software, it is possible to track inventory size, implement preventive maintenance schedules, handle work orders till completion, and much more.
How does property management software digitize and improve facility maintenance?
Preventive maintenance is where having property management software helps reduce expenses, ensure minimal breakdown of equipment, and improve overall inventory management operations. It mainly does so by tracking historical data of managing supplies, equipment, materials, systems, or tools. It creates reports and helps in extracting insights such that it suggests modifications, automates manual work, and alerts in case of downtimes for quick fixes.
Other key aspects where property management software helps streamline operations include:
Automate work order management
Work orders often face exposure to human errors resulting in wrong job placement, resource allocation, and rework. For example, software can help prioritize your work orders for execution so that urgent tasks can be taken care of at the earliest possible time. It also helps cut down time spent on manual work like collecting information from customers or workers for placing orders, filling forms, sharing files, etc.
Property management software also makes it possible to schedule recurring work orders. This helps you –
- Stay alert with the calendar for maintenance activities
- Review trends in recurring workflows to improve them
- Customize workflows as per business requirements
Keep field service workers in the loop in real-time
When you are running and maintaining a manufacturing facility, having real-time information about equipment usage, field service worker location, and overall plant efficiency helps tackle emergencies. Having property management software means you can track and communicate metrics like temperatures around the facility or detect any anomalies in the environment and take quick action.
The software includes real-time messaging and notification features that keep field service workers and supervisors in the loop. In case of emergency, workers can share images or videos quickly with managers to help mitigate facility disasters.
Reduce equipment failure
Equipment failure or downtime causes delays, a rise in expenses, and losses due to the inability to complete work orders. Using property management software helps track equipment health to make sure they are utilized on time and with healthy usage frequency. It ensures you undertake equipment maintenance work on time. You can also track the expiry of certain materials or supplies kept in the facility and get alerted to restock or use them on time.
Comply with regulations and be ready for audits
When choosing a facilities management software, make sure it also helps you stay compliant with local laws relevant to your facility’s location. By tracking equipment usage, facility outputs, field service worker timesheets, and more – it is possible to align with necessary metrics for maintaining a healthy facility.
For example, many countries have labor laws for workers in warehouses or manufacturing facilities. Property management software will help ensure safety rules are being followed, track timesheets to determine productive work, and manage compensations. Knowing these metrics helps with labor compliance work.
