CMMS vs EAM: What is the difference? (Part 2)

Computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) and enterprise asset management (EAM) applications can both be used in the industrial maintenance space. In Part 1 of this article we discussed the similarities and differences between a CMMS and EAM. Now it is time to look at the more advanced features of EAM, including asset lifecycle management and project management.

As mentioned in Part 1, EAM must deliver the core requirements not just of maintenance management, but asset management. Those requirements are spelled out in ISO 55000, ISO 55001 and ISO 55002. ISO 55000 includes an overview of asset management. ISO 55001 is a requirements specification for an integrated asset management system and ISO 5502 offers guidance for implementation.

While ISO 55000 does not specifically address software, it does require that all asset data, across the lifecycle of the asset and across organisational boundaries, be contained in the same database and, therefore, the same system. What does that mean? It means EAM must support the planning and engineering stage of the asset, including plant design. It must encompass the construction of the asset - so powerful project, document and contract management functionality is required. And it must support operation of the asset and even eventual decommissioning and replacement.

This is a demanding requirement that a CMMS alone cannot likely meet, and frankly, neither can most EAM applications that may not address the entire asset lifecycle. And whether or not a company considers adopting the ISO standard, if they are committed to complete visibility and control over their assets, they still need that full lifecycle support.

Only a single system like EAM can deliver an accurate and consistent view of all asset information - one version of the truth - insuring policies, plans and actions are based on an accurate understanding of the history and current status of the asset infrastructure. In order to accomplish this, an EAM software product must actually address all phases of the asset lifecycle, and not many do. It must also provide portals or other methods for outside parties like engineering firms and maintenance contractors to use the system so that everyone touching that asset data is interacting with a single database in real time.

And by everyone, we mean people inside and outside the company. An EAM application must offer the ability to open portals to suppliers like engineering firms and maintenance contractors. As maintenance work is planned for the weeks ahead, if contractors have visibility of the plans through the EAM system, they can be informed of the upcoming work, schedule their people and ensure that they have the right tools and materials available. If they are seeing that rolling schedule, they can be more responsive to your organisation’s needs. This also reduces the amount of time necessary to manage those outside contractors by phone and email.

Figure 1: A CMMS tends to focus on maintenance management. It can also extend into inventory management and other disciplines, but is most often implemented for and used by maintenance personnel.

Additionally, if the contractor can report their work activities directly into the system, real-time updates of work are available. That eliminates the delay that results when the contractor enters the data in their own system, and the data flows through reporting mechanisms within that contractor environment and back to the manufacturing maintenance team, which then has to enter that record of work back into the EAM, enterprises resources planning (ERP) or computerised maintenance management (CMMS) software. That repeated entry is wasteful and increases the likelihood of errors. Real-time data can also allow for tighter coordination between the contractor and internal maintenance staff or with other contractors working on that asset. Moreover, that real-time data could allow for more efficient use of the asset, as in the resumption of a production schedule immediately after a contractor finishes work.

Advanced project management

Project management is of interest not just to the maintenance or plant manager who may want to manage a plant shutdown, but the CEO, CFO, board or other stakeholders who may want to manage the lifecycle of an asset as one long project - a project that might last for as long as 20 or more years. The asset lifecycle is really just a project that starts with engineering and construction processes. The project then comes to include the cost to maintain, operate and refit, and culminates with a well-informed decision to decommission and replace the asset. In the absence of fully functional, flexible and integrated EAM and ALM systems, managing the lifecycle of the asset from cradle to grave is a challenge.

What this means to a software selection process is that the ability of an EAM package to support plant design and engineering ought to be a major factor. Even in the vast majority of instances when an outside engineering group is responsible for design, their activities ought to be encompassed by the EAM platform to be used during the asset lifecycle so that design data flows naturally into the maintenance and operations systems that will sustain the asset during its productive life.

Tight integration between ALM, project management and core EAM functionality is also necessary. Consider for a moment the situation faced by the chief executive and maintenance director at a coal-fired power plant that has one stop per year for major overhauls. There is a pressing need to meet the project timeline because each day of downtime is worth millions of dollars, and there is a significant degree of project complexity as outside contractors are hired, equipment is rented and perhaps additional maintenance shifts are added. Robust project management functionality that is integrated on a very granular level with a powerful EAM application can help manage the resources necessary to complete the required tasks in the time allotted. While the ability to manage to meet the deadline is one strong argument for integrated project and EAM functionality, even greater benefits can be realised if project and EAM functionality are tied into an overarching asset lifecycle management (ALM) system and the general ledger. The ability to look at a plant shutdown from an ALM and financial perspective can help determine if it makes sense to bring in additional outside resources in order to shorten the amount of downtime. To what extent will the outside cost of hiring contractors and equipment increase total return on the asset in the intermediate to longer term?

Many asset-intensive companies do not have in place the proper tools to efficiently optimise the activities associated with a plant shutdown, and certainly do not have the right tools to proactively reduce planned downtime.

But this effort to track the cost of operating and maintaining the asset is dependent on effective cost tracking on thousands of smaller projects. On this micro level, integrated project, finance and EAM functionality is critical. When working in a properly integrated enterprise application, it is much easier to structure a maintenance project to collect all of the cost, including procurement and work orders that are used to collect technicians’ time. Integrated functionality will also allow analysis of project cost by different breakdown structures, and each activity can be assigned a different funding line.

So it becomes that the difference between EAM and CMMS has to do not only with the breadth of functionality, but the degree to which that broader functionality is designed to work together to deliver a unified asset management platform.

The desired future state

While a CMMS is designed to meet immediate maintenance management needs, EAM is designed to manage the future state of the asset, providing visibility into the past and driving predictability into the future.

It is this ability to look into the future state of the asset that is affecting everything from lifecycle extensions to plant location decisions. In Brazil, there is tremendous growth in the paper and pulp industry. Why is this? Because executives can see that the productivity of an asset in that location is much higher at lower cost than one in a more northern climate. In Brazil, there are entire valleys that are completely empty of trees after a thorough harvesting. But just seven years later, that valley is home to a full-grown forest - a forest growing in flat fields so when they come in with harvesters, there are no natural barriers. That seven-year harvesting cycle versus the 150-year harvesting cycle common to a more northern climate has real asset lifecycle implications.

The future state a company implementing EAM can aspire to can be a lot simpler than this however. They may aspire to lower cost by truly managing an extensive maintenance inventory in an intelligent way.

Figure 2: EAM must address the entire asset lifecycle, extending from design through decommissioning. All of the asset data - as designed, as built and as maintained - must be held in EAM as a central repository.

Inventory management requires a unique master ID for part identification. This ID must be standardised, and IFS has been on the forefront of identifying a universal standard for parts. Why is this important from an EAM standpoint? Because it allows management to reduce the ongoing investment required to manage the asset. If you look at a multisite, asset-intensive industry, there might be 100,000 different parts or objects in that asset environment. There might be 50,000 different spare parts in the inventory and all of these are named in a localised way. That is because the part naming convention was likely developed site by site over the decades, and the problem may be a lot worse if the company has grown by acquisition. Therefore, it is impossible to know that a motor in company A, called Alpha, is the same motor as company B is storing under the name Beta. With enterprise part standardisation, organisations can suddenly start to treat stock levels at different sites with a higher degree of transparency because it is suddenly understood that this motor is stored in all of the five sites in the group. And the expected level that is needed on the shelf is maybe 0.2 of this motor, which means at least one needs to be stored. But if these five sites are treated as one common unit with different inventory locations for this motor, it would be possible in theory to be able to store just one motor to service all five sites and still be able to ensure coverage.

Mobility

The futurist William Gibson was right: the future is here, but it is just not evenly distributed. Some companies have achieved part standardisation. The technology is there, but the will to implement is not yet universal. This is also the case with enterprise mobility, which a modern enterprise asset management application can also facilitate.

Mobility comes through EAM in different ways to different people in the enterprise. For the executive, an EAM system will be able to notify them on their smartphone or other mobile device when urgent documents need to be approved. Those working in an office or managerial environment will have full access to their EAM suite on touchscreen devices like tablets. And technicians will be able to use consumer-grade smartphones and other mobile devices to access and complete work orders.

The technology is here, and forward-looking companies are taking advantage of it.

Conclusion

EAM and CMMS are related, with a CMMS being used to address immediate maintenance management needs and EAM extending across other enterprise functions. Companies operating large, expensive or mission-critical assets with many maintenance technicians will do well by selecting and implementing EAM. A company with more immediate needs may want to implement a CMMS, but perhaps opt for an application that can grow with them, expending in a modular and flexible way to deliver full-blown EAM.

*Dave Bertolini is Managing Principal with People and Processes. Certified as a Master Instructor and seminar leader, he has been involved with over 300 improvement initiatives and CMMS implementations, utilising 38 different software packages. He is the author of the book ‘CMMS Explained’.

Anders Lif is Global Director, Product & Industry Marketing, IFS World Operations. He is responsible for the successful roll out of all IFS products to the market and coordinates IFS global industry directors. He has held senior positions within IFS since 1998.