You probably already know the difference between maintenance and repair, but many people still struggle with these notions. While they have close meanings and do come from the same industry, they are definitely not synonyms. Let's dive in!
Repair
Repair is all about fixing what is broken. It is minimizing any damage that occurs and making sure that things get back to normal as fast as possible. For instance, a piece of machinery breaks down and you need it to run your facility. You want to get it fixed as soon as possible so that everything can run smoothly again.
Maintenance
Maintenance encompasses a wealth of things, but one of the most important ones is that making sure a repair isn’t needed, or at least minimizing the amount of repairs. Maintenance is making sure that same piece of equipment is kept in good working order by doing things like checking oil levels, making sure belts are lubricated, changing filters in an air conditioning unit and anything that keeps the things at your facility working well with fewer repairs.
CMMS
CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Software) helps in a number of ways. It allows you to set up maintenance tasks as well as preventative maintenance. You can also do things like:
- Minimizing downtime
- Improving asset life
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
- Process and action documentation for ISO compliance
- MRO spare parts inventory control
- Educated asset decisions
Read More: Which Do You Do - Repair or Rebuild?
CMMS allows you to do more than just run your facility – it makes it easier and lets you spend time on other things that need your attention rather than just having to constantly work on spreadsheets, send out orders by hand, and try to track details like when something was done, who did it, and what exactly was the outcome.
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