Ah, springtime. The days feel longer with more time between sunrise to sunset. The air becomes warmer. Springtime brings an urge to refresh your space, your perspective and your processes. It also leads to opportunities for cleaning up your facility in ‘hard management’ (physical assets) and ‘soft management’ (software and processes).
Not sure where to start? Your computerized maintenance management system
(CMMS) is your all-in-one solution to make these essential seasonal tasks easier to manage.
Explore all of Maintenance Care’s CMMS features by booking a free demo today!
We put together a spring maintenance checklist to jump-start your seasonal tasks and get you thinking about areas of your facility that may need some TLC. You can take this list, add your own items to it and build task lists in your CMMS to make your spring cleaning process smooth and effective.
Keep this Spring Maintenance Checklist Handy
Sometimes it’s easiest to put together a checklist after you’ve pinpointed a specific issue you wish to address. When tackling your home improvement to-do list, for example, you may start with one room or task. Say your kitchen sink is leaking. You might start work on the plumbing issue then move on to cleaning up water puddles from the leak, mopping the floor, putting away dishes, wiping counters and so on. At your facilities, you may have a specific timely task that needs to be addressed, or you may start in one area and take stock of what needs to be done there.
The issue: Potential safety hazards
The solutions:
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Clear walkways, sidewalks and parking lots
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Watch for water build-up in gutters and near drainage points
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Place, adjust or replace mats at entrances
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Clean HVAC units and ducts
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Review safety, building and health codes for your industry
Icicles dripping from the gutters may make a pleasant white noise when you’re sitting next to your office window, but they also pose potential safety issues. Melting water can refreeze or pool and cause slippery areas on walkways and inside hallways. They can also lead to potential water leaks, which means potential structural damage.
Avoid issues by continuing to salt and clean walkways, sidewalks and parking lots until all signs of frost have disappeared. Provide mats in doorways to prevent slippery floors. Make sure drainage points are unblocked and watch for potential water damage to ceilings and walls.
Now is a great time to have your ducts cleaned, clearing out all of the dust and other airborne particle matter that can affect air quality. Review and upload essential documents related to your facility’s health and safety guidelines.
The issue: Inventory discrepancies
The solution: Review your assets and make sure your inventory list is up to date
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Use asset tracking to maintain up-to-date records on all inventory
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Review, adjust and schedule preventative maintenance
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Look for corrective maintenance needs
Do you have seasonal tools that you put away for the winter? Perhaps you’re a contractor who only does finishing work during the cold months – excavating and new builds are starting soon. Use this time to make sure your large equipment that sat dormant is up to date on repairs.
Plus, with some of the supply chain delays most industries continue to face, you may want to see where you need to order additional parts and other supplies for those seasonal assets, so as not to find yourself stuck if a belt breaks or a sensor goes bad.
Spring cleaning is when you can put your preventive maintenance CMMS features to the test. As you go through your facility, remember to find opportunities to add tasks to your current plan and prepare for corrective maintenance to keep the downtime of your assets to a minimum. While there can be unexpected repairs and replacements that come up, with preventative maintenance scheduling and work order management through your CMMS, you can reduce these issues and streamline your facility operations.
The issue: Disorganization, miscommunication and missing data
The solution: A software spring clean
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Merge duplicate entries
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Create consistency in naming and formatting
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Invest in continuing training
Have you read our gentle encouragement to use your CMMS during this post and thought, “Well, that sounds nice in theory. But in practice, new software is just more headache than help”? Rather than giving up on a digital system, consider ‘spring cleaning’ your existing software. Perhaps this is the time to look for a system that is better suited to your team’s needs in your current business season.
Unlock the Benefits of CMMS with Process Standardization
A cleaning management software solution only works when used properly and consistently. To maintain a reliable CMMS, keep close tabs on how the software is used and managed. When you have multiple users inputting data into the system, they need to be clear and consistent in using the same values. This goes for labeling assets, files and tasks, using the same abbreviations and special characters and even being mindful of spacing.
A good way to avoid inconsistencies is to control the number of free-form fields and utilize drop downs, check boxes and other ways of selecting options rather than entering it from scratch. This also saves your team time.
Ensure all existing assets exist in your current CMMS, archive defunct assets and clarify asset locations. (Perhaps some things moved over the winter.) Now also is a good time to look at classifications and hierarchies. Double-check that the relationship between assets is accurate and your equipment’s serial and model numbers are correct.
Next, take a look at your automation and notifications. Are the correct team members getting the correct notifications? Are your task lists, assignments and work orders automated properly for optimal efficiency? Do your billing codes correspond with those your accounts receivable department uses?
A clean data set in your CMMS leads to clean, accurate and effective reporting.
Your Spring Cleaning Management Software
The above checklist and action items are a ‘springboard’ to getting your seasonal maintenance on track. If you’re still unsure if a CMMS is right for you, or how to go about finding the right fit, the Maintenance Care team is available to walk you through the platform and help you select the maintenance management software that will start your season out strong. Schedule your live demo today.
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