What are the best practices for implementing a mobile maintenance strategy?

Mobile maintenance is a strategy that allows plant operators to perform preventive and corrective tasks on their assets using portable devices, such as tablets, smartphones, or laptops. By leveraging wireless connectivity, cloud computing, and mobile applications, mobile maintenance can improve efficiency, accuracy, and safety of maintenance operations. In this article, we will discuss some of the best practices for implementing a mobile maintenance strategy in your plant.

1 Identify your goals and needs

Before you adopt a mobile maintenance strategy, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and what challenges you face. For example, you may want to reduce downtime, increase productivity, enhance quality, or comply with regulations. You also need to assess your current maintenance processes, systems, and resources, and identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement. By defining your goals and needs, you can align your mobile maintenance strategy with your business objectives and priorities.

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Jani Chetankumar

Co-Founder at Mechwat l Co-Founder at Commalinn
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From my experience, effective communication channels are paramount when implementing a mobile maintenance strategy. It ensures seamless coordination between teams, enabling swift response to issues. Additionally, robust supply chain management guarantees timely access to necessary parts and materials, minimizing downtime. Moreover, considering human resource availability is crucial to ensure adequate staffing for maintenance tasks, preventing bottlenecks in operations. These factors, combined with goal alignment and stakeholder involvement, form a solid foundation for a successful mobile maintenance approach.

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Ali Raza Shahid BS. Mech (Hons), MBA, Boiler Engineer

Maintenance Section Head E&M
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- Implement a mobile Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for real-time work order tracking and seamless communication. - Empower maintenance teams with mobile devices for efficient on-site inspections, allowing quick updates and data collection. - Implement remote monitoring tools to enable swift equipment health assessments, minimizing downtime through proactive issue identification in a streamlined mobile maintenance strategy.

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2 Choose the right mobile devices and applications

The next step is to select the mobile devices and applications that suit your plant environment and maintenance tasks. You need to consider factors such as durability, battery life, screen size, connectivity, security, and compatibility. You also need to evaluate the features and functions of the mobile applications, such as work order management, asset inspection, inventory control, data capture, reporting, and analytics. You should look for mobile devices and applications that are user-friendly, reliable, and scalable.

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3 Integrate with your existing systems and data sources

Another best practice is to ensure that your mobile devices and applications can integrate seamlessly with your existing systems and data sources, such as your computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), or sensors. This way, you can access and update real-time information on your assets, work orders, inventory, and performance from anywhere in your plant. You can also avoid data duplication, inconsistency, and errors.

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Iyare Eboigbe

Field Mechanical Maintenance | Oil and gas
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The saying “together we do it better” not only applies to humans but also systems and applications. Integrating existing systems & technologies with newer ones helps improve overall performance. What happens when you retrofit a device? You thought right…it becomes better! A better device or system will make your work easier, increase productivity and reduce issues.

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4 Train and empower your maintenance staff

To successfully implement a mobile maintenance strategy, you need to train and empower your maintenance staff to use the mobile devices and applications effectively and efficiently. You need to provide them with clear instructions, guidelines, and support on how to perform their tasks using the mobile tools. You also need to encourage them to embrace the change and adopt a proactive and collaborative attitude. By empowering your maintenance staff, you can boost their morale, engagement, and performance.

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Iyare Eboigbe

Field Mechanical Maintenance | Oil and gas
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Training generally improves one’s ability and performance. A well trained workforce will lead to precise work execution and this in turn yields better results. In this case, training your staff will ensure that mobile maintenance devices & activities are properly used and consistently carried out respectively to the latter and in turn improve general operations.

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5 Monitor and evaluate your results

The final best practice is to monitor and evaluate your results and outcomes of your mobile maintenance strategy. You need to measure and track key performance indicators (KPIs), such as downtime, productivity, quality, safety, and cost. You also need to collect and analyze feedback from your maintenance staff, managers, and customers on their satisfaction and expectations. By monitoring and evaluating your results, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your mobile maintenance strategy, and make adjustments and improvements as needed.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are the best practices for implementing a mobile maintenance strategy?

1

2

3

4

5

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1 Identify your goals and needs

2 Choose the right mobile devices and applications

3 Integrate with your existing systems and data sources

4 Train and empower your maintenance staff

5 Monitor and evaluate your results

6 Here’s what else to consider

Plant Operations

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What are the best practices for implementing a mobile maintenance strategy?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Identify your goals and needs

2 Choose the right mobile devices and applications

3 Integrate with your existing systems and data sources

4 Train and empower your maintenance staff

5 Monitor and evaluate your results

6 Here’s what else to consider

Plant Operations

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