Last year, companies grappled with the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic uncertainties. To react to changing customer demands and keep businesses afloat, operations and workflows suddenly moved to remote or hybrid models. Besides, any unpredictability on the manufacturing floors even during the pre-pandemic times strongly impacted cost, resources, and personnel safety. Overcoming these challenges requires the insights of senior technicians and data gathered over several years that need to be analyzed after integrating into new systems and third-party applications. Unfortunately, many senior technicians continue to age out, or move on in the workforce, taking with them the acumen of maintaining manufacturing assets. Legacy systems and time-consuming ‘deploy and run’ processes hinder the organization’s reach to relevant manufacturing data. In industries like manufacturing that rely on physical presence on the factory floors for real-time maintenance, monitoring and tracking of workflows, digital solutions serve as a boon. ManagerPlus enterprise asset management software from iOFFICE is built to alleviate such concerns by helping users leverage data collected on their equipment to develop and deploy a robust preventive maintenance program proven to keep assets running longer.
iOFFICE is the industry-leading workplace experience and asset management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that was founded in 2002 to help leaders manage productive and engaging workspaces. The company has etched a journey driven by its people-focused approach to expand the reach of its facilities management software into an integrated workplace experience solution. Recently, iOFFICE acquired two asset management platforms, ManagerPlus and Hippo CMMS, a user-friendly maintenance management solution. In 2020, iOFFICE also acquired Teem, a workplace experience tool to enhance employee and visitor interactions in workplaces. With its slew of cloud-based, open API platforms and dedicated mobile applications, iOFFICE solutions help businesses of all sizes connect people, data, and things. With solutions like ManagerPlus, the company aims to harness the power of technology to improve and optimize maintenance, asset management, and facility operations for every customer. “We believe your best resource is your people and we empower them with the data they need to make decisions and do their job better,” says Tom McCormick – General Manager, iOFFICE.
iOFFICE’s predictive analytics and data-powered platform, ManagerPlus, helps maintenance managers schedule work, track parts and inventory, and schedule downtime when it’s most efficient for the organization. Decision makers and employees can rest their anxieties about equipment breakage or potential dangers during operation. The solution imparts its users the ability to build work order templates allowing maintenance staff to store and transfer valuable expert knowledge in the form of recommendations and best practices for critical maintenance tasks.
Go Mobile, Get Teams on the Same Page
ManagerPlus enables teams to stay connected via mobile apps with real-time access to information on the tasks to be accomplished. Managers can easily generate and assign work orders that can be accessed, modified, and closed out from anywhere, all from the technicians connected mobile device. Additionally, automated scheduling, inventory tracking, vendor communication, and more helps save time that would have otherwise been invested in trivial aspects of maintenance operations. The robust, fully featured mobile apps for equipment operators and technicians enable them to inspect assets, request maintenance and perform tasks. The managers can automatically assign the right technician for the right job without additional steps to track an operator or clarify a request. They can review historical data on work performed on an asset whenever required as the system captures this information and stores it permanently. Tasks can be accomplished remotely without the scope for any miscommunication, or the need for paperwork or spreadsheets to manage work order data. All asset and maintenance data is updated instantly whenever there’s a change and since everyone is operating from the same centralized database, they are likely to remain on the same page.
Reliability forms the crux of iOFFICE’s solution platforms. With ManagerPlus being designed to increase the shelf life of the assets, the robust preventive maintenance program ensures not even a minute of productivity is lost. All data in the platform is stored safely in the cloud to drive business continuity and deliver ease of anytime, anywhere access.
Pioneering Unique Ways to Bring Data Together
In one instance, Metro Group, a metals recycling and transloading company with several large pieces of equipment and assets to manage approached iOFFICE to address their issues of high costs incurring from reactive maintenance work. The client’s maintenance teams were stuck in inefficient and unproductive operations. By implementing ManagerPlus, Metro Group was able to assemble the right package for everyone from vehicle operators to on-the-ground maintenance technicians. Their teams also received training that helped them implement the system more effectively. These strategies brought significant visibility into Metro Group’s business intelligence and resulted in greatly improved performance across the board. The accuracy of tracked work orders sky-rocketed, and the number of costly reactive maintenance tasks dropped. Meanwhile, their preventive maintenance completion rate rose to nearly 93 percent.
“We value our customer’s feedback and are always working to improve and bring innovative features to the marketplace,” adds McCormick. As the needs of their customers and the industry at large continue to evolve, iOFFICE will strive to build tools designed to help them accomplish their goals. “We are constantly working to connect more systems and pioneer unique ways to bring data together,” McCormick concludes.
