October 25, 2023 | 6 min read How seven companies found CMMS success By: Marc CousineauReviewed by: Elizabeth Voss Back to blog High maintenance costs and too much reactive maintenance are two frustrations all maintenance teams can do without. Shifting from reactive maintenance to preventive maintenance can help boost the bottom line by cutting costs, reducing downtime, increasing productivity and minimizing inefficiencies. Here’s how seven companies transformed their maintenance operations from reactive to preventive with CMMS software (opens in new tab). The micro-fulfillment company who changed the grocery industry The company Takeoff Technologies is changing the way e-grocery retail is done with their micro fulfillment center (MFC) solutions. The challenge Bringing groceries online is challenging, they need to remain fresh and need to get to the customer quickly. With the popularity of Takeoffs micro-fulfillment solution growing the pressure was on to deliver the same speed and quality to the grocery and customer, and the only way to deliver that experience is through excellently maintained equipment. The solution and results Takeoff needed CMMS software to help them standardize maintenance across their global fleet of MFC’s, improve reaction time and increase customer satisfaction for the team and retail clients. After speaking with Fiix, they realized that the CMMS had the flexibility, customization and support needed for their growing business. After implementing Fiix’s CMMS at 25 sites, they were able to achieve 83% asset reliability, 99.8% availability and 86% PM completion in just a year. Through the CMMS they created a system called “The Power of One” that helped to sync maintenance work across all 25 sites on a 12-week cycle. What they’re saying The plastics manufacturer who found a community of support The company Cloeren Inc, is a world leader in plastics manufacturing specializing in developing machinery for plastics processing. The challenge The company was growing but their mindset stayed the same, ‘run until it breaks’ was the motto. This cost the company lots of time and money, and as they were in the process of growing their facilities across North America, that mentality could be detrimental. With only maintenance administrator, Holly Tullos, they needed a way to centralize all their equipment data so they could plan more proactive maintenance. The solution and results Cloeren needed a solution that could interact with their existing ERP system, easy to use and had a mobile app function for technicians to receive and action work orders from anywhere in the plant. After implementing Fiix CMMS they got started using it right away. At the time a series of features were being offered in beta testing, and they needed new and existing users to test things out. Part of that beta testing was an online community group where other Fiix CMMS users could ask questions, attend virtual events and hear about the latest products from Fiix. This, combined with the Fiix team’s near-constant efforts to get and implement feedback, made Cloeren realize that Fiix was a true partner in her team’s success. What they’re saying About the community: “I have gone back to some of those webinar recordings and watched them three or four times,” says Holly, “and if I don’t understand something in them, I can be sure to count on the rest of the community for support.” About the CMMS: “Pulling a pre-made report is extremely useful because it provides me with all the information, I need to make maintenance decisions. I don’t have to think about anything except turning the data into an action plan,” Holly says. The maintenance manager who stopped putting out fires The company Perth County Ingredients is a dried egg processing facility. The challenge The maintenance team was wasting time and resources. 100% of the maintenance was reactive – meaning the team couldn’t move beyond trying to put out fires all day, every day. On top of being reactive, the team was left in the dark when it came to emergency maintenance. They would get alerted, and whether the problem was anything from pressing a reset button to a whole line going down, they wouldn’t know until they arrived on scene. The solution and results PCI needed CMMS software to help them get things under control. They started rolling out the CMMS using the mobile app, equipping every technician with a tablet to do the work. The app allowed the team to log and look up work by scanning a QR code on an asset. All of this helped to shave hours off the time it took to troubleshoot a problem. Not only did implementing Fiix allow PCI to focus on managing the maintenance team, but it also gave them the value-added time to project manage a $4m capital expenditure investment for the facility. The aquaculture industry trailblazer who risked a failing grade The company Scottish Sea Farms, pioneers in the farming of superior quality Scottish salmon. The challenge The company had no system to track its machinery and help its team members stay accountable. This meant that the company risked failing one of its regular food safety compliance audits and losing tens of thousands of dollars in downtime. The solution and results Scottish Sea Farms needed CMMS software to help them gain control over their maintenance, record assets, measure KPIs, track maintenance tasks, manage checks, and provide sound data to auditors. After testing a free version of Fiix, they deployed the software full-time. After implementing Fiix’s CMMS at all facilities, Scottish Sea Farms has yet to fail an audit and has achieved an 85% maintenance completion rate. The company also fully automated work orders and gained the ability to move assets between sites more efficiently. What they’re saying “It was no effort at all…from the initial contact to going live on the system, it took less than a week. I’m also impressed at how the system has grown since 2012. They modify the system according to our needs.” – Ewen Leslie, Freshwater Engineering Manager at Scottish Sea Farms. The baked beans manufacturer that made collaboration their secret sauce The company Bush Brothers and Company is an iconic American food manufacturer with over a century of heritage and multiple production sites across the U.S. The challenge Bush Brothers and Company was at a critical turning point in its maintenance strategy. Previous software rollouts missed the mark by leaving out maintenance and operations staff. The team needed a flexible CMMS that could scale with the business and be tailored internally without relying on the software vendor for every change. Without the right system, their Augusta, Wisconsin plant risked small inefficiencies piling up. Because the facility handled everything from sourcing ingredients to shipping finished products, effective maintenance was essential to keeping operations running smoothly. The solution and results Bush Brothers chose Fiix CMMS for its ease of use, flexibility, and forward-thinking approach . With support from Fiix Professional Services, the Bush Brothers team built a collaborative implementation strategy that involved technicians, operators, and management. Each of these teams aligned on asset hierarchies, naming conventions, and integrating parts management with their ERP system. The result? Technicians gained autonomy to manage work orders, PMs, and backlogs without bottlenecks. Maintenance efficiency hit 85%, and the team set their sights on 90%+. And now, with Fiix’s predictive analytics tools rolling out, Bush Brothers is laying the groundwork for a future of data-driven, near-perfect plant performance. What they’re saying “We wanted a software that would grow with us… We were talking about where Fiix was headed in predictive technologies, and they had a good solution for that… We think we can someday get to that 90%+ efficiency mark, which is pretty high for a changeover line.” — Anthony Peterson, Maintenance and Reliability Manager at Bush Brothers & Company. The enterprising energy company living in the dark The company Voltalia, a renewable energy producer and service provider. The challenge The company was using Excel spreadsheets to track maintenance activities, which created a massive gap in knowledge. They couldn’t properly manage documents, tickets, materials, failures, and quality controls, or identify and measure KPIs. The solution and results Voltalia dreamed of a mobile CMMS that could be used to track assets, manage tools and inventory, and standardize maintenance practices and reporting across the organization. They found everything they were looking for, and more, with Fiix’s CMMS software. Since bringing Fiix onboard, Voltalia has increased access to KPIs and accountability while scheduling over 14,000 rounds of preventive maintenance, each one helping to cut costs, boost revenue and improve results. What they’re saying “All the info is in one place. It’s easy to manage and more reliable than Excel spreadsheets. The difference for us is total. We didn’t have any KPIs in the past. So it is 100% better now.” – Vasco Vieira, Maintenance Engineering Director at Voltalia The mining goliath buried in inefficiencies The company Rambler Metals & Mining has 100% ownership of the Ming Copper-Gold Mine in Baie Verte, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada with two sites and 160 employees on a 24/7 schedule. The challenge The company’s maintenance team ran on a paper-based system that had them mired in inefficiencies. A lack of standardization made them miss preventable problems, overlook efficiencies and waste time. Maintenance team members would spend hours writing notes and waste time shuffling through multiple handwritten documents to decide which problem to fix first. The solution and results Rambler explored cloud-based solutions to accomplish a much-needed overhaul of the work order process and improve communication between teams. They developed an 8-touchpoint scoring system. When Fiix scored highest on this scale (by 10 points!), they knew they had their CMMS provider. Rambler saw a dramatic increase in productivity after implementing Fiix’s CMMS. The maintenance team gained 1.5 hours of wrench time, which was a 15% increase. The amount of time writing notes and reports decreased, asset knowledge among the team improved and the CMMS software became a cornerstone of Rambler’s lean strategy. What they’re saying “There’s no guesswork anymore. I have answers I didn’t have in the past. And we’re using the software in ways we didn’t think we would. For example, we now have data that’s used by payroll since everyone’s hours are being tracked accurately now.” – Scott Britton, General Manager of Operations at Rambler Metals & Mining (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)