Why Spreadsheets Can’t Replace Your CMMS

A prime example of why spreadsheets can’t replace your CMMS is our customer, a medical company’s story. This company is a respected end-to-end, contract medical device manufacturer. It offers prototyping, product development, supply chain management, and rigorous quality management.

Being an end-to-end manufacturer means each stage of the design and production process is essential to get the job done and done right. From design to production and shipping, many assets need to be taken care of to keep the momentum going. A clear, thorough step-by-step process is needed to keep each asset in tip-top shape. This is why the company’s multiple locations insisted that their smaller sister location bring in MaintiMizer™, our flagship computerized maintenance management system.

This medical company had its own process of keeping track of the work done on its assets. It used multiple spreadsheets to manually log which asset was worked on and when. They didn’t see a problem with their process, so they put MaintiMizer on the back burner. They thought MaintiMizer was too complicated for the company needs, and believed their process was good enough.

Why Spreadsheets Can’t Replace Your CMMS

When new management came in, however, they noticed the facility’s spreadsheet systems’ lack of accountability and traceability. These spreadsheets track what maintenance work is completed and when. However, they could not track who completed the work, how long it took, what parts were used and how it was done.

Even the best spreadsheets have limited accountability and limited ability to scale as your company grows.

An auditor made the same observation when they visited the facility. The auditor said that considering how small the facility was, the spreadsheet systems were acceptable, but the facility will need something more as it grows. This is why spreadsheets can’t replace your CMMS.

The CMMS Solution

The new management took advice from their sister facilities and decided to check out MaintiMizer CMMS. That’s when they discovered an immediate need for a system that shows the whole story. With MaintiMizer, you can track how the work was done and by whom. You can also see how long it took and what parts were used. Which is what the auditor noticed was missing from the spreadsheet system. MaintiMizer will also show how much the specific work order will cost to complete, from worker time to part costs.

The more detailed your work orders are, the more data you can extract, enabling your department to improve its project management processes, costs, and time spent on work orders. These key features are exactly what the new management was looking for. Going forward, our customer is excited to work with Ashcom, our dedicated team, and most of all, our flagship computerized maintenance management system, MaintiMizer.