Yes, It’s Time to Prioritize That Maintenance Operations Strategy

Suppose you run a regional packaging company. While you thought everything was running smoothly, a key piece of equipment just broke down unexpectedly. With no maintenance program in place to flag issues early or track maintenance history, the problem went unnoticed until it brought production to a stop. To make matters worse, the issue is related to a spare part that’s not in stock, and you’ll have to wait a few weeks to get it. Vital orders are now delayed, and a major customer just decided to take their business elsewhere, costing you millions in yearly revenue.

All of it could’ve been avoided with a more organized maintenance operations strategy. When teams have the tools to schedule routine maintenance activities, monitor assets in real time and respond quickly when something goes wrong, they’re able to keep production running smoothly and prevent small issues from turning into costly disasters. 

But what workflows and technology can help you improve your maintenance operations? And are the benefits really worth the effort? In this guide, you’ll come to understand which adjustments to your operations and maintenance processes can drastically improve efficiency, eliminate wasteful spending and keep both your customers and employees happy. 

Maintenance Operations, Explained

Maintenance operations involve the day-to-day processes, tools and workflows that keep machinery, facilities and other critical assets running efficiently. These operations commonly include:

• Automating tasks and workflows like scheduling preventive maintenance and implementing work order management systems
• Updating outdated procedures to leverage modern technology, meet compliance requirements or achieve operational goals and metrics
• Training employees to ensure maximum efficiency and consistency

Businesses often delay maintenance planning until they are “less busy,” but disorganized operations or unexpected breakdowns can result in equipment downtime that can be highly disruptive and costly.

In fact, unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturers an estimated $50 billion each year. Your business needs to prioritize a proactive maintenance operations strategy to ensure teams are aligned, workflows are fully optimized.

Benefits of Creating a Maintenance Operations Strategy

Proper maintenance operations means that you have systems in place to enhance efficiencies, make cost-effective decisions and ensure business continuity. Here are the key reasons to invest in a detail-oriented, scalable maintenance operations strategy that emphasize why putting it off could be costlier in the long run.

Improved Growth

Refined maintenance procedures and processes provide the foundation for continued business growth. Proactively managing asset upkeep, reducing downtime and automating regular maintenance tasks frees up organizational resources and labor that can instead be used for innovating and expanding. 

When maintenance technicians aren’t caught up dealing with inefficient processes or frequent equipment failures, they can focus on higher-value strategic initiatives.

Why It’s Important

A streamlined maintenance strategy has a positive effect on two key factors linked to revenue growth: cross-functional alignment and operational efficiency. According to McKinsey, companies that prioritize operational efficiency boost returns on invested capital by nearly 30 percent. 

Proactive operations make it easier for businesses to be agile and pivot to meet increasing market demands without costly delays, where growth becomes a natural byproduct of reliability and smart resource management.

Lower Turnover

Effective maintenance operations ensure consistency, reduce employee stress and support a healthier workplace culture. 

Employees have clarity on their day-to-day projects with fewer disruptions and extra time to focus on completing their objectives when routine tasks become automated and task instructions are highly detailed.

Why It’s Important

Investing in structured, consistent processes and training helps in keeping more employees around long-term. One study showed that retention rates rise 30 to 50 percent in organizations that prioritize a learning culture, while 65 percent of knowledge workers said they feel less stressed when repetitive tasks are automated. 

Giving your teams support systems with their tools and systems can boost morale, limit burnout and stop turnover.

Better Data Quality

Leveraging computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) that integrate with machinery leads to automated, real-time data collection, standardization and maintenance reporting. 

High-quality data allows leadership to make more informed decisions by leveraging comprehensive historical equipment records and accurate forecasting. And systems identifying abnormalities allows for faster troubleshooting and eliminates downtime. 

Why It’s Important

Poor data quality costs companies an average of $12.9 million each year. Failure to keep organized maintenance records can result in asset mismanagement, compliance risk and wasted spending on unnecessary maintenance costs. 

Companies can take advantage of deeper insights into performance to unlock new opportunities for optimization by improving how data is collected and assessed. 

Cost Savings

Strong maintenance operations eliminate costs across labor, assets, inventory and downtime. Proactively maintaining assets and automation workflows mitigates risk of emergency repairs, extends asset lifespans and reduces reliance on outsourced maintenance or temporary labor.

Why It’s Important

Companies that invest in operational efficiency see significant returns on their investments, including a nearly 30 percent improvement in ROI on invested capital and up to seven-point increases in EBITDA margins. IoT-enabled analytics can cut operational costs by 30 to 33 percent, especially in asset-heavy industries that use predictive maintenance strategies. 

These cost savings can then be reinvested into R&D, employee development or customer initiatives, further expanding growth opportunities. 

Streamlined Workflows

Modern maintenance operations depend on automation and centralized systems for managing work orders, asset tracking and technician assignments. These streamlined workflows keep tasks organized and hold employees accountable while reducing manual entry, eliminating redundancy and allowing for better visibility and communications across teams.

Why It’s Important

Over 70 percent of employees reported that automation tools speed up their workflows, and 88 percent of small business owners indicate that automation helps to gain a competitive edge by operating faster and with fewer errors. This not only boosts productivity, but frees up capacity for more strategic, revenue-driving work.

More Customer Satisfaction

The effectiveness of your maintenance operations has direct correlation with customer experience. Efficiently operating equipment allows for consistent production schedules and on-time shipping with minimal delays. 

Higher product reliability and fast paced production results in happier customers.

Why It’s Important

Even if your customers may never directly interact with the maintenance team, they feel the impact of their work. A more proactive type of maintenance ensures that there are fewer service interruptions and higher-quality asset performance that leads to more trust, fewer complaints and stronger brand loyalty. 

Investing in operations behind the scenes improves front-end outcomes, boosting satisfaction and setting a business apart from competitors.

Using a CMMS for Improved Operations & Maintenance

Centralizing your maintenance workflows with a CMMS software like Coast can instantly revolutionize your operations with digital work orders, equipment maintenance analytics, inventory management and asset performance monitoring.

Here are the major benefits of using Coast to centralize maintenance data and automate key processes for a more proactive approach to asset management:

• Automated maintenance schedules: Automatically schedule preventive maintenance like routine tasks or inspections based on usage, condition or time, ensuring that equipment is consistently maintained and that small issues can be identified and addressed before they turn into serious breakdowns and downtime. This maximizes efficiency and cost savings on emergency maintenance and unexpected pauses in production that are often the result of a reactive maintenance approach. 
• 24/7 asset monitoring: Asset tracking systems monitor your critical equipment all day, every day, and automatically send out notifications to relevant parties when abnormalities are identified, ensuring that issues can be addressed quickly to increase uptime and keep production moving. 
• Real-time reporting: Coast allows you to craft detailed and customized reports on maintenance performance, asset history, technician productivity and other essential maintenance KPIs in real time. These insights support data-backed decision-making, simplify compliance monitoring and highlight clear opportunities for efficiency improvements.
• Refined inventory management: Coast tracks parts usage, reordering thresholds and inventory location all within one system, allowing you to keep the critical parts and maintenance tools you need handy without wasting money and space on overstocking. This reduces unnecessary spending while ensuring that you don’t have maintenance delays and extended downtime due to missing spare parts.  
• Simplified team communications: Keep all team members connected with real-time updates, in-app messaging and mobile alerts. Discuss maintenance issues in real-time to eliminate miscommunication, streamline task delegation and ensure everyone from technicians to supervisors stays on the same page.

The benefits of refined maintenance operations for both equipment and facilities management are clear. Don’t wait to improve efficiency and eliminate costly waste. Book a demo to get started with Coast today for free.