How Goodfellow Cut Downtime by 30% & Passed Audits With Confidence Using Coast

Performing maintenance wasn’t necessarily the problem at Goodfellow, a Canadian lumber manufacturer with more than a century of history and operations spread across multiple facilities. The problem was proving it was getting done.

Technicians inspected pumps, checked valves and logged preventive maintenance (PM) tasks every day. But all of it lived in binders — handwritten, siloed and nearly impossible to verify at scale. There was no system to track maintenance work consistently, no way to see it across locations and no reliable way to prove it during an audit.

The team knew they needed to make a shift to a more formal, digital preventive maintenance program in order to satisfy audit requirements. In the process, they didn’t just improve compliance — they cut downtime by up to 30 percent and gained real-time visibility across their entire operation. Here’s how.

The Breaking Point: Maintenance Tracked in Binders, Not Systems

Before Coast, technicians would walk the plant floors, inspecting pumps, valves and water lines. They wrote down what they saw in a binder, and that was it. 

The main problem? The system wasn’t built to hold up under scrutiny — or scale. Without a structured system, documentation became a liability. Paper logs could be incomplete. Entries could be missed. And across the various plant locations, there was no consistent way to ensure work was happening — or to prove it.

But proving it was key. “We have auditors coming in every three years and internal audits every year; it’s a requirement for us to do a PM program,” says Sébastien Grenier, director of operation for treated wood at Goodfellow.

So, as the operation grew across the three facilities (in Delson/Montreal, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland) Grenier oversees, it became obvious that there was a real need for a more formal PM strategy.

From Paper to Digital: Rolling Out Coast Across 3 Plants

Enter Coast. Goodfellow implemented Coast’s computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) about two years ago to fix these issues. “Having Coast for us is excellent because we have date stamps on everything,” Grenier says. 

Now, when auditors come in, they don’t need to scramble to assemble proof. The system already has it. “We show that to the auditors, and they’re happy with it now,” Grenier says.

Not only did Coast help digitize their maintenance system, it helped them roll out a system that matched how their operation actually worked. “We’ve built out Coast with that information; it’s our plan followed through in Coast,” Grenier says.

That flexibility mattered because all three plants have their own assets, workflows and requirements. Coast gave the team a way to centralize everything without forcing a rigid structure. Instead of adapting their process to the software, they built the software around their process.

Grenier led much of the implementation effort himself. “We built our assets library first, and we sent it to Coast,” he says. “When we launched it, [they] took care of creating all the assets and departments.”

Then came the physical rollout, with Grenier adding QR codes to every asset across the three, treated wood facilities in Canada:

• 416 assets in Montreal/Delson
• 340 assets in Nova Scotia
• 150 assets in Newfoundland

How Goodfellow Uses Coast Day-to-Day

Today, Coast is the operational backbone for maintenance across all three plants, and about 45 people either have user accounts or interact with Coast via the QR code system. 

Every day starts with visibility across all three plants. “Every single day, [we see] everything that needs to be done; if we have a problem with a pump that’s leaking, we see it in Coast,” Grenier adds.

Plus, work orders are no longer buried in conversations and are easier to prioritize. “It’s quicker because we didn’t have any system in place before; it was all phone calls, texts and emails,” Grenier said.

With Coast, the maintenance team now:

• Tracks work orders in a centralized system
• Prioritizes work based on data
• Plans instead of reacts

The system has also expanded beyond core maintenance, and Grenier continues to build new workflows as needs arise. “I created a new yard vehicle inspection workspace just last week,” he adds.

The Impact: 30% Less Downtime & Faster Response Times

Before Coast, maintenance was reactive by default. Even when work was planned, execution depended on manual tracking. Now, it’s structured. Work is visible. Tasks are scheduled. Issues are tracked from detection to resolution.

“[Coast] makes us more proactive,” Grenier says. “It helped us get better throughout these two years; and it can help us through the coming years.”

The most important change is how quickly the team can act. “We catch issues in the plant more quickly; my maintenance guy spots something, and I see it pop into Coast,” Grenier says.

That speed translates directly into measurable results. “Our downtime was cut by 25 to 30 percent just because of being able to report and see [an issue] more quickly,” Grenier adds.

Maintenance You Can See, Track & Prove

For teams still relying on paper, spreadsheets or disconnected tools, Grenier’s advice is simple. “Use Coast; it’s been a great thing for us because it makes us more proactive and cuts the downtime,” he notes.

Goodfellow didn’t just digitize maintenance. They operationalized it. They went from:

• Binders to a centralized system
• Reactive work to planned execution
• Uncertainty to audit-ready documentation

And the result is clear: less downtime, faster response and full visibility across every plant. Because in maintenance, the work isn’t enough. You need to see it. Track it. And prove it.