The "do more with less" commandment has more to do with informed decision making than it does with just working harder and using fewer resources.

To develop strategies for keeping costs low it’s important to understand the source of costs and potential effects of change so that you can direct your maintenance efforts wisely. For example, when equipment faults are wrongly attributed to an entire assembly, comprehensive equipment and spare parts history can point you to the single repairable part that is the culprit. In addition, an Enterprise Asset Management system with integrated accounting can go a long way toward ensuring that capital projects that draw on maintenance resources are not wrongly allocated as excessive maintenance costs.

Collecting the right information and applying it correctly can transform raw data into the knowledge resources you need to succeed.

As enterprises move toward lean manufacturing, they are committed to reducing and eliminating waste in all forms. Well-designed and easy to use computerized maintenance software can contribute significant gains in equipment utilization and product quality through reduce downtime and rejection rates. Key performance indicators, work history and root cause failure analysis help to evaluate the relative costs of preventive and emergency repairs and provide opportunities to implement reliability centered maintenance (RCM).

Sophisticated scheduling can overcome shift change delays and improve work practices with assured task readiness of labor and materials. Virtually every component of 4Site is designed to streamline information and production flows for enhanced speed and reduced waste.

Effective maintenance practices require the support of optimized Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) inventory. Balancing the need for MRO inventory for routine and emergency maintenance against the need to reduce costs associated with excess inventory is a process of continuous reevaluation. Optimizing the supply of spare parts in a manufacturing operation involves collecting and analyzing usage and ordering data to understand cost, availability and criticality factors.

4Site materials management solutions integrated with robust preventive maintenance and equipment analysis tools provide you with the data and the knowledge assets to take inventory optimization to the next level.

Increased pressures from a constantly changing marketplace and from off-shore competition have prompted many manufacturers to increase the level of automation in production. Manufacturing workforce continues to drop while production increases. Maintenance in lights-out operations results in an increased role for Computerized Maintenance Management (CMMS). With increased automation comes increased reliance on equipment uptime and performance, areas where the potential for CMMS driven savings is greatest. To keep pace with production automation, CMMS can offer parallel automated processes, from work order tasks triggered by equipment monitoring devices to inventory and supply chain balancing.

With competition eroding market share and customer demands shifting constantly, any process, product and organizational model must be able to keep pace. 4Site offers a functionally rich and affordable alternative to the monolithic and immovable software that has dominated manufacturing industries in the past. 4Site’s designed-in flexibility makes it easy for you to relocate equipment in your asset hierarchy to accurately reflect physical reorganization, modify and create new workflows, customize data collection, create specialized reports and develop improved preventive maintenance procedures that protect your precious physical assets.