CMMS: why an industrial SME should track breakdowns (and how to start)
In many workshops in Morocco, maintenance lives in the team leader’s head and in a notebook next to the machine. As long as everything runs, nobody worries. The problem shows up the day the same machine breaks down for the third time and nobody knows what was done the first two times.
What an untracked breakdown costs
A breakdown has a visible cost: the production stop, the part, the repair. It also has an invisible cost: the diagnosis done again from scratch, the part ordered urgently at the wrong price, the operator waiting, the customer delivery slipping. Without a history, these costs repeat every time.
What a simple CMMS brings
- A history per machine. Every intervention is recorded: date, symptom, cause, part, duration. The next technician starts from there, not from zero.
- A preventive maintenance plan. Periodic checks (lubrication, filters, belts) are scheduled and reminded automatically instead of being forgotten until the breakdown.
- Critical spare parts stock. Parts that stop production get an alert threshold. You order before the stock-out, not after.
- Readable indicators. Downtime per machine, mean time to repair, breakdowns per month. Management decides with numbers.
Why “simple” matters
The big CMMS products are built for plants with hundreds of machines. For an SME with 20 to 80 pieces of equipment they are too heavy: too many fields, too much training, and after three months nobody enters anything anymore. A custom CMMS does the opposite: three screens, usable on a phone on the shop floor, with only the information that matters in your plant.
Start in 30 days
- Week 1: list the machines and the breakdowns of the last 12 months (the notebook is enough).
- Week 2: define the 5 to 10 preventive checks that avoid the most breakdowns.
- Week 3: put the tool in place with two pilot technicians, on their phones.
- Week 4: first review: breakdowns logged, checks done, parts on alert. Adjust, then extend.
This is exactly the scope of our custom applications and CMMS service. To find out where to start in your plant, request a free digital audit: 30 to 45 minutes, no commitment.