“Do it or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
Maintenance and repair (processes and systems) are essential for the sustained performance of the complex machinery that dominates the economic landscapes of modern industrial society. The idea of systematic maintenance has gained formal shape – and when mated with digital technologies – creates enormous scope for elevating the returns on investment generated by machinery, networks, and contemporary industrial and commercial processes. In this context, computer managed maintenance systems have emerged as a tour de force, one that enables the modern organization to “extend the life of existing equipment, support customers and develop strategies that address emerging risks.”
Typically, computer managed maintenance systems denotes computer software-driven packages designed to simplify and align the maintenance and management of enterprise assets. These systems also helped drive a change in mindsets, wherein “modern organizations can track work orders, quickly generate accurate reports, and instantly determine which of their assets requires preventive maintenance.” Such a stance, analysts believe, helps extend the lifespans of commercial and industrial assets, boosts profitability, and reduces the costs of conducting business.
The core functional aspects of computer managed maintenance systems include a systemic ability to respond to the maintenance requirements of networks of modern machinery. Such a system ensures key inputs (such as inventory and labor) are organized and available on time to power adequate levels of maintenance and repair activity at multiple locations. When designed inside flowcharts, such a system takes shape in the form of twin sets of inputs that drive the operation of automated maintenance systems; a third thrust emerges in the form of reports from past maintenance activity. This serves as a guiding force that distributes activity to power a unified, on-time regime of automated maintenance and repair. A series of such events can help generate real time information that assists system managers and maintenance professionals to anticipate the requirements of various systems, thereby positioning them to respond effectively to the emerging demands emanating from industrial and commercial infrastructure.
Graduated, multi-stage illustrations can list the benefits that attend preventive maintenance practices undertaken as part of deploying modern computer managed maintenance systems. These benefits include marked reductions in production downtime, higher levels of operating safety, the ability to identify modules of equipment that entail high levels of maintenance costs, aligning the enterprise with the emerging expectations of clients and customers, honing the ability to implement time-bound routine repairs and maintenance activities (as part of initiatives to cut scope for high-cost emergency maintenance), boosting the life expectancy of assets, and more. Each of these elements, when examined closely, allows designers and system experts to arrive at additional points of value addition that accrue from the judicious deployment of computer managed maintenance systems. Therefore, the flowchart develops into a large, diversified illustration that reinforces the business case for investing in, and upgrading, these said systems.
Complex and visually dense diagrams featuring extensions may emerge when we survey the outlines of expansive computer managed maintenance systems sketched inside flowcharts. The stages could include multiple sites that indicate graded maintenance and repair schedules, estimates of costs, maintenance support activities, the computer power necessary to execute maintenance regimes, start and end timelines, any forms of prioritization, necessary approvals from the hierarchy of an organization, and more. In addition, sub-stages could feature special maintenance for high-value components, the specialized human power necessary to execute such maintenance, elements of automation built into maintenance practices, the scope for enlisting external assistance, and more. In essence, such dense diagrams reflect the maintenance stance of an organization, while spotlighting the efficacy of computer managed maintenance systems and their impact on organizational outcomes.
Technical regulations and environmental safety protocols may comprise the centerpiece of flowcharts designed to portray contemporary editions of computer managed maintenance systems. The underlying theme in these technical illustrations focuses on the connections between regulatory stances that govern certain aspects of established maintenance and repair regimes, as also the necessity of adhering to guidelines that ensure the safety of the earth’s natural environment. In line with this, commercial operators of power plants could undertake to design specific maintenance schedules designed to preserve and extend the life of power generation equipment, while creating a minimal impact on the natural environment. Such considerations could drive the choice of suppliers and vendors of maintenance and repair services, an adherence to relevant sets of best practices, and a constant drive to eliminate harmful impact on nature, the safe disposal of end-of-life components that powered systems and processes, and more.
In certain instances, cause-and-effect can provide the motive power that actuates and animates the operation of computer managed maintenance systems. When designed inside flowcharts, such instances can feature stages, wherein maintenance planners create typical sets of work orders triggered by information emanating from, for instance, equipment breakdown reports. The subsequent stages could portray the receipt of work orders by maintenance crews and qualified technicians, lines of digital communication between crews and maintenance planners, the act of processing updates into computerized databases, and the generation of reports for management cadre of sponsor organizations. Such workflows implement a certain discipline into maintenance and repair activities, offer significant scope for the operation of sensors and other forms of modern automation, spotlight the continuing relevance of human agency in maintenance tasks, and promote regular and pro-active interventions into the infrastructure of the modern organization.
Hardware and software components of modern computer managed maintenance systems present a picture of diversity and detail when these find expression inside flowcharts. The former could comprise devices such as infrared cameras, vibration measurement devices, electrical meters, thermal imaging sensors, electrical sensors, 3-phase power monitors, and temperature measurement devices. Such a plethora of hardware devices must find complement in software-driven work order management tools, different types of analytics-based reports; protocols that help monitor and codify the health of industrial assets, asset management best practices, and more. Software-driven APIs represent the interface between hardware and software components, thereby amplifying the IT-enabled environment in which said systems operate. Further, a comprehensive design of such systems inside flowcharts enables a unifying vision that can drive and expand the scope for digitally-powered maintenance and repair systems. Organizations can leverage such flowcharts to arrive at positive end-results, thereby boosting profitability over the long term.
Modern organizations can gain insights into the intricacies of operating modern maintenance and repair systems through a close perusal of the passages above. At an organizational level, key personnel such as CXOs must realize the centrality of these systems to the continued achievement of business goals and the objectives of any modern organization. The use of flowcharts offers significant scope to devise a variety of productive stances in the domain of maintenance and repair; these illustrations also enable us to appreciate the role of computer power and software packages in framing, actuating, and executing said systems. Additionally, the graded spaces inside flowcharts empowers system operators to position value additions to such systems; such actions can boost efficiency in maintenance routines, encourage the inclusion of upgraded software-powered modules, and generate higher levels of cohesion with organizational aims and objectives. In time, flowcharts may help develop enlightened stances that entirely rule out human agency inside increasingly sophisticated and automated maintenance systems, thereby eliminating the scope for human error in maintenance and repair paradigms.
