SOMAX: Re-imagine CMMS in its Smartest Manifestation

Brent Easterling, COO

Enterprises, irrespective of verticals, are now undergoing massive digital transformation and are embracing groundbreaking approaches to revamp traditional business practices. These changes are non-transient and represent long-term shifts in the ways technology is leveraged and, hence, demand a strategic approach to translate investments into bottom line benefits. However, despite substantial investments toward newer technologies, various market reports suggest that IT infrastructures are, largely, under-performing in terms of key areas such as reliability, throughput, and availability by as much as twenty percent. While probing deeper into the reasons behind, organizations and their CFOs struggle to segregate the fundamentals that would help them better manage overall asset performance. The answer lies within effective Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)—a business capability that strategically manages a company's physical assets.

Taking EAM to the next level, in terms of functionalities, is Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS). Drawing major focus on ‘maintenance’, CMMS streamlines and automates asset maintenance operations all the while providing communication platforms for maintenance-related activities. Moreover, as the world gets even more mobility-driven & intra-connected, the need of a smarter, IoT-enabled enterprise asset management can be largely felt. This is where the Alpharetta-based SOMAX comes into play. The SOMAX CMMS platform, provisioned with IoT, can transform organizations’ maintenance management system into a robust predictive maintenance and analytics solution. Brent Easterling, COO of Somax, states, “We believe the future of maintenance management lies within user-experience, mobility, and the internet of things. We've built SOMAX CMMS around that belief.”

It is worth noting here that while conventional methods of managing and maintaining assets could also get the job done, they are essentially time-consuming and costly. SOMAX CMMS allows organizations to manage time more effectively and enhance productivity by facilitating proficient asset and facility maintenance, through a simple, mobile, and cost-effective CMMS solution. The CMMS application replaces traditional paper-based and ill-productive operational workflows with more efficient enterprise mobility modules.

SOMAX CMMS allows organizations to manage time more effectively and enhance productivity by facilitating proficient asset and facility maintenance, through a simple, mobile, and cost-effective CMMS solution

With cloud and IoT as the major driving forces, SOMAX is redefining the conventional notions around maintenance management systems. The amalgamation of SOMAX and IoT enables businesses to access data related to assets and create a real-time maintenance program, eliminating hours of unnecessary preventive routines which incidentally reduce asset downtimes. SOMAX CMMS affords continuous monitoring of facilities and critical assets, along with reporting capabilities in case of an underlying issue. The deployed sensors continuously monitor parameters such as vibration, heat, and moisture, and in the event of any anomaly, the CMMS system triggers a notification, requesting evaluation. In scenarios, where the anomaly does not fit into pre-specified categorization, the system creates a work-order with step-by-step instructions to address the problem. Consequently, maintenance and replacement of the defective assets are completed in the required time, which reduce equipment failures and overall maintenance costs. Having incorporated features such as Native Mobile Applications, IoT Integration, Downtime Tracking, and an Inventory and Procurement System, SOMAX ensures that assets deliver maximum productivity.

To paint a clearer picture of the unique advantages that the IoT-enabled platform can deliver, Easterling cites the use-case scenario of a motor in a critical piece of equipment. To ensure an uninterrupted operation, that motor would need to be routinely examined for any physical damages. Consider, despite covering almost all the imperative health parameters, one aspect, say the temperature, gets overlooked. With a manual process, the motor will continue to operate until the next scheduled scrutiny, during which there are chances of the motor overheating and failing. On the contrary, the temperature sensors of the SOMAX CMMS platform will transmit updated health metrics of the motor, enabling a personnel to receive timely notification to avert a failure and ensure operational continuity.

Similarly, deploying SOMAX’s state-of-the-art CMMS solution, a wide range of industries–from food & beverages to manufacturing–have experienced significant benefits. “Over the last twenty years we have worked with some of the largest food & beverage producers in the world, and during these years we have learned that everyone has different needs and challenges,” asserts Easterling.

In addition to reflecting a required maintenance task, the firm’s software is also capable of effectively tracking equipment sanitation history. The mobile-ready SOMAX Food and Beverage CMMS application conducts a food safety check, which must be confirmed before work-orders can be successfully completed. Furthermore, the streamlined SOMAX Manufacturing CMMS system ensures maximum buy-in from organizations’ maintenance teams. With the SOMAX mobile application, production and non-maintenance staff can automatically place work requests in the system for approval and corresponding assignment. Without limiting itself here, the platform can add completed tasks, add equipment downtime, add labor records, and parts related issues at the touch of a button.

Inducing Unprecedented Advantages

From Parts Purchasing Management and Enterprise Level Reporting to Asset Cost & Performance Management, the SOMAX CMMS stands as a 360-degree solution for managing enterprise assets. It forms an all-encompassing CMMS solution that offers businesses the ability to maintain optimum asset uptime.

With zero IT infrastructures to setup, install, and maintain, SOMAX’s SaaS-based CMMS platform aids companies in minimizing operational costs by eliminating upfront investments. The platform offers superior levels of security and data scalability leveraging secure data centers spread across multiple locations. The solution also truncates the high costs associated with the painstaking process of implementing an automated backup solution. With SOMAX, data is automatically backed up, providing additional security along with a complimentary benefit of disaster recovery. The platform comes equipped with custom APIs that allows seamless data transfer between the CMMS system and other ERP or CRM systems. The company looks forward to releasing more APIs to enable its platform’s integration with a broader range of enterprise applications.

"SOMAX CMMS affords continuous monitoring of facilities and critical assets, along with reporting capabilities in case of an underlying issue"

Quite evidently, today, the future of CMMS is pillared on integrating existing systems into the Internet of Things. In an era where IoT, and specifically, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are transforming businesses immensely, SOMAX CMMS is already anchored on these latest technologies. Regarding the future of SOMAX, Easterling comments, “We strive to provide real-time insights into equipment condition, automate inventory analysis, eliminate unnecessary preventive maintenance routines, and offer maintenance teams the necessary tools they need to do their work efficiently.”