Summarise with AI:
Labor is one of the largest ongoing expenses. It typically constitutes 40-60% of total maintenance costs. Suboptimal labor utilization results in higher-than-estimated maintenance costs. Smart workforce management refers to a strategy combining effective management techniques and optimal use of technology to get more done for less. Software and automation dominate modern workforce management. Let's take a look at what it is.
What Is Smart Workforce Management in MRO?
Smart workforce management means using technology and data to optimize maintenance work. Software plays a big role in today's business world. They enable smart management by cutting down on manual work.
In the MRO industry, though only a handful of organizations are able to integrate AI into critical areas, many of them reportedly found they reduced costs by 18-25% by moving from reactive maintenance to predictive maintenance using AI, as highlighted in several industry reports.
By and large, organizations can save 20-30% time on administrative tasks after moving from paper-based systems to an ERP. It is ideal for an organization where maintenance is a core function.
Managers and decision-makers can get a clearer picture of available technicians, what needs immediate attention, overdue work orders, time spend/required for a particular task, etc. The biggest benefit: it puts status information at users’ fingertips, allowing managers to allocate resources more effectively.
1. Assign the right job to the right person
Technicians with the right skills reduce the risk of rework. Therefore, the allocation decision must be optimized.
Otherwise, it would hinder productivity and increase the likelihood of repeat work. In the majority of cases, rigid digital systems may be a culprit; it is not always the case. Here's how you are the culprit. If overtime is a recurring pattern, it may be the signal of poor task allocation.
2. Reduce unnecessary overtime
Overtime is sometimes unavoidable. It leads to emergency or reactive maintenance. Emergency work is more costly. Preventive work is costlier than planned work. But if it happens more often, then it is a signal that planning may need attention.
EAM platforms provide the ability to detect failures and potential issues in advance, leaving more room to manage firefighting activities.
Shift-left maintenance planning is one of the effective approaches to reducing unnecessary work. In this approach, planners ensure all required parts, tools, permits, documentation, and personnel are available before the scheduled task. This prevents technicians from starting a job only to find out they would need to wait hours for missing components or approvals.
There is another approach: maintenance kitting, in which all required components are made available before the work begins. MRO operators use mobile EAM platforms for this. Mobile apps help them optimize this process. You can provide technicians with manuals, maintenance history, and work orders on the hangar floor without having to leave the job site.
3. Optimize predictive maintenance scheduling
Predictive maintenance is being adopted on a growing scale in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and aerospace. It is one of the approaches to bring down continuously rising maintenance costs and downtime.
Modern technologies make it more effective to forecast component failure with great precision. However, excessive predictive maintenance can increase costs because you are replacing parts that are still in use. Therefore, organizations knowing how and where to use predictive maintenance are the leading ones.
4. Eliminate manual scheduling
Spreadsheets, emails, and manual interaction dominate in traditional settings. But they are no longer sufficient. In fact, they may create unnecessary burden. In such an environment, technicians spend less than half of their time on actual maintenance work. The rest is lost to activities such as information search, coordination, and administrative tasks, as highlighted in several industry reports.
5. Improve Work Order Management
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is used to generate work orders.
When operators can quickly create a work order, maintenance teams will have enough time to fix what's broken.
Most problems start small: a vague description, missing asset information, or an incomplete report. As these gaps accumulate, maintenance teams spend more time on low-value tasks.
6. Reduce reactive maintenance
When it is an emergency breakdown, organizations may need to work outside working hours. Plus, it can disrupt other important work. Excessive predictive maintenance is also expensive. Smart workforce management combines preventive and predictive maintenance strategies.
7. Use data to improve workforce planning
Consider this: if one technician may log overtime frequently, while the other has spare capacity. Without data and logs, this imbalance remains secret. Historical work orders can reveal trends in labor demand.
Technology makes workforce optimization easier
Technology plays a big role in cost control, productivity, and business efficiency. It cuts down on manual work. It makes data management easy. Modern software can save a significant amount of time by handling data and information management and making information exchange smoother.
Take an example of mobile apps. These apps enable one to report and update his/her job progress or status. It prevents technicians from entering the same information again and again. For business leaders, it is about finding where technology makes the biggest impact in operations, considering implementation costs and the long-term benefits it provides.
