The Hidden Costs of Paper Trails in Asset Management

Unplanned downtime. Reactive repair. Production loss. These are the signs of an asset management program at risk of a catastrophic or one-off event due to ineffective maintenance operations. For many small to midsize businesses, a paper-based approach to maintenance is the culprit, with insightful, preventative trends hidden in complex spreadsheets, forms, and file cabinets.

The complexity of information on regular inspections, servicing, and repairs in a paper-driven approach inevitably requires heavy doses of manual labor to manage.  In industries such as construction and oil and gas, the sheer number of documents required for maintenance management can be overwhelming. And costly. Intel from the tried-and-true Coopers and Lybrand study estimated that companies spend an average of $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to find a misfiled document, and $220 in labor to reproduce a lost document.

Despite its familiarity, seemingly cost-effective paper workflows usually rely on handwritten notes and identification codes, which are more susceptible to missed maintenance checks due to a lack of notifications.  Despite the diligence of field operations, the method prevents collaboration and responsiveness given that physical information has limited accessibility.

What’s glaringly missing in this scenario is the inability to scale the process as your company grows. Paper trails are simply not conducive to growth since the “data” is in physical form and cannot be aggregated or visualized to determine an asset’s location, health and lifespan. Hence, preventative and timely maintenance strategies are almost impossible to implement.

Maximize Asset Life & Minimize Downtime

These are the guiding principles of asset-based digital transformation when it comes to implementing a successful and scalable digitized maintenance schedule. As a data-driven solution, asset tracking and management provides the real-time and historical information you’ll need to proactively make decisions that keep sites running efficiently.

Consider these significant, measurable benefits:

• Accuracy. Automated maintenance reminders and reports makes record keeping faster, easier, and more accurate. Notifications sent directly to relevant technicians reduces lag time and risks of forgotten tasks.
• Accountability. Data from automated tasks form the basis of comprehensive reporting by asset to ensure proper maintenance is being performed.
• Predictability. Trends become visible through dashboards and mapping views, providing input to field operations on optimizing process flow.
• Visibility. Remote and mobile access enables updates and access from anywhere to reduce bottlenecks.
• Auditability. Compliance tracking aids in ensuring regulatory requirements are met in a timely fashion and documented properly.

Factors for a Successful Transition

Managing maintenance digitally ensures the longest possible lifespan for your assets for the lowest costs. Round the clock access to asset tracking data from the palm of your hand helps you make immediate scheduling adjustments from an intuitive dashboard. Together, robust reporting, dashboards, and data visualization enables you to spot trends, optimize maintenance, and make more informed decisions.

Getting started requires an assessment of your current maintenance process, with an eye on redundant steps and inefficiencies. An asset tracking and management solution should address these specific roadblocks, with demonstrated capabilities to streamline workflow and optimize processes through advanced technology.

Having supported businesses worldwide in scaling their operations, here’s a few steps to ensure a smooth transition. In our experience, starting with a pilot program is a great way to test the system’s effectiveness and give a clear picture of future processes moving forward. Proper training is a must, serving as both a trial run and a means to establish field operations expertise. Change management will be required, starting with communications that outline the benefits for all stakeholders. And don’t forget to celebrate early wins as the pilot delivers tangible improvements in preventative maintenance efforts.  

Upgrading from paper-based asset management is essential to grow your business, and we can help! Book your demo today.