OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker

Thanks for the additional info. I think it will work OK for us. The maintenance guys will be in charge or managing their own use of the system. They can print it themselves.
-Todd C.

________________________________
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of k99ja04
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 2:07 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker



The PM reminders (mostly) works, but the catch is you have to manually run it each time. We had issues with some annual and quarterly PMs that just wouldn't generate so we had to create work orders manually. But 95% of the time the PM reminders screen does fine. There is a table with a single field in the Access database that updates the last time the program runs. Support had me trick it a few times and set the date back a day to try and jump start those PMs. Some just wouldn't go, and I have no idea why.

Running the PM reminders screen each morning wasn't an option for us because we have shop guys that clock in at 5am and need PMs for that day. The office person responsible for maintenance records doesn't get here until 7am. Why a shop employee couldn't be trusted to print PMs I don't know, but that was a decision made over my head.

So we set the software to run PMs automatically (which as I said is hardcoded for 1am) and then set it to automatically email them a PM summary. I don't know why (and neither does support) but this process misses PMs.

Prior to my joining the company, the office person was changing the system date to print PMs ahead of schedule. She would start on Monday, and change ahead by 1 day until she had the entire week. Now changing the system date screws up other things like oh I don't know, Active Directory authentication, so I quickly put an end to that.

I guess if you're flexible about when you need your PMs then you should be ok. I basically gave up in September and have yet to hear about the update I described.

The last thing I'll mention is performance. Our Access database is about 90megs and running over a network share the program can be a real dog.
Jared
---------------------------
Jared Allmond
IT Systems Administrator
Wright Coating Technologies
jallmond@...<mailto:jallmond%40wrightcoating.com>

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com<mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> This is good to know. Thanks for the heads up. We have not gotten as far as setting up PM schedules. Phase one (so I can learn the system) is setting up IT for requests and tracking status. Our Maintenance guys are entering equipment now so will probably play with PM by next month. I'll make sure our Plant Manager and Dir. of Operations know about the issues and be on the lookout for problems with automatic PM. Does the "PM Reminders" on Bigfoot startup work or does it also miss PMs?
>
> This is a little far afield from Vantage so feel free to reply off-list. caugheyt@...<mailto:caugheyt@...>
>
> Thanks,
> -Todd C.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
For years, we've been using a poorly built custom database/app for
tracking maintenance issues and remedies for our CNC machines. Does
anyone have a recommendation for a (low-cost) commercial software
package that will let us track maintenance problems, schedules,
down-time, calls placed to the machine manufacturer, resolutions, etc...
and then display a graph/chart of machine performance/down-time?

Thanks in advance!
--Ari


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
We've been using Maintenance Coordinator for a year or so now and I think we're happy with it.

http://www.simsofttech.com/maintenance_coord.htm

-brian

--
Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced Photonix / Picometrix
    bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~ www.advancedphotonix.com


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ari Footlik
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:10 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker

For years, we've been using a poorly built custom database/app for
tracking maintenance issues and remedies for our CNC machines. Does
anyone have a recommendation for a (low-cost) commercial software
package that will let us track maintenance problems, schedules,
down-time, calls placed to the machine manufacturer, resolutions, etc...
and then display a graph/chart of machine performance/down-time?

Thanks in advance!
--Ari


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

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We're just now implementing a product call Bigfoot PMS from Smartware Group. Not real inexpensive ($3,400 for five full users) but the maintenance request utility is unlimited seats. Very comprehensive PM system. MS-Access based. I'm actually using one full-seat for managing IT service requests. Does PM schedules, tracks inventory (supply) items, records labor and hooks into a depreciation schedule to make automatic repair versus replace analysis. Not too bad to set up so far except for a lot of upfront work to load the equipment info and history. For the five seats we set up IT, Production, Building, and Tooling as major areas and one seat for general admin access. I think a 1-2 seat license would be around a Grand.
-Todd C.


________________________________
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ari Footlik
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:10 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker



For years, we've been using a poorly built custom database/app for
tracking maintenance issues and remedies for our CNC machines. Does
anyone have a recommendation for a (low-cost) commercial software
package that will let us track maintenance problems, schedules,
down-time, calls placed to the machine manufacturer, resolutions, etc...
and then display a graph/chart of machine performance/down-time?

Thanks in advance!
--Ari

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi Todd,
I'm real interested to hear your results with Bigfoot. We have had nothing but problems, specifically with the PM automatic generation. You have to leave the program running on a computer and it is hardcoded to do the autogen at 1am (which screws with backups, but that's not the real issue). The program inexplicably misses PMs. Have spent many hours with support, and they finally admitted it's a design problem. In theory they are redesigning the autogen aspect to run as a windows service or under the task scheduler, but who knows when that will be. In its current form I can't recommend the product as reliable. But again, real interested in your thoughts because I'm about to start shopping for another system.
Jared
---------------------------
IT Systems Administrator
Wright Coating Technologies
jallmond@...

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> We're just now implementing a product call Bigfoot PMS from Smartware Group. Not real inexpensive ($3,400 for five full users) but the maintenance request utility is unlimited seats. Very comprehensive PM system. MS-Access based. I'm actually using one full-seat for managing IT service requests. Does PM schedules, tracks inventory (supply) items, records labor and hooks into a depreciation schedule to make automatic repair versus replace analysis. Not too bad to set up so far except for a lot of upfront work to load the equipment info and history. For the five seats we set up IT, Production, Building, and Tooling as major areas and one seat for general admin access. I think a 1-2 seat license would be around a Grand.
> -Todd C.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ari Footlik
> Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:10 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker
>
>
>
> For years, we've been using a poorly built custom database/app for
> tracking maintenance issues and remedies for our CNC machines. Does
> anyone have a recommendation for a (low-cost) commercial software
> package that will let us track maintenance problems, schedules,
> down-time, calls placed to the machine manufacturer, resolutions, etc...
> and then display a graph/chart of machine performance/down-time?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> --Ari
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
We implemented Maintenance Connection for PM and Corrective Action activities.

http://www.maintenanceconnection.com/mcv18/online/mc_home.htm

I have to say the employees are very satisfied with the product.

Features/aspects we appreciate:

* Easy to use
* Saas and OnPremis models available
* Good support
* Strong scheduling
* Reporting is wonderful

We import parts nigthly from Epicor into the system.

I'd be glad to do a call (or even show you the product). No, I'm not a salesmen, just really tought the product.

Bob Schafbuch
Integrated DNA Technologies
bschafbuch@...
One quick follow up, I attended Perspectives and Epicor released a PM Module in 9.05. For our needs, it was a step down from the package we use, but around the room there was quite a bit of positive vibes of the feature set.

Bob Schafbuch
Integrated DNA Technologies
This is good to know. Thanks for the heads up. We have not gotten as far as setting up PM schedules. Phase one (so I can learn the system) is setting up IT for requests and tracking status. Our Maintenance guys are entering equipment now so will probably play with PM by next month. I'll make sure our Plant Manager and Dir. of Operations know about the issues and be on the lookout for problems with automatic PM. Does the "PM Reminders" on Bigfoot startup work or does it also miss PMs?

This is a little far afield from Vantage so feel free to reply off-list. caugheyt@...<mailto:caugheyt@...>

Thanks,
-Todd C.


________________________________
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of k99ja04
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 7:46 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker



Hi Todd,
I'm real interested to hear your results with Bigfoot. We have had nothing but problems, specifically with the PM automatic generation. You have to leave the program running on a computer and it is hardcoded to do the autogen at 1am (which screws with backups, but that's not the real issue). The program inexplicably misses PMs. Have spent many hours with support, and they finally admitted it's a design problem. In theory they are redesigning the autogen aspect to run as a windows service or under the task scheduler, but who knows when that will be. In its current form I can't recommend the product as reliable. But again, real interested in your thoughts because I'm about to start shopping for another system.
Jared
---------------------------
IT Systems Administrator
Wright Coating Technologies
jallmond@...<mailto:jallmond%40wrightcoating.com>

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com<mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> We're just now implementing a product call Bigfoot PMS from Smartware Group. Not real inexpensive ($3,400 for five full users) but the maintenance request utility is unlimited seats. Very comprehensive PM system. MS-Access based. I'm actually using one full-seat for managing IT service requests. Does PM schedules, tracks inventory (supply) items, records labor and hooks into a depreciation schedule to make automatic repair versus replace analysis. Not too bad to set up so far except for a lot of upfront work to load the equipment info and history. For the five seats we set up IT, Production, Building, and Tooling as major areas and one seat for general admin access. I think a 1-2 seat license would be around a Grand.
> -Todd C.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com<mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com<mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>] On Behalf Of Ari Footlik
> Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:10 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com<mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Vantage] OT: Machine Maintenance Tracker
>
>
>
> For years, we've been using a poorly built custom database/app for
> tracking maintenance issues and remedies for our CNC machines. Does
> anyone have a recommendation for a (low-cost) commercial software
> package that will let us track maintenance problems, schedules,
> down-time, calls placed to the machine manufacturer, resolutions, etc...
> and then display a graph/chart of machine performance/down-time?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> --Ari
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
The PM reminders (mostly) works, but the catch is you have to manually run it each time. We had issues with some annual and quarterly PMs that just wouldn't generate so we had to create work orders manually. But 95% of the time the PM reminders screen does fine. There is a table with a single field in the Access database that updates the last time the program runs. Support had me trick it a few times and set the date back a day to try and jump start those PMs. Some just wouldn't go, and I have no idea why.

Running the PM reminders screen each morning wasn't an option for us because we have shop guys that clock in at 5am and need PMs for that day. The office person responsible for maintenance records doesn't get here until 7am. Why a shop employee couldn't be trusted to print PMs I don't know, but that was a decision made over my head.

So we set the software to run PMs automatically (which as I said is hardcoded for 1am) and then set it to automatically email them a PM summary. I don't know why (and neither does support) but this process misses PMs.

Prior to my joining the company, the office person was changing the system date to print PMs ahead of schedule. She would start on Monday, and change ahead by 1 day until she had the entire week. Now changing the system date screws up other things like oh I don't know, Active Directory authentication, so I quickly put an end to that.

I guess if you're flexible about when you need your PMs then you should be ok. I basically gave up in September and have yet to hear about the update I described.

The last thing I'll mention is performance. Our Access database is about 90megs and running over a network share the program can be a real dog.
Jared
---------------------------
Jared Allmond
IT Systems Administrator
Wright Coating Technologies
jallmond@...

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, Todd Caughey <caugheyt@...> wrote:
>
> This is good to know. Thanks for the heads up. We have not gotten as far as setting up PM schedules. Phase one (so I can learn the system) is setting up IT for requests and tracking status. Our Maintenance guys are entering equipment now so will probably play with PM by next month. I'll make sure our Plant Manager and Dir. of Operations know about the issues and be on the lookout for problems with automatic PM. Does the "PM Reminders" on Bigfoot startup work or does it also miss PMs?
>
> This is a little far afield from Vantage so feel free to reply off-list. caugheyt@...<mailto:caugheyt@...>
>
> Thanks,
> -Todd C.