Your Complete Guide to Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
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Download the WhitepaperEnterprise Asset Management, also known as EAM, refers to a solution or system designed to manage all equipment maintenance requirements. Enterprise refers to the scope of an organization’s assets across departments, locations, facilities and support business functions such as procurement, human resources, and inventory. Assets are items that can be fixed, such as buildings, plants, machinery — but also moving equipment such as vehicles or ships.
5 Reasons Why EAM Is Necessary
- Asset information and history. An asset is a valuable piece of property or equipment, and the goal is to ensure proper maintenance and to keep assets in working for as long as possible. By having all of an asset’s information right at your fingertips, you can look at previous maintenance history, planned downtime, and other relevant information that will likely reduce future costs by avoiding unscheduled repairs.
- Ability to schedule and perform maintenance requests and repairs. An organization that doesn’t have EAM will likely have to sort through emails, spreadsheets, papers, voicemails, and notes from different employees who are experiencing equipment issues. An EAM system creates a one-stop shop that enables you to quickly review incoming requests so that you can efficiently prioritize and schedule maintenance repairs.
- Define maintenance plans. EAM allows you to quickly and efficiently look at previous, current, and future maintenance requirements so you can ensure that your assets are on a proper maintenance repair timeline.
- Track maintenance costs. Since it’s important to keep and maintain assets in optimal condition for as long as possible, tracking all maintenance-related information, including costs, is crucial. This allows businesses and organizations to budget for future planned equipment maintenance and to see how much money maintenance will cost as well as visibility to historical costs for particular assets.
- Performance metrics. All assets are tied in some way to production and meeting customer demands. An EAM solution makes your key performance metrics — and all of your asset information — instantly available, enabling you to plan ahead and avoid costs and negative impacts related to scheduled repairs.
Benefits of an EAM Solution
Microsoft’s EAM solution – Dynamics 365 Asset Management – is a module within Dynamics 365 for F&O that provides important visibility into equipment maintenance requirements and activities.
Microsoft first acquired the solution from Dynaway, an ISV solution provider, so although Dynamics 365 Asset Management (as we know it) is new, the solution itself is not – Dynaway has been offering it for over 10 years. What this means for Microsoft customers is that they get to benefit from the robust, industry-proven, time-proven functionality of the application, as well as Microsoft’s continued investment and improvements.
One of the key maintenance areas where Dynamics 365 helps streamline processes is maintenance requests. Take a look at the video below to see how Dynamics 365 enables John the Maintenance Manager to create a focused workspace, and more quickly identify and process important maintenance requests.
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits that Dynamics 365 Asset Management delivers.
Tracking valuable assets
It’s important for businesses and organizations to efficiently track and maintain their assets because these items represent significant investments. Valuable assets include:
- Buildings
- Equipment
- Vehicles
- Infrastructurs
- Tools
A reduction in downtime
According to Aberdeen Group, unplanned downtime can cost industrial plants anywhere from $10,000 to $250,000 per hour, so it’s important to ensure that your equipment is properly maintained and up and running. Unplanned downtime can mean loss of revenue, incurred expenses, loss of market share, and perhaps even financial penalties if there are fines for performance guarantees.
Opportunities for improvement
A lot of organizations still work with Excel and similar programs, but an enterprise asset management solution could be an opportunity to take the next step toward a more robust, streamlined approach to maintenance.
Additionally, many companies don’t fully understand maintenance costs and may not track down details for specific assets. Some maintenance parts are expensed through a large maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) inventory so a company or organization may not have clear details about which parts are intended for which assets. It’s also important to track how much time employees are spending on repairing and maintaining assets.
At the end of the day, an enterprise asset management solution is a means of uncovering new opportunities for improvement, such as streamlining procedures and the development of a far more effective maintenance program.
EAM’s Return on Investment
The two primary goals of an EAM solution are to reduce maintenance costs and extend the life of assets.
By keeping assets properly maintained, you will improve availability and performance and reduce costly downtime. An EAM solution will also help you find the right balance between corrective and preventative maintenance.
A Must-Have Business Solution
Taking the next step toward implementing an enterprise asset management solution might seem like a big step, but it’s one that offers the potential to transform how you do business while delivering significant savings of both time and money.
Hitachi Solutions can help answer your questions. We offer an Enterprise Asset Management 5-Day Workshop, which will provide hands-on guidance. Or you can watch our pre-recorded webinar: What’s New In Enterprise Asset Management for Dynamics 365 F&O. Feel free to contact us with questions, and a Hitachi Solutions specialist will be in touch shortly to answer all things EAM.
