A Computerized Maintenance Management System or CMMS can do a lot for your facility. It helps you to track and monitor your assets, as well as to ensure they are regularly maintained. By implementing a CMMS system, you are helping to increase communication among your employees, decrease repetitive tasks, and ensure that no work orders fly under the radar. 

In other words, CMMS maintenance management is essential for your facility and can transform your operations. If you are ready to have your facility operating at the highest level, read on for four steps you need to take to prepare your facilities for the summer.

1. Schedule time to review maintenance procedures. 

The summer months are the perfect period to schedule time to evaluate, review, and revise your facilities’ maintenance procedures. This is crucial if you are going to have the appropriate systems in place to maintain your internal and external facilities. By taking the time to review your maintenance procedures, you are helping to set your facility management team up for success as they will be better equipped to handle potential issues throughout the rest of the year. 

That being said, tying all your maintenance procedures together can be extremely complex as the complicated coordination of these functions necessitates an intricate yet robust process. One of the most effective ways to stay on top of your maintenance procedures is by implementing a CMMS. By adopting this type of software, your organization will be able to reduce the number of manual, inefficient maintenance tasks and instead transform that labor into other avenues to bring about competitive advantages and maximum ROI.

2. Make a list of items that need to be part of the maintenance regimen. 

To ensure facilities are prepared for the summer, generate a checklist of items to be looked at as part of your maintenance regimen. This step will ensure that you aren’t overlooking essential tasks and will give your employees a clear set of guidelines for their workload. For example, there is a good chance that you will want to check your AC so that no one has to work without air-conditioning in the UAE’s brutal summer heat. 

Furthermore, if you have grounds and landscaping, you will want to ensure that everything is clean and maintained. This is especially crucial if you have visitors to your facility as first impressions will come from the grounds. Additionally, consider inspecting your plumbing, electrical equipment, and material handling equipment. All of these systems regularly need general checkups to ensure they are in good shape. 

While the needs of each facility are going to differ, make sure you have the appropriate experts reviewing the parts so that your facility can operate at peak efficiency. Moreover, it is highly recommended that you employ an asset management mobile app to help you keep track of your facility’s assets. 

3. Review your staffing schedule. 

In addition to your physical assets, you also want to conduct a thorough evaluation of your staffing levels. After all, there is a good chance that your rota is going to be changing over the summer due to holidays. Therefore, you must address this to ensure that your facilities are prepared for the summer months. 

When approaching employee scheduling, you want to make sure you create a system that benefits both your workers and your firm. After all, the work schedule you devise will impact your operations in a variety of ways, including labor costs, productivity, legal compliance, and employee satisfaction. It is critical that you have the appropriate communication tools in place for workers to access the schedule and communicate their needs. 

For this reason, your first step should be to ascertain what your facility needs are and then devise the employee schedule while assigning shifts based on experience and availability. The best planning strategy is to look as far into the future as possible to determine demand and resource supply. Utilize past data and trends to inform your planning efforts and create a formal process for you to review costs, compliance, and other vital aspects moving forward.

 4. Create your emergency plan. 

In an emergency, the actions that are taken in the first few minutes have a significant impact on the severity of consequences that occur. For that reason, your facility must have a well-thought-out emergency plan in place. The best emergency response plans are clear and easily understood, and help employees effectively respond while still protecting themselves. Additionally, the plan should minimize facility downtime so that you can recover operations as soon as possible. 

With staff on holidays, make sure you have the correct people trained and ready to react. Once you are aware of all the possible scenarios, you can start putting together a plan that includes all local emergency personnel and internal and external resources that may be required. All of this should be combined in an accessible document that includes evacuation routes, emergency communications plans, and responsibilities following a disaster event. 

Final Thoughts

These are four crucial steps that need to be taken to ensure that your facility is prepared for the MENA summer season and beyond. By getting into the habit of doing these things every year, you will be better equipped to handle whatever happens. At the end of the day, you want to do everything you can to track and maintain your assets, and these steps put you in far greater control. 

What does your facility do to prepare for summer? Have you implemented a CMMS yet? Why or why not? Do let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.