SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices

By Terrence OHanlon, CMRP Publisher Reliabilityweb.com and Uptime Magazine

Copyright 2010 Reliabilityweb.com

Summary

A survey of 700 maintenance managers and reliability engineers on their implementation and use of SAP Plant Maintenance

Summary

The role of the maintenance managers and reliability engineers does not include decision to implement SAP Plant Maintenance Most decisions to use SAP were made outside the maintenance managers and reliability engineers sphere of influence

Summary

The maintenance managers and reliability engineers must adapt and master SAP Plant Maintenance to as a management and decision support tool

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:IsyourcompanyrunningthelatestversionofSAP?

Is your company running the latest version of SAP?

Yes No Additional Comment 384 (63 %) 228 (37 %) 0 (0 %)

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:HowlonghasyourcompanybeenusingSAPPlantMaintenance (PM)?

How long has your company been using SAP Plant Maintenance (PM)?
Not using SAP PM Less than 1 year 1-5 years More than 5 years 69 (11 %) 74 (12 %) 249 (40 %) 234 (37 %)

Comment

Slide 6 shows that the majority of the respondents to the survey were Mature users Having been on SAP for more than 1 year.

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:Didyourcompanyeverruna"bestofbreed"CMMSthatwasnot partoftheSAPERPPackage?Ifso...

Did your company ever run a "best of breed" CMMS that was not part of the SAP ERP Package? If so - please enter the name of the software (i.e. Datastream 7i, MRO etc...) in the comments box
Yes No Additional Comment 200 (34 %) 387 (66 %) 0 (0 %)

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:WhydidyourcompanyreplacethebestofbreedCMMSwithSAP PM?(checkallthatapply)

Why did your company replace the best of breed CMMS with SAP PM? (check all that apply)
We have always run on SAP PM Better integration with financial software Better integration with human resources Better integration with material management Better MultiMulti-location site management Better Reporting Other, please specify 183 (34 %) 225 (41 %) 102 (19 %) 207 (38 %) 162 (30 %) 136 (25 %) 105 (19 %)

Comment

2 of the 3 top reasons for replacement was integration related

There was no replacements due to functionality

Clearly, the cost of maintaining integrations when either vendor updates their software is a consideration for Best of Breed replacements

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:PleasedescribeyouruseoffailurecodesinSAPPMatyour company?

Please describe your use of failure codes in SAP-PM at your company?

We use the standard failure codes from SAP PM We developed our own failure codes in house We had a consultant develop failure codes for our use Other, please specify 164 (29 %) 252 (45 %) 67 (12 %) 75 (13 %)

Failure Codes

Failure codes were developed by/for the user companies the majority of the time (57%)
This highlights the need for improved tracking and reporting mechanisms to enable some of the advanced reliability tools and techniques.

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:Haveyouchangedyourmaintenanceworkprocesstofit SAP PM?

Have you changed your maintenance work process to fit SAP PM?
Yes No 356 (60 %) 233 (40 %)

Work Practices

If the majority of the respondents had to change their work processes:

They did not have good work practices to start with or They were given SAP pre-configured
Did they have input into configuration? Was it configured and then given to them to use?

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:Whatproductsdoyouusetoplanmaintenancework?

What products do you use to plan maintenance work?

We do not have a formal maintenance planner SAP Microsoft Excel Microsoft Project Primavera Prometheus Other, please specify 53 (9 %) 463 (78 %) 200 (34 %) 147 (25 %) 60 (10 %) 10 (2 %) 45 (8 %)

Scheduling

There are a lot of companies using secondary packages to schedule maintenance

Excel Project

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:WhatpercentageofthemaintenancestaffhavereceivedSAPPM trainingoverthepast12months?

What percentage of the maintenance staff have received SAP PM training over the past 12 months?
100% >75% >50% >25% >5% 0 64 (11 %) 115 (19 %) 109 (18 %) 113 (19 %) 120 (20 %) 75 (13 %)

Training

More than (52%) did not receive any SAP training in the last year Are they trained sufficiently to really optimize their ROI in the product or are they just Getting By?

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:Onaverage,howmanydaysperyearofSAPPMtrainingdoeseach maintenanceemployeereceive?

On average, how many days per year of SAP PM training does each maintenance employee receive?
No formal training 1 day 2-5 days over 5 days 221 (37 %) 151 (25 %) 172 (29 %) 51 (9 %)

Training

62% receive 1 day or less of training in the last year

Again, how proficient will anyone be with the software with that level of training?

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:Whatpercentageofyourmaintenanceworkordersaretrackedin SAP?

What percentage of your maintenance work orders are tracked in SAP?

100% Less that 75% Less than 50% Less than 25% 359 (62 %) 114 (20 %) 40 (7 %) 66 (11 %)

Data Accuracy

Only 62% tracked 100% of all of their data in SAP

How accurate will the reporting/ data analysis be for the other 38% of the companies? What if only 62% of the companies tracked 100% of their financial data?

The IRS would love to visit them

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:WhatpercentageofyourMROsparesaretrackedinSAP?

What percentage of your MRO spares are tracked in SAP?

100% Less that 75% Less than 50% Less than 25% 287 (51 %) 130 (23 %) 54 (10 %) 91 (16 %)

Material Data

If only 51% of the companies track all of their material data in SAP, how are they tracking the rest of their data? If they are not tracking it, how can they do life cycle costing?
How would the parts cost be accumulated?

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:IsSAPusedtogenerateallmaintenancereports?(Ifnot please usethecommentboxtoindicate...

Is SAP used to generate all maintenance reports? (If not - please use the comment box to indicate what product is used to generate maintenance reports)
Yes No Additional Comment 355 (62 %) 222 (38 %) 0 (0 %)

Reports

Most likely exporting the data to a 3rd party software package for analysis.

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:CheckallelementsincludedinyouruseofSAPPM:

Check all elements included in your use of SAP PM:

Bar Code scanners RFID Handheld Mobile devices GPS Vibration Analysis Infrared Images Ultrasound Readings Oil Analysis reports 126 (41 %) 44 (14 %) 89 (29 %) 32 (10 %) 160 (52 %) 82 (27 %) 66 (21 %) 143 (46 %)

Data Elements

This was very encouraging to see this type of data tracked in SAP
It truly supports the EAM concept

All data about the assets being tracked in 1 integrated system

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:AreyouamemberofASUG?

Are you a member of ASUG?

Yes No 96 (16 %) 486 (84 %)

ASUG Membership

Consider:
If the company has an ASUG membership, is it the IS department or the Maintenance/ Reliability departments that sponsor the memberships? Apparently there is a need (or opportunity) for more Maintenance and Reliability Professionals to influence ASUG

SAPPlantMaintenanceBestPractices:PleaseprovideyouroverallratingofSAPPMformanaging maintenance

Please provide your overall rating of SAP PM for managing maintenance

Poor Fair Good Excellent 41 (7 %) 150 (26 %) 301 (53 %) 80 (14 %)

Rate the System

2/3rds of the respondents rate the system as excellent or good for managing maintenance This is against the industry perception that SAP is not a Maintenance system

SAP PM Best Practice Summary

An analysis of the driving factors behind effective use of SAP PM

Key Findings

Satisfaction with SAP PM early in the implementation process is low Satisfaction is dramatically improved by a number of key drivers:
Alignment of software with internal process (configuration of both) Utilization of external resources/consultants Commitment to employee-wide training

Key Findings

Satisfaction is higher when reporting is mastered using SAP native capabilities

38% use Excel/Access to manage reports

Key Findings

Satisfaction with SAP PM is higher when

The higher percentage of work tracked The higher percentage of spares tracked

Integration Motivations
Integration with financial software Integration with human resources Integration with material management Better Multi-location site management Better Reporting Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Other, please specify

SAP PM Adoption

SAP PM is recognized as a critical component of plant maintenance

Over 90% of respondents were running some version of SAP PM Advantages of deeper enterprise integration outweigh challenges 34% moved from Best of Breed Point Solutions to SAP PM

A Period of Customization

SAP PM Implementation involves a period of customization during which satisfaction with the software may be low:
60% of respondents indicated that they had modified internal processes to better align with SAP PM 57% of respondents indicated that they had developed custom failure codes

Hybrid Technologies

Part of the customization may involve the utilization of third-party technologies (i.e., a hybrid solution) to account for SAP PMs inability to meet plant needs or requirements:
76% of respondents utilized secondary technology (i.e., Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel) to plan their maintenance work

H Y B R I D

S O L U T I O N S

The Impact of Consultants

Consultants play a vital role in the implementation process They have the benefit of being able to view and assess plant processes to better align SAP PM (via customizing the software or the process) with plant workflow Over 75% of respondents utilized consultants Over 50% of respondents who utilized consultants were satisfied with the software

A Commitment to Training

Training plays a critical role in satisfaction

Without training, less than 50% of respondents were satisfied with SAP PM Satisfaction increased dramatically, 12%, with even just 1 day of formal training Respondents with 100% of maintenance employees receiving training showed improved satisfaction as well (75%)

Conclusion

Satisfaction with SAP PM is influenced by a number of factors:

Tracking all work Tracking all spares Reporting mastery

Conclusion

Satisfaction with SAP PM is influenced by a number of factors:

Customizationmodifying SAP PM and internal plant process for better alignment; use of third-party technologies to bridge the gap Consultantsuse of outside consultants to drive that customization Trainingtraining all maintenance employees and keeping up on continuing education regarding SAP PM