SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices By Terrence O’Hanlon, 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
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Is your company running the latest version of SAP?
Is your company running the latest version of SAP? Yes
384 (63 %)
No
228 (37 %)
Additional Comment
0 (0 %)
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: How long has your company been using SAP Plant Maintenance (PM)?
How long has your company been using SAP Plant Maintenance (PM)? Not using SAP PM
69 (11 %)
Less than 1 year
74 (12 %)
1-5 years
249 (40 %)
More than 5 years
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.
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Did your company ever run a "best of breed" CMMS that was not part of the SAP ERP Package? If so ...
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
200 (34 %)
No
387 (66 %)
Additional Comment
0 (0 %)
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Why did your company replace the best of breed CMMS with SAP PM? (check all that apply)
Why did your company replace the best of breed CMMS with SAP PM? (check all that apply) We have always run on SAP PM
183 (34 %)
Better integration with financial software
225 (41 %)
Better integration with human resources
102 (19 %)
Better integration with material management
207 (38 %)
Better MultiMulti-location site management
162 (30 %)
Better Reporting
136 (25 %)
Other, please specify
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
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Please describe your use of failure codes in SAP‐PM at your company?
Please describe your use of failure codes in SAP-PM at your company? We use the standard failure codes from SAP PM
164 (29 %)
We developed our own failure codes in house
252 (45 %)
We had a consultant develop failure codes for our use
67 (12 %)
Other, please specify
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.
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Have you changed your maintenance work process to “fit” SAP PM?
Have you changed your maintenance work process to “fit” SAP PM? Yes
356 (60 %)
No
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?
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: What products do you use to plan maintenance work?
What products do you use to plan maintenance work? We do not have a formal maintenance planner
53 (9 %)
SAP
463 (78 %)
Microsoft Excel
200 (34 %)
Microsoft Project
147 (25 %)
Primavera
60 (10 %)
Prometheus
10 (2 %)
Other, please specify
45 (8 %)
Scheduling
There are a lot of companies using secondary packages to schedule maintenance • Excel – • Project
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: What percentage of the maintenance staff have received SAP PM training over the past 12 months?
What percentage of the maintenance staff have received SAP PM training over the past 12 months? 100%
64 (11 %)
>75%
115 (19 %)
>50%
109 (18 %)
>25%
113 (19 %)
>5%
120 (20 %)
0
75 (13 %)
Training
More than ½ (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”?
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: On average, how many days per year of SAP PM training does each maintenance employee receive?
On average, how many days per year of SAP PM training does each maintenance employee receive? No formal training
221 (37 %)
1 day
151 (25 %)
2-5 days
172 (29 %)
over 5 days
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?
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: What percentage of your maintenance work orders are tracked in SAP?
What percentage of your maintenance work orders are tracked in SAP? 100%
359 (62 %)
Less that 75%
114 (20 %)
Less than 50%
40 (7 %)
Less than 25%
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
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: What percentage of your MRO spares are tracked in SAP?
What percentage of your MRO spares are tracked in SAP? 100%
287 (51 %)
Less that 75%
130 (23 %)
Less than 50%
54 (10 %)
Less than 25%
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?
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Is SAP used to generate all maintenance reports? (If not ‐ please use the comment box to indicate ...
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
355 (62 %)
No
222 (38 %)
Additional Comment
0 (0 %)
Reports
Most likely exporting the data to a 3rd party software package for analysis.
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Check all elements included in your use of SAP PM:
Check all elements included in your use of SAP PM: Bar Code scanners
126 (41 %)
RFID
44 (14 %)
Handheld Mobile devices
89 (29 %)
GPS
32 (10 %)
Vibration Analysis
160 (52 %)
Infrared Images
82 (27 %)
Ultrasound Readings
66 (21 %)
Oil Analysis reports
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
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Are you a member of ASUG?
Are you a member of ASUG? Yes
96 (16 %)
No
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
SAP Plant Maintenance Best Practices: Please provide your overall rating of SAP PM for managing maintenance
Please provide your overall rating of SAP PM for managing maintenance Poor
41 (7 %)
Fair
150 (26 %)
Good
301 (53 %)
Excellent
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 PM’s 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: • Customization—modifying SAP PM and internal plant process for better alignment; use of third-party technologies to “bridge the gap” • Consultants—use of outside consultants to drive that customization • Training—training all maintenance employees and keeping up on continuing education regarding SAP PM
