Nowadays, next-gen Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) give companies and industries the possibility to optimize the on-field teams’ organization. Such tools are now more mobile, intuitive and much more user-friendly than ever, allowing maintenance technicians to become more autonomous. Mobility Work is the first collaborative mobile application which has been developed on the model of social media. It promotes communication between industrial maintenance professionals as well as between other companies’ departments (Purchasing, Production, service providers, R&D…).
In some companies, this 4.0 solution, breaking with conventional tools, may challenge older generations who don’t feel at ease with technology: how will they react to such a technological tool? How do teams generally react to the deployment of a digital solution? Can a technology like Mobility Work be adopted by everybody? Pascal Giuliani, maintenance technician at Peugeot Japy Technologies, a Farinia Group’s subsidiary specialized in metal transformation, provides us with answers.
Mobility Work: Can you introduce yourself briefly?
My name is Pascal Giuliani, I’m 58 years old and I have been working in the Peugeot Japy Technologies plant (Valentigney, France) for the last 20 years. I am a maintenance technician, which means I have to fix and maintain equipment.
Our plant is specialized in the manufacturing of automotive components and is divided into three main profit centers: General Motors, Bosch and PSA, the one I am working for.
How did you discover Mobility Work?
I discovered Mobility Work CMMS in April 2018 when the plant was taken over by Farinia Group. Our situation was rather complicated so to help the plant recover, the CEO Mr. Frédéric Guinot decided to implement the solution here. He explained to us how this software worked and told us that he already had deployed it in several of Farinia’s plants.
Since when is the CMMS implemented?
The CMMS was implemented in May 2018. The situation of the plant was rather critical at the time: industrial maintenance teams were overwhelmed and had to cope with a large number of dysfunctions. At this time, we were using another CMMS solution to organize our working days, before deploying and naturally starting using Mobility Work.
Anthony Blanchard, industrial maintenance expert at Mobility Work, came to our plant and guided us through the deployment. We stayed at our disposal to answer all our questions and to help us familiarize with the maintenance management software. We also appointed someone to be responsible for the deployment of Mobility Work: this technician is always available to answer our questions as well and to help us in case we have some difficulties.
Mobility Work allows operators and technicians to be autonomous: task creation, maintenance plans, notifications for every new activity…
How did you experience the CMMS’ deployment?
I have to admit that I have never been a big fan of technology, so I was very skeptical at first. I don’t feel at ease with new technologies so I used to express some reserves, before understanding that the tool was becoming vital. I learned all the basics here!
When it comes to the Mobility Work app, I was probably afraid of the unknown, but it was just a short phase. I think that everything went well, and even if I still have a lot of things to learn, this industrial maintenance management tool is now part of my working day. As soon as teams understand that such a next-gen CMMS is a truly helpful tool and doesn’t add work, it can only go well.
We are lucky enough, here at Peugeot Japy Technologies, to have a real point of contact specialized with the CMMS. As soon as I need help, I can turn to him and unlock situations.
How did the team perceive the deployment within the plant?
During the first days, I expressed some concerns but my managers quickly reassured me and told me that it just takes goodwill to learn something new. I am one of the oldest employees of this plant so the others were used to use their smartphones and didn’t encounter any technical issues. As I said, I wasn’t so sure about the maintenance management software at the beginning, but I quickly changed my mind.
From what I see on a daily-basis, industrial maintenance teams are perfectly fine with using this technology: we can truly talk about a successful integration. By the way, a phone is just a complementary tool for Mobility Work, as it also is accessible from a computer. The technician can familiarize with the interface before accessing it from a smartphone, which is a positive thing considering the freedom of movement it gives us.
What are Mobility Work’s benefits according to you?
The first obvious advantage is the time gained! For example, when I encounter a breakdown on a machine, I need to know if such dysfunctions already happened on similar equipment. Mobility Work allows me to easily visualize all the tasks performed. This helps me save time and it allows me to be aware of crucial information. In just a few clicks, I can have all the information I need to
Since the implementation of the CMMS, I undoubtedly noticed that my everyday life at work has been enhanced. The most important things in our work are to intervene as soon as possible and to perform quality maintenance. Of course, everything that could allow our team as well as the whole company to save time is an asset. Therefore, the mobile application Mobility Work meets the field requirements.
What feature do you use the most?
The newsfeed is a true asset: when I arrive in the morning, I can simply take a look at all the activities performed, I can know, at a glance, what work should be done, I follow exchanges of information… As a consequence, I use the calendar very frequently. Furthermore, I think it is great to have the possibility to find, in just a few seconds, all the documents we could need (spare parts, plans, technical sheets…).
I think that the CMMS has already integrated a lot of essential features an industrial maintenance professional would need. Of course, such a solution can always be enhanced, but as I am not very confident using technology, I find that the tool already features everything that I need.
Are you satisfied with the reactivity of Mobility Work’s teams?
As I said earlier, we were lucky enough to benefit from the on-field help of Anthony Blanchard, maintenance expert at Mobility Work. He often comes to our plant and stays available for each difficulty we might encounter. He knew exactly how to make the teams feel at ease, and I appreciate the fact that I can talk to a very humane person, who knows exactly how our work days look like and what difficulties we might have to face. When you can speak to someone this attentive, it definitely halves difficulty.
When it comes to the application itself, I am happy to have free online support directly in the app. Assistance messages often pop up: first I was surprised, but now I think it is truly useful.
Thanks to Mr. Giuliani for his testimony! Our users’ feedbacks are at the core of oupr aproach, allowing us to enhance our products on a daily basis. To stay informed of our next articles and our activity, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
