The Mobility Work application is a CMMS software created to optimize maintenance management operations by putting the latest technological advances at its service. However, its user-centered design and extensive functionality for information sharing are even attractive outside the framework of maintenance services.
The crossover testimonials of Laurent Lefebvre and Geoffroy Topart, both working at CMD Gears (French leader in mechanical power transmission), perfectly illustrate this “overachievement”. While the adoption of Mobility Work by the former, who is in charge of maintenance, seems obvious, its use by the latter, who is in charge of spare parts, is less expected. Their feedback can help to understand how a next-gen CMMS can be useful beyond daily maintenance management tasks.
Optimize your maintenance management thanks to a next-gen CMMS
The primary role of CMMS software is to make maintenance management as easy and efficient as possible. As the Mobility Work CMMS has been designed to meet those expectations, it counts many advantages over a conventional solution.
Shortcomings of a classic CMMS Software
Before switching to Mobility Work, CMD Gears’ maintenance department used traditional maintenance software, “a CMMS that could be described as very classic”. When Laurent Lefebvre became maintenance manager of a CMD site (Cambrai, Hauts-de-France region) three years ago, the company had acquired a CMMS that was “barely being used and not really up to date in terms of equipment”; the maintenance plans were “not managed at all” and the spare parts management was poor. As for the intervention requests, he underlines that “about 800 were open” and that it was impossible to know if they had been processed or not. His comment: “this CMMS was not being used well”.
The situation described by Laurent is symbolic of the shortcomings of conventional CMMS: difficult to use and complicated to understand, they tend to be misused and maintenance teams often stop using them over time. According to Laurent “there wasn’t much of a CMMS” at CMD Gears before Mobility Work.
Benefits of a next-gen CMMS software
The Mobility Work software differs from previous CMMS solutions in several ways.
An intuitive software
Like most maintenance managers, Laurent Lefebvre was a little apprehensive about switching CMMS software. But “everything went well, because we had good explanations. Even getting started turned out to be quick and easy. Of course the team had to follow afterwards; but after 10 minutes of explanation, everything went very well. Plus the tool is quite user-friendly.”
Information sharing and user-friendly interface
When he started using Mobility Work in his factory, the first change Laurent noticed was the sharing of information. “The application is easy to use and you don’t need to have followed a 3 day training program to be able to read a report, it’s pretty simple.”
Many users appreciate this ease of access to Mobility Work. By quickly gaining the support of teams, it allows a full and complete use of the CMMS software, where traditional solutions are, as mentioned before, too often neglected.
Essential features
Laurent Lefebvre also underlines the importance of some features. For him, the creation of tasks and reports have become indispensable to his work. It is also the case of “the management of interventions, purchase requests [and of] all the daily maintenance follow-up”.
As for the mobile version of the application, he uses it from time to time “to follow a bit of the network news”. If the web version is the most used by technicians, “the mobile interface is interesting to add photos on tasks for example”.
More than a simple CMMS software
From the moment that Mobility Work is being put in place by a company’s maintenance team, it often happens that other departments are attracted by the benefits of the application and start using it themselves.
A transversal use
Just like Laurent, Geoffroy Topart works at CMD Gears. But he is in charge of spare parts and is based at the company’s head office. So how did he come to use Mobility Work?
“It was during a Mobility Work presentation for maintenance that we discovered the application and understood that it had an interest in serving our customers, a strong desire of the general management of the CIF group to which CMD belongs”. He goes on and explains: “We mainly use Mobility Work to have a customer maintenance support service, an after-sales service, assisting the installation of new gearboxes and new machines, for maintenance or for advice. The aim is to have a “digital health record” for each gearbox we manufacture”.
He even plans on extending the use of the application to other departments: “For the moment there are about fifteen people using the application, eventually it will be all the sales department, the after-sales service and the design office.”
CMMS for traceability
The idea of using CMMS software outside of maintenance management itself may seem incongruous. But Geoffroy Topart explains what prompted CMD to adopt Mobility Work: “We had been working on devices for years, without having an application or system that would have allowed us to track all the interventions we had made, the sales of spare parts and even the maintenance operations carried out remotely. Everything was stored in different folders, even paper records”.
In terms of archiving and access to data, and therefore traceability, the method had serious shortcomings: “Initially our method led to loss of information and real traceability was impossible.”
From this point of view, the implementation of the application within the after-sales service represented a small revolution: “we use Mobility Work to gather all this data and allow everyone, in just a few clicks, to access all the important information on the life of a gearbox at our customers’ premises”.
Information sharing for new projects
For his part, Laurent Lefebvre has also started to use the application outside the actual maintenance management. “For some time now, we have been using it for projects. When we have a little bit of specificity, we create a “project” equipment, it allows us to reference a whole history. For example, I work a lot with an industrialization project manager. This gives us more visibility and all the stakeholders benefit from it”
Useful qualities for different uses
If the Mobility Work application is attractive beyond its initial role of maintenance management, it is because it provides its users with relevant functions while being very easy to use.
Rapid implementation
Unlike many professional software programs, especially conventional CMMS, Mobility Work is easy to implement. It took Laurent Lefebvre about three months to deploy the solution and make it fully functional for his maintenance department. However, he points out that “for an average user, it takes just 10 minutes to get started”. Geoffroy Topart, for his part, “immediately saw the interest of the tool”. CMD users easily adopted it.
Flexibility and mobility
One of the qualities of the application that won the account manager’s approval is its great flexibility: “We can shape our network as we wish and build it in our own image to ensure that the CMMS meets the expectations of our business’ activities.”
In addition, the application is as accessible in a mobile version as it is on a computer: each user can use it from any connected device. This is a significant advantage for Geoffroy: “Soon, all technicians will be able to travel around the world and use Mobility Work”.
“He also highlights the tags “which are filters that allow us to optimize our search time” for a piece of information or a machine. Once a user masters this feature, it becomes indispensable to him because it allows “finding everything very quickly: you have to think carefully before defining the tags, but once you choose the main ideas, creating tags and then using them is very easy”.
A human and reactive support service
Finally, the support offered by Mobility Work is appreciated by all users of the application. All users agree with the fact that the Mobility Work’s customer support is precious: “I am in regular contact with the support team, and I am very satisfied,” explains Geoffroy Topart. “Feedback is made very, very quickly, and the answers are quite clear. I’m even surprised that it works so well”. The business manager sees a notable difference between a classic CMMS software and Mobility Work: “when using a classic one, it was not unusual to wait for hours before getting an answer”. He thus appreciates the “human dimension” of Mobility Work..
Laurent Lefebvre shares this point of view: “Whenever I need to, I can easily get in touch with the support team, that is very reactive. I like that I always get feedback very quickly”.
CMD Gears maintenance manager started using our CMMS software and by doing so, other departments of the company got to know Mobility Work. Geoffroy Topart and Laurent Lefebvre both use the solution, but sometimes in slightly different ways.
These testimonials, far from being isolated, show the value of adopting an innovative, high-performance tool that is adapted to the industry’s new challenges.
