Maintenance management is an important issue for all companies in the automobile industry, a major economic sector in Spain, the second largest producer in Europe. Angel Salas is a maintenance engineer in the maintenance and production department of the Saint Gobain Sekurit plant in Tarragona, Spain. He explains how adopting Mobility Work to manage maintenance at this plant that produces automotive glass (windshields, side windows, rear windows, and sunroofs) has made a difference.
How did you get to know the Mobility Work CMMS ?
“I heard about it from our international manager who introduced us to this maintenance software. We wanted to improve and update our maintenance, especially with the Industry 4.0 focus.
What system were you previously using to manage your maintenance?
Previously, when there was a breakdown, the production operator would write down what was happening and go to the corrective maintenance station to report it. Then the corrective maintenance operator would go to the machine, perform the tasks, and then when he returned to his workstation, he would write down what he had done and how long he had stayed.
The next day we would take all the sheets and enter them into the database of the rather archaic and not very user-friendly software we were using. We were wasting more than an hour and a half a day recapitulating the breakdowns, because we had to write everything down on a piece of paper and then enter it all into the computer.
Now, with Mobility Work, you can enter information directly into the software from a tablet or cell phone. We can follow the breakdowns online, and see what is done in real time.
How did the system change and adoption of Mobility Work go?
We changed our maintenance management system in 2019. At first it was a little difficult because we had to upload 4,000 pieces of equipment into the program, then almost 9,000 spare parts, we had to link everything, classify the machines, etc.
Then, once everything was downloaded, we had to train all the operators. There was a bit of everything: some were in favor, some are still a bit reluctant to change, but now they are all used to it and are very happy with the new system.
The deployment took about 2-3 months because we only had one person to upload all the data, equipment, parts, photos, and then train each operator one by one. The training took time because we have three teams and we only had one person to do it. Now everything works perfectly and it simplifies the work a lot.
What do maintenance technicians now think of the Mobility Work application?
The service technicians are very happy with the app, as they can see what happened from home and easily download the reports. For example, as a manager, I come in on Monday with all the reports from the entire weekend, which makes it possible to go faster in daily meetings.
Using the cell phone, technicians can see the breakdowns that have occurred on their production line, and if operators want to generate a work ticket, they can also do so and assign it to the person who is in charge.
Based on your experience, what are the benefits of Mobility Work?
For me, Mobility Work is a very simple and user-friendly maintenance management software. Within a few clicks, you can get all the information about the number of breakdowns, the hours, the classification. This reduces considerably the research time. It allows you to know the statistics, for example to know if there were more mechanical, electrical, electronic breakdowns… on which lines there are more breakdowns. All this in just a few clicks.
Have you been able to improve preventive maintenance with Mobility Work?
For preventive maintenance, we used to have it on paper and in an Excel spreadsheet; sometimes operators would forget to fill it out after a maintenance task was done. Now we have a calendar in Mobility Work, which operators can fill out directly on a tablet or computer, so no information is lost. Each operator knows what tasks they need to complete each day.
Line operators have a phone but mostly use a computer, maintenance crews use a cell phone, tablet or computer at their workstation. Everyone does things in the way that works best for them.
What are the features of the maintenance management software you use most?
The feature we use most is really the task creation feature, as it allows us to collect all the failures that have occurred. We also use a lot of counters, with the downtime of each line for example, which is different from the maintenance activity time. For example, if two technicians worked on the same line, the line downtime is not the same as the total maintenance time, because they worked on two machines in parallel.
We also develop preventive maintenance plans, we establish preventive maintenance routines with checklists. For example, we can plan to check an equipment every X days.
What is your relationship with Mobility Work customer support?
We use the chat when there is a problem with the application, for example if we have a problem scanning a report; the answers are quick. I also sometimes send emails to our CSM Frederic, asking for improvements, and he always responds quickly to let me know how it’s going.
For the most part, I am very satisfied because the answers are always quick, sometimes the solution is not immediate but we always have quick answers and information.
Do you have projects with Mobility Work in your company?
Yes, now we want to move to premium licenses, because for example with the starter license we can’t insert pictures in the checklists or on the equipment sheets, which is very interesting for the production staff. This will make it easier for the operators to identify the equipment. Our international manager is also working on linking SAP and the Mobility Work CMMS.”
A big thank you to Angel Salas for his testimony and to Saint-Gobain Sekurit for their loyalty!
