In the past, for a long time, the maintenance department was organized independently of the production and operating procedure of the whole company. While production and accounting were implemented in ERP as a consistent system, the maintenance department continued its separate system, lacked connectivity with the rest.
Today, many companies are increasingly recognizing that maintenance is an investment, not just an operating expense as before. And changes in the production system need to be reflected back into the maintenance system instead of operating as a separate entity. For example, a 1000 ton machine will be stopped for maintenance.
Since the release of the CMMS system, maintenance management has made significant progress, contributed to the improvement of methods of creating modern maintenance planning: performance-based maintenance plans, conditions-based maintenance plans, etc.
Meanwhile, the ERP system continues to have many dramatic changes to manage comprehensively activities and resources in enterprises. And the need for Integration or Interfacing between CMMS and ERP systems has begun to emerge and become more urgent. There are currently three application models used to address this integration and communication problem.
Model 1 / Interfacing model: : In this model, businesses will use two independent systems: CMMS for managing maintenance and ERP for managing the rest (accounting, production, warehouse, purchase, sale, personnel). In this model, data related to maintenance will be recorded at the CMMS and transmitted periodically to the ERP system. Information as working hours, material costs/ spare part will be gathered in work orders from the CMMS and transmitted to the accounting and finance subsystem in ERP system.
Model 2 / Integration model: In this model, there is a need for two-way integration between the two systems which are inherently independent: CMMS and ERP. The data list of supplies codes, supplier codes, etc. must be integrated consistently between the two systems. Therefore, it is necessary to use a third system called PLC (Program Logic Controller) to implement it. This model requires a large expense, customize a lot, a big risk but it has not integrated as a comprehensive system.
Model 3 – Merging model (CMMS = EAM):: This model is considered a comprehensive consolidation of the CMMS system into ERP. Today, CMMS has been developed to bring to the new level with the concept of EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) – Management of comprehensive asset systems in the enterprise. EAM becomes a part of ERP’s uniformed system. In this model, all data will be interacted through rhythmically among subsystems: maintenance management, purchasing management, warehouse management, production management, finance, accounting, etc. The subsystem of device management and repair in SAP ERP is PM (Plant Maintenance).
Main functional groups in the SAP PM (Plant Maintenance) subsystem
- Manage structure of repair & maintenance units: Planning plant, maintenance plant, storage location, planner Group, work center, etc.
- Manage organization models managing repair & maintenance.
- Manage the functional location function by multiple levels.
- Manage equipment catalogs & equipment histories.
- Manage the material portfolio/ Spare part; Material attributes/ Spare part.
- Manage BOM (Bill of Material) equipment.
- Manage Counter/ Scale.
- Manage Warranty.
- Manage maintenance tasks as process.
- Manage Attached Document.
- Manage the PRT (Production & Resource tool) catalogs.
- Manage the Preventive Maintenance plan under a variety of strategies.
- Manage Breakdown Maintenance.
- Manage Notifications.
- Manage Maintenance Orders
- Manage The Supply Plan for supplies, spare part.
- The information system.
- Control reporting system, information system