Functioning maintenance management is important in order to prevent system failures in the company and avoid production stoppages. Not only the technical steps of inspection, maintenance, repair and improvement are important here, but also administrative aspects such as planning, evaluation and feedback. These process chains are often long and time-consuming, as faults are rectified by email, telephone or on call. Relevant data required for on-site troubleshooting is also frequently missing, as documentation is paper-based. Mobile maintenance management with SAP can provide a remedy.

The standardized SAP PM (Plant Maintenance) is a module that manages all maintenance-relevant activities. It covers all areas from inspection to repair and maintenance and offers tools to support all maintenance-related activities. To this end, it is closely integrated with other SAP modules such as materials management or production control. With the launch of SAP S/4HANA, the SAP EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) module was introduced - with additional features such as real-time analyses or remote monitoring of machines. However, this module is also designed for stationary use on a PC.

Flexus has implemented a maintenance management solution for the efficient handling of repair processes in the company that can be used digitally on a stationary and mobile basis using SAP Fiori, which supports employees working directly on site, advanced planning and reporting. The prerequisite for this is customizing and setting up SAP PM or EAM in an existing SAP system. The SAP standards can be optimized with the help of the add-on solution.

Without paper-based processes

If a fault occurs at a system, it is usually passed on by the responsible employee on call and then created manually in the SAP PM/ EAM standard. With the help of the mobile maintenance solution, faults, times and statuses of the systems can be transmitted directly on site via app, ticket system or Sharepoint and created in the SAP system. This eliminates paper-based processes and the need for a stationary workstation, and the maintenance officer can process and prioritize the reports directly. It is also possible to have the alerting system automatically create orders for machines as soon as they malfunction. Without mobile maintenance management, incoming notifications are sorted manually and the printed orders are assigned to employees. If, on the other hand, mobile solutions are in use, all notifications can be selected and, if necessary, bundled and assigned as one order using drag & drop via the maintenance cockpit in SAP. It is also possible to record documents or damage photos so that employees know immediately which problems need to be rectified; work progress and solutions can also be documented.

If no mobile app is in use, the times are recorded manually in the standard SAP PM/ EAM after maintenance or troubleshooting has been completed and notes are entered in the SAP system. Material withdrawals are also initially recorded manually and then posted on the PC.

Just-in-time recording

With the mobile maintenance solution, all services such as working or travel times and material consumption are booked directly on site. The order app also allows goods to be withdrawn as planned based on pre-planning. Employees can record mobile deployment reports with signatures and send them automatically by email. The feedback is then posted directly in SAP and assigned to the appropriate order.