In March 2014, I was moved to a new position within Zodiac Aerospace at Avox Systems. Almost immediately after I started we had an ISO audit (ISO is a series of standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization). As a result of the audit, we received an ISO 14001 and ISO 18001 suspension. One of the main issues was that there was no evidence of a documented preventive maintenance system. Truth of the matter is, we had an antiquated Excel system, it was manual and there was no ability to track with it. If a paper work order got lost, it wouldn’t get done and that’s not a good system.

With airlines and government as our customer base, having this certification is a necessary part of doing business. I knew immediately that we needed a CMMS. We heard about FacilityDude, saw a demo, and we bought it. Simple as that. No one else compared when it came to ease of use. Lucky for us, we purchased in March and FacilityDude University was in April, so of course we signed up to attend. I spent most of my time in the Learning Lab and it was the most phenomenal experience I’ve had with a company. I was setting up my account and learning the basics of FacilityDude with the FacilityDudes. 

Once I returned from FacilityDude University, I had my scheduled meetings with client services. In between the scheduled meetings I worked hard to get things set up, but if I ever had trouble I just called and was able to get help right away. Everyone was so patient, kind, and smart—it was like nothing I had ever experienced. The most difficult part of implementation had nothing to do with the software: I had to decide how to identify each piece of equipment and that was the thick of it. 

After everything was ready to go, it was time to roll it out to my guys. We met three times a week and for the first two weeks, we just looked at the system on a projector and wandered around in the product. Then it was time to introduce the tablets I bought for them. My guys weren’t tech savvy in the slightest, so of course I was worried about how to get them comfortable with using a tablet and a new software. I didn’t know where to start so I took a tablet home to my mother and asked her what questions she had about it and she said, ”Well how do I turn the thing on?” 

You don’t think about things as simple as that if it’s already common knowledge to you. It was important to make my guys feel comfortable with basic knowledge of a new tool. There is no shame in needing to learn the little things, and you have to make sure the environment in which you teach them isn’t intimidating, or you’ve already lost the battle. For example, we took a whole meeting just to learn how to turn the tablets on and off. By the second week with the tablets they were pros at maneuvering through the product on them. Can you believe in two months they went from not knowing what a tablet is to sending out journal note edits on the go?! I can’t. 

The hidden bonus as a result of all of this is that for the first time, my guys are taking pride in their jobs. They walk around in their new matching uniforms with their tablets and their new phones and they are excited about the work they do. 

Going back to the ISO— four months after purchase, we had a follow up ISO audit. I showed more than 70 pieces of equipment, over 90 PM schedules, and even ran reports for the auditor while he was standing there. The best part for me was that our maintenance guys were allowed to come in and show the auditor their competence using their tablets! The auditor was pleased, and our ISO certification was reinstated. The inspection was supposed to take eight hours and because of MaintenanceEdge we were done in three! We could never have accomplished this monumental undertaking without FacilityDude.
 

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