Automation: A New Addition to Your Materials Data Cleanse

The well-established trend of Industry 4.0 continues to govern the future of asset management and maintenance. Those who are consciously moving their business towards this framework of cloud-computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) know that the “manual” of manual labour is becoming a thing of the past. Automated processes for managing EAM systems are on the rise, and if you plan on making your spare parts data more manageable and searchable with a materials cleanse, automation could play a huge role.

Improve cleansing processes with automated procedures

Part of what may make a materials cleanse intimidating to asset maintenance and reliability professionals is the costly prospect of human error. Precious time may be wasted as workers search for misnamed, duplicate, or obsolete materials in an attempt to rename, reorganize, delete, or replace this data. Though they may dedicate their time to carefully ensuring that the spare parts names and descriptions in the EAM system are as accurate as possible, workers are not immune to mistakes: they may not be able to find and delete obsolete materials; they may add another duplicate spare part to the EAM system because they could not find the existing part after searching for it, or they may not follow standard naming conventions. We’re all human, and we make mistakes! However, automated processes are much less likely to fall victim to these human errors.

Data cleanses are also proactive. Combining the two by automating certain processes of your materials data cleanse means that you’re taking preventive maintenance measures. Stop human error before it happens by implementing a solution that automates procedures for classifying and renaming parts, adding characteristics, and populating other important fields. Not only would you be reducing the likelihood of errors in your spare parts management, you would also be saving the time it takes to improve your data quality and reducing the costs of fixing the errors that can happen during a materials cleanse. Ultimately, automating your materials cleansing processes will improve the reliability of your asset and maintenance data, and your operations will be more agile and flexible because of it.