How service companies in the compressed air industry master their system management
Compared to traditional craft businesses, companies in the compressed air industry are faced with the challenges of complex asset management. There are currently only a few software solutions that can fulfil the complex requirements. Although data on the service objects can be stored in many ERP or trade solutions, there is a lack of corresponding depth of detail and configuration options in many places. In this article, we explain the specific challenges involved and how you can best solve them.
The challenges of property and asset management in the compressed air industry
Compared to many other service companies, there are comparatively many different (technical) objects that need to be serviced in compressed air service. In addition to the compressor, there are also various containers, refrigeration dryers, adsorbers or filter sections, depending on the application. Several different objects can be located together in different compressed air stations, which must be mapped accordingly on the software side.
The objects themselves, e.g. the compressor, can also differ greatly in their basic technical structure. Depending on whether it is a piston or screw compressor, for example, other technical components and properties come to the fore.
In addition, the assets in a compressed air station sometimes have different maintenance intervals that need to be kept in mind. It is usually not enough to have a maintenance message issued at simple time intervals. It is often necessary to consider two maintenance conditions at the same time - e.g. maintenance after 4,000 operating hours at the latest or alternatively at least once a year.
The solution: Asset management with object allocation
In addition to the pure system structure, important technical information can be entered for each object.
Core information such as manufacturer, type, serial number or pressure rating are just as important here as an object-dependent component structure. This is important for a screw compressor, for example, in order to be able to record further data on the internal dryer, the controller or the condensate drain. If required, each object is given its own maintenance schedule, whereby time and operating hours are used to monitor whether maintenance is due in the near future.
Furthermore, a separate history is kept for each object within the maintenance software, where all repair, maintenance, warranty and servicing work is documented in chronological order. All documents such as service reports, inspection logs and images can be found behind each history entry, allowing everything to be viewed transparently.
We support you with clean asset management
Expansion of system management to include a mobile service technician app
By linking to a mobile technician app, you can significantly increase the efficiency of your digital asset management. Not only can your technicians view the master data, reports and photos already stored via an app. It is also possible to edit or add technical information via the app. This allows you to actively involve your technicians in the system documentation and avoid unnecessary additional work if, for example, photos have to be sent by email and subsequently entered by the office staff.
In addition to the system documentation, the entire order processing can of course be carried out on a tablet or smartphone. This means that measured values, test points, times and digital signatures can also be recorded and made available to the customer via a service report PDF.
Conclusion:
Without a specialised software solution, system management in compressed air service can be difficult to handle - especially with a growing number of objects to be serviced. You should therefore rely on specialised maintenance and service software that actively supports both office staff and service technicians with system documentation.
Do you now see a need to optimise the management of your systems and properties? We will be happy to support you.