Contents
What Is a Work Order and Why Is It Important?
For the maintenance manager, the work order (WO) is an essential document for organizing requests, formalizing activities, and maintaining the asset and equipment history.
This document contains the information required to perform the activity. So, each company adopts a template according to its needs, but some elements are indispensable, such as:
- a unique identification number
- name and job title of the person in charge
- department, date, and time of the request
- description of the service, team, materials, and tools required
- completion deadline
These records directly affect the production chain. As a result, the reliability of the information and the speed with which it is shared have a direct impact on efficient maintenance management and on overall asset management processes.
What Are the Advantages and Limitations of the Printed Work Order?
For some companies, paper work orders still make sense and are already part of the company culture. The paper version is generally used in:
- companies with low process complexity
- locations without access to the internet or technology
- emergencies in which paper still serves as a backup
Even though in some situations the use of the paper version is essential, it does have limitations, the main ones being:
- more susceptible to erasures, damage, loss, and misplacement
- difficulty standardizing formats and fields
- delays in the flow of information
- costs related to printing and physical inventory
In this context, technology becomes a perfect ally for optimizing work orders through their digital version, as we will see next.
What Is a Digital Work Order?
A digital work order is the computerized version of the traditional document that many companies still use. It is recorded in a maintenance management software (such as a CMMS/EAM) and can be created and accessed by any authorized employee.
In practice, it works as follows:
- the maintenance manager creates the WO directly in the system
- teams receive real-time notifications
- progress is tracked from the beginning to the end of the process.
A work order can also be requested by any department in the company that needs a service, especially in organizations where the culture requires that everything be recorded to build maintenance histories. Above all, this is also important to ensure that machines and equipment do not lose their warranty, since their entire history of interventions and failures will be recorded.
To be complete, work orders usually include:
- request and execution data
- maintenance and cost history
- performance indicators
- automated reports for audits
Of course, each company includes in its work orders the information that is most relevant to its own maintenance and reliability needs.
Digital vs. Paper Work Order
The answer is direct: the more agile, reliable, and compliant your company’s documentation procedure is, the better the results it will achieve. As promised, see below how this alternative is more effective in ensuring the results your company aims for.
Information Security
First, your company will gain reliability in data entry through standardized forms. This puts an end to erasures, incomplete fields, or illegible handwriting. In addition, information is stored in the system, preventing losses or damage, which often occurs with printed documents.
Access and records are more secure, controlled by login and password. This makes it possible to identify those responsible for each action in the system: who requested the service, who has already viewed it, among other details.
Moreover, data accuracy contributes to better maintenance management, as it helps detect and prevent scheduling errors. This benefits all areas of the company, especially operations, planning, and control.
Integration
Strategically coordinating those responsible for a task is essential to avoid gaps and errors at each stage. Because it is stored in the system, the digital work order can be accessed and shared by any stakeholder quickly and in an organized way.
This simplified access, without intermediaries, allows any activity to be started immediately after the request. And, to the satisfaction of maintenance and reliability managers, the performance of each step in the workflow can be monitored at all times. As a result, corrective actions can be defined quickly, thus preventing greater issues.
Better Feedback
With a digital system, work order information is consolidated and generates comprehensive reports.
The tool can also offer customizable features. In this way, the person in charge chooses which data will be analyzed, either separately or in combination, depending on the situation.
So, the main advantage is speed and security in analyzing critical information for activity planning, strategic sourcing of materials and spare parts, maintenance scheduling, and performance measurement.
Cost Savings
Estimate and verify how much is currently spent on paper. Information can be sent by email and printed only when necessary. Imagine how much space your company will save by eliminating physical archives.
It is also important to remember that effectively tracking the sequence and specific requirements defined in work orders helps prevent productivity losses.
Quality and Continuous Improvement
With access to useful data and agile tools, employees can devote more time to planning and to strategies for improvement and growth. After all, the time spent dealing with failures affects both performance and motivation.
All departments benefit, including those responsible for audits, since indicators are reliable and easily obtained. As a result, diagnostics and actions are defined more quickly.
The benefits are many, but to ensure them, your company needs software that provides the necessary resources. That is why Engeman® is the solution it is looking for.
Why Adopt the Engeman® Software?
This is a tool for managing maintenance and services. With it, you can organize and record the entire process, plan and schedule tasks, and create histories of events, costs, and performance.
Its main advantages are:
- flexibility and ease of use
- improvements and cost reduction
- integration of departments
- data collection
- creation of complete reports to enhance maintenance management
- provision of support and training
Faster execution is ensured by the Mobile Module, designed for tablets or smartphones, which collects data and manages work orders in the field.
What Are the Advantages of the Engeman® Mobile Module in Managing Work Orders?
With this feature, it is possible to create work orders and manage their stages: opening, tracking, closing, or cancellation.
Most importantly, the records entered can be synchronized with the data collector at the end of the day or at any time. In other words, the Engeman® database is always up to date. The team is also spared the work of manually transferring this information. This saves time and minimizes errors.
Digital Work Orders and the Future of Maintenance
The digitalization of maintenance processes is no longer a trend but a reality. Companies that adopt digital work orders gain agility, reliability, and cost reduction.
In conclusion, the end of paper documents is definitely near. Choosing between paper or digital work orders is a key decision that can raise the quality of your company’s maintenance and asset management processes.
Want to know how Engeman® can help your company evolve? Get in touch with us and request a demo!
