National Office Furniture Needed Consistency and Rapid Response;eMaint Delivered!

Customer Since: 2010 | Industry: Manufacturing

National Office Furniture markets office furniture to companies, government, education, healthcare and financial organizations. Prior to eMaint implementation in 2010, three different maintenance management systems were used across four plants. National needed a CMMS solution that was a) easy to learn, implement and use; b) web-based and mobile, allowing requests to be logged and accessed anywhere, anytime; c) able to be customized to record and track company-specific metrics at both the plant and national levels. For National, eMaint provided those services and more!

  • Saw 98% Increase In PM Work Completion

  • Track 820 Assets Ranging from Sewing Machines to Routers

  • Maintain “Ship-on-Time” Pledge Through Efficient Equipment

BACKGROUND

A brand unit of Kimball International, Inc., National Office Furniture markets office furniture to companies, government, education, healthcare and financial organizations. Using the slogan “Furniture with Personality”, its core business model emphasizes quality, affordability, speedy delivery and sustainability through social and environmental stewardship as well as being easy to do business with. Four plants manufacture the furniture and a network of authorized dealerships serve clients.

THE CHALLENGE

Until eMaint helped National revolutionize its maintenance management in January 2010, three different maintenance management systems were used across the four plants — a paper-based system, an outdated version of MP2, and a “home-grown” program. This fragmentation created a number of difficulties, including the need for new training each time an employee moved from one plant to another. As the company became more successful and grew, it was clear that had to change. National needed one, unified CMMS that was a) easy to learn, implement and use; b) web-based and mobile, allowing requests to be logged and accessed anywhere, anytime; c) able to be customized to record and track company-specific metrics at both the plant and national levels.

IMPLEMENTATION

After evaluating a number of options, National chose eMaint CMMS. Dennis Gentry, ERP Senior Business Applications Analyst, worked in close cooperation with eMaint staff. He configured eMaint according to National’s needs, while eMaint converted the data from the plant using MP2 and provided templates for loading the information from the other two systems. eMaint University’s Web-based training, along with some introductory one-on-one consultation, was all National needed to hit the ground running. Once the first plant implemented eMaint, the other three followed within a month. Twenty-eight employees have been trained as users or requesters.

BENEFITS

  • 820 assets, ranging from sewing machines to routers, now are tracked by eMaint
  • A 98% PM completion rate was set as the goal — and easily met
  • Efficient equipment allows National to maintain its “ship-on-time” pledge
  • All National plants qualify for ISO 9000 (quality standard) and 14001 (environmental standard) certification

“We evaluated several CMMS systems, and the choice was relatively simple. eMaint satisfied all of our criteria and offered the best value to performance ratio. Once we became customers, eMaint didn’t disappoint! When we have questions, we get rapid response.”

Dennis G., ERP Senior Business, Applications Analyst