According to Global Market Insights, the enterprise asset management (EAM) market was a $4 billion industry in 2022 and is poised to grow by 9% in the next 10 years, primarily due to digitalization efforts.
EZO, a cloud-based asset management software provider, has a portfolio of intelligent asset management solutions for physical assets, IT hardware and software, equipment maintenance, and even equipment rental management. Its EAM offerings provide intuitive workflows and tracking for end-to-end management of all team activity involved in asset management.
EZO’s recent launch of a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), called EZO CMMS, will help OEMs with preventive maintenance of equipment. OEM magazine recently interviewed EZO CEO Syed Ali to discuss the impact of intelligent CMMS and EAM on the CPG industry.
Why is the digital transformation trend driving demand for enterprise asset management systems?
Syed Ali: In today's fast-paced and constantly evolving business world, many organizations are now recognizing the strategic importance of effectively managing their physical assets and inventory, especially since the pandemic hit, as we were all working remotely and managing people and assets remotely, too.
One of the key reasons for the growth in the EAM space is the increased efficiency and cost savings it offers organizations. With EAM, organizations can track the maintenance and repair of their assets, monitor inventory levels, and ensure that assets are being used in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This results in cost savings through reduced downtime and more efficient utilization of resources.
In addition, EAM is becoming increasingly popular due to its ability to improve the accuracy of inventory tracking and control. With real-time visibility into inventory levels and usage, organizations can make informed decisions about when to order new supplies and when to move inventory between locations.
Syed Ali, Founder and CEO of EZOEZO
More and more organizations have been using spreadsheets for different locations, devices, and processes, inevitably leading to unnecessary and costly problems: duplicated work, compliance problems, and uncertainty about hardware assignments. The lack of a single, cohesive system has made tracking and tracing assets difficult to maintain in a consistent, consolidated database. Apart from data inaccuracy, providing access to different team members across different spreadsheets is also a major challenge. Working remotely and the other challenges of the pandemic only exacerbated this issue.
As a part of the digital transformation that is taking place, EZO has continued to pioneer the digital transformation of asset management, helping to empower all parts of an organization by providing the ability to simplify access, use, understanding and administration of the business assets that each department relies on for daily success. EZO’s centralized approach to asset management has placed us in the unique position of being able to offer operational solutions that are specialized for particular use cases and industries, but also offer the benefit of over a decade of work and care crafting the most comprehensive and streamlined systems for managing business assets in almost any imaginable workflow.
What was the purpose for rolling out EZO CMMS?
Ali: EZO launched its innovative equipment maintenance solution, EZO CMMS, in January 2023. It is an asset-first operations solution that seeks to go beyond simple work order management by providing intuitive workflows which support the end-to-end management of all team activity involved in asset maintenance. The system makes both assets and work schedules easily accessible and manageable by maintenance supervisors from a single location. It also helps teams resolve issues before they happen, supporting preventative measures to maintain equipment for stable, continuous operations—ensuring audit readiness and compliance, warranty tracking, and a focus on preempting issues that can be disruptive to business.
Preventative maintenance is critical for all industries, but it is especially crucial for manufacturing operations to ensure equipment reliability, prolong equipment lifespan, improve product quality, enhance workplace safety, and comply with regulations.
 | Listen to this UnPACKed podcast that addresses the benefits of predictive maintenance. |
As a concept, we found that the ability to optimize assets’ lifecycles, and ultimately performance and uptime, requires a user-friendly connection of assets to the activities that maintenance requires – the management of a team’s effort and time—through easy to use scheduling and internal communications. This innovative approach is meant to drive greatly increased maintenance efficiency and overall organizational productivity. Our expertise in asset management allows us the flexibility to layer on productivity enhancements that are required for unique use cases, and for maintenance we believe we’re offering a groundbreaking approach that will get results for maintenance organizations of all sizes and types, from facility management to manufacturing and beyond.
How does EZO CMMS fill out your product portfolio?
Ali: We have now consolidated our innovative asset management solutions to help thousands of organizations streamline their operations in key areas like physical asset management with EZOfficeInventory, IT asset management with AssetSonar, rental business management with EZRentOut, and now equipment and maintenance management with EZO CMMS.
EZO CMMS will help ensure peak uptime, equipment longevity, and productivity of both the maintenance team and all equipment users in facilities and manufacturing. It will streamline repairs and preventive maintenance for organizations.
Business assets are foundational to the strategic success of virtually every organization on the planet, from schools to software companies, from law firms to manufacturing, and everything in between. We are now refocusing our attention on the unlimited potential that is locked away in our customer’s assets and how operational alignment is not only a key risk and cost limiter but also a powerful growth driver.
Is EZO CMMS for any type of industrial equipment in any industry?
Ali: Yes. EZO CMMS will benefit any organization seeking to optimize maintenance operations, including industrial equipment. With an open API architecture, integrating systems and services to EZO CMMS is simple and provides significant automation for maintenance teams.
There’s a feeling that the CPG industry is behind in digital transformation. Can this tool help?
Ali: Today, the CPG industry is facing several challenges related to product quality, safety, regulatory compliance, and sustainability. Asset management tools can certainly help the CPG industry in adopting a digital transformation strategy to address some of these overall issues.
An EAM platform can streamline the maintenance processes, which is critical for ensuring product quality and safety. These tools can provide real-time data on the condition of the equipment and alert the maintenance team in case of any malfunctions or breakdowns. This will help to reduce downtime and improve the overall efficiency of the manufacturing process. An EAM platform can also help to ensure regulatory compliance in the CPG space. The tool can provide an audit trail of all the maintenance activities, which is essential for meeting the many regulatory and compliance requirements.
Finally, an EAM tool can help to improve the sustainability of the CPG industry. The tool can provide insights into the energy consumption and carbon footprint of the manufacturing process. This will help to identify areas where energy efficiency can be improved and carbon emissions can be reduced.
Could a machine builder use this tool for remotely managing preventive maintenance of machines that are onsite at a CPG end user manufacturing facility?
Ali: Yes, a machine builder can use a CMMS and EAM tool for remote preventive maintenance of machines that are onsite at a manufacturing facility. While a CMMS and EAM tool are often used internally within an organization to track all assets, they can also be used by external service providers, such as machine builders, to manage and maintain assets that are located at a customer's site.
This could include scheduling maintenance tasks, creating work orders, tracking inventory levels, and monitoring equipment performance. The tool could also be used to generate reports on asset performance and maintenance history, which would be useful for both the machine builder and the customer.
Are there any specific features of EZO CMMS to call out?
Ali: There are many features that businesses can take advantage of with our new EZO CMMS platform. These include:
● Visibility: The total visibility into assets, team and schedule ensures fast effective decision making and more accurate forecasting. It also allows a business to anticipate and prevent issues before they turn into major problems.
● Scheduling: Centralized management of the maintenance team’s time, enabling a supervisor to centrally assign tasks, ensuring streamlined tracking and timely completion.
● Communications: Coordinated communications and data management ensure peak productivity across all operations.
● Productivity: Improved maintenance team performance helps organizations increase uptime, product targets, and more.
● Analytics: Historical data and analytics provides the insights that businesses need to understand and improve operations in meaningful ways.
● Processes: Advanced processes and continuous visibility ensure precisely timed equipment maintenance, reducing costs.
