As a member of the iMaint User Advisory Board, Butterfield has participated in two User Group Conferences with presentations on “Documenting Maintenance Goals” and “Build a Reliability-Centered Maintenance Program.” These presentations have explained how extensively iMaint can be used to provide pertinent data for making informed decisions. Defining and implementing metrics provides Butterfield with accurate data to make his informed decisions. “I started defining metrics as a way to market the maintenance department and show that we did a lot more than just “fix” things. The metrics that we have set up allow us to focus on problem areas, but also to show areas where we have been extremely successful, like with our Air Management System. With this program, we started collecting data to find out how many hours our six air compressors ran each month by taking a meter reading the first day of each month. When we began, the six compressors combined were running 24 hours a day. By using our data of when they were running and when they were used, we have been able to decrease usage to 17.6 hours/day among the six compressors. We are able to set the compressors so the start and stop parameters are more efficient with lower pressures during off-hour,” explained Butterfield. Butterfield estimates that he has created 25 metrics like the Air Management System. These metrics allow him to track monthly data and savings and then supply management with more accurate data for making decisions about the future.

Another factor that assists Butterfield in planning is relying on the RIME priority in iMaint. RIME is the Relative Importance of Maintenance Expenditure where each asset is placed in one of ten priority categories. The items most important to efficiency and productivity have a value of ten and the least important, a value of one. When work orders are generated for the week, he can easily see what is most important according to the assigned RIME priority. Butterfield says “We built our RIME priorities around the PMs, assigning them a level of 8. They are not emergencies, but not performing the maintenance can lead to the possibility of equipment downtime, which ultimately affects the bottom line. The only things that are a higher priority than our PMs are actual emergencies, safety issues or lead to a substantial loss of revenue.” When the work orders are generated, they go to a scheduler. Butterfield is not involved in this process unless it is a unique request or one flagged for supervisor’s approval. The scheduler assigns them to the appropriate maintenance person based on that person’s skill set and the RIME priority, using the Resource Allocation module.

“We have 13 maintenance employees for this 1.2 million square foot facility. The Resource Allocation module allows our mechanics to get a snapshot of the upcoming week,” explained Butterfield. “It was not difficult to incorporate the Resource Allocation module into our work at IGT. We had worked with a similar module in PMC and just transferred our skills. This module allows us to keep all employees fully utilized.” “One innovative way IGT uses iMaint is by tracking all of our service contracts in iMaint. We entered them so that a work order is created three months before they are due. This gives us time to review the contract before renewal, interview other providers, and engage in negotiations, rather than feeling we are pressed to sign with the same provider because the renewal date is eminent,” explained Butterfield. When the contract is coming due and the work order is created, the current contract is viewable as an attachment to the work order. This process saves time, money and a lot of employee effort.