In 2002, maintenance at the Morristown plant was primarily reactive; repairs were made when problems developed. Very little proactive maintenance was being performed, and improvements in availability and efficiency were difficult to achieve. In addition, “The plant did not have an organized inventory system,” according to Reaves. “No one knew which parts were in inventory or their value.” Incoming parts shipments were charged directly against the maintenance budget, which often created hardships for the department budget. The disorganization also reduced efficiency.

Later that year, Morristown and around 30 other Sonoco plants began using iMaint Online, a Web-hosted enterprise asset management system (EAM) from DPSI. iMaint Online enabled Sonoco employees to access their maintenance management system from any computer with a web browser and Internet access; the system and database are hosted and maintained by DPSI.

Reaves understood that a step-by-step approach was needed to reap the benefits of iMaint Online. “The first phase of implementation involved our plant becoming more proactive.” Being able to track detailed maintenance records, readings and many other types of data collected from plant assets was another important step.

The maintenance team then turned their attention to setting up an inventory system using iMaint Online’s inventory module. There were concerns, though, that a full-time inventory clerk would be needed and manual data entry could lead to errors. One manual activity—typing data from completed work orders into iMaint Online—was already consuming numerous man-hours each month. That’s when Reaves was introduced to iMaint Mobile.