The Top Eight Failure Codes Your CMMS Should Have


Too often in business, we focus on avoiding failure. And while this is an excellent business strategy, a certain degree of failure is always going to be unavoidable. I’m talking, of course, about machine failures.

Machine failures are an everyday occurance for companies, and happen in a multitude of possible ways. While some companies might have uncommon failures, most equipment failures can be boiled down to eight common failure codes. These failure codes are vital to have in your CMMS as they give you the biggest insights into where your maintenance operations are going wrong. In no particular order, here are the top eight reasons your equipment will (probably) fail.

Fair Wear

Okay, we said no particular order, but this one is usually the biggest failure culprit. Regular wear and tear on assets, like tires or engine oil, will eventually fail throughout their lifetime of use.

Lack of Maintenance

Lack of maintenance is a code you should try to avoid at all costs. Using this code means your technicians haven’t been doing their job sufficiently and are bringing machines and assets to end of life prematurely, leaving money on your table that could go towards your bottom line. Nevertheless, its existence helps you determine when action needs to be taken, either through training or through reworking your maintenance processes.

Lack of Lubrication

Another crucial failure code for spotting and amending issues with your maintenance procedures, lack of lubrication is entirely avoidable for the majority of your machinery. Still- if this code is popping up in your reports, it’s a great place to start fixing your maintenance procedures.

Abuse

Sometimes, machinery isn’t properly used or cared for. Extreme weather conditions and improper handling of equipment by technicians can lead to some serious wear and tear over time. While it can be difficult sometimes to detect or determine abuse, it should be used as accurately as possible to make reporting as useful as possible.

Defective Part

Tens of billions of parts for machinery across the world are manufactured every day, creating a statistical probability that at least some of them will be defective and slip through the quality-control cracks. If a defective part does end up in your machine, it’s important to categorize it correctly, even if it should be a one-time occurance.

Contamination

Keeping assets like chemicals separated and machinery clean at all times isn’t likely, so monitoring when contamination is causing issues with your maintenance operations is important in helping determine how to keep your materials from mixing together.

Corrosion

This code is easy to be mixed up with abuse, especially for assets that work in harsh conditions, but they’re not the same thing. Corrosion should be used whenever an asset is being eroded by something inside the asset or by something that comes in contact with the asset. Weather conditions should be kept to abuse, and acids dissolving machine casings or inner workings of equipment should be labeled corrosion.

Vandalism

While you care about whether or not your business succeeds, not many others will. Vandalism can be as small as a teenager with a can of spray paint tagging your transportation equipment or as serious as a competitor taking illegal action against you in the middle of the night. Either way, both should be categorized as vandalism.

Also, you might want to get a lawyer to look into that whole competitor-sabotage thing.

Why These Codes Matter

Having and using the proper failure codes in your CMMS gives you feedback during reporting that might otherwise fall through the cracks. You’ll be able to write off a machine cleaning as a one-time vandalism event, or know that you’ll have to change your inventory storage methods if chemicals in storage have been cross contaminated.

Our CMMS Software

Luckily, MicroMain’s CMMS comes with all of these failure codes built in, and gives you the power and flexibility to add more as your company needs. If you’re ready to get your CMMS reporting on-point, it’s time to learn more about our CMMS software!