DimoMaint MX CMMS Unifies Activities Across Three Remote Sites
The Chartres Hospital Center is spread over 3 sites, covering 110,000m2, with 1,250 beds and 2,500 professionals offering a comprehensive range of care (medicine, surgery, obstetrics, emergencies). This key player in Eure-et-Loir ensures quality care through modern technical facilities and medical innovations. It is also a supporting establishment for the Groupement Hospitalier de Territoire 28 (GHT). However, maintaining three remote sites and 56 buildings required the modernization of maintenance tools. With successful experience deploying CMMS in Canada, Thomas Pederiva, building maintenance engineer at Chartres hospitals, learned from the implementation of DimoMaint MX and shares his practical and operational vision of the challenges encountered.
Remote Locations
The Chartres Hospital Center covers 56 buildings over 110,000m2, including “the mother house,” Hôtel Dieu (22 buildings, 30,000m2), Louis Pasteur Hospital (22 buildings, 70,000m2), and Saint Brice Hospital (12 buildings, 10,000 m2). 30 to 40 people conduct maintenance activities across three divisions: Works, Security, and Maintenance, the latter being led by Thomas PEDERIVA. Cross-functional interventions are carried out in two sectors: Management and Contracts/Providers.
The Choice of a Lightweight Solution
Thomas PEDERIVA consulted various major publishers offering heavy, costly, and complex solutions to deploy before the steering committee opted for DimoMaint MX. Several factors explain this choice: a good commercial relationship, a reasonable budget, the availability of a mobile version (as the various locations are distant from each other), easy handling, ease of data import, not to mention the secure data hosting by DimoMaint.
Major Preliminary Projects to Accelerate Implementation
To secure deployment, the project was initially subdivided into several important sub-steps:
- Recovery of all architectural plans,
- Establishment of a nomenclature,
- On-site identification of locations and assets,
- Implementation of an outsourced technical inventory application to the CMMS,
- Drafting of maintenance ranges,
- Recovery of the technical store.
“DimoMaint helped us structure the solution according to our needs. They created profiles and supported us in the field. Moreover, they ensured the training of key users as well as the import of data while providing valuable post-implementation advice,” says Thomas PEDERIVA.
An Incremental Approach to Delve into the Details of the Hierarchy
The team started from the master plans, then moved down to the architectural plans, gathering information related to levels, zones, etc., going from general to specific. Sites, buildings, floors, zones, and 8,500 locations were compiled into an Excel file. Ensuring the uniqueness of codes was necessary to guarantee a coherent data import, as this approach was a first since 1986.
“A significant inventory work was carried out on the plans, the description of premises, and surface data. The goal: quickly find what we are looking for. For us, surfaces are important because we must respond quickly depending on changes in the purpose of the premises. Regarding the management of the store and spare parts stock, we started from paper plans. We mapped the aisles with the different shelves down to the row level to gain efficiency. We reviewed the nomenclatures of parts families, the on-site labeling with QR codes to use the mobile application and save time. Typically, when we return to the CMMS, the parts stored in the store are immediately identifiable and locatable,” explains Thomas PEDERIVA.
Rationalization of Maintenance Ranges
Regarding maintenance ranges, an entire library was compiled into an Excel file with families, sub-families, frequencies, and increments. “A major cleanup was done on the contractor’s preventive to eliminate duplicates. We now choose the actions that will be carried out under the contract. In the old system, there were nearly 1,000 ranges. Today, there are only 170. If we search for a frequency on a given range, we can display its content, which offers traceability on the actions performed,” adds Thomas PEDERIVA.
DimoMaint CMMS Reassures Its Users and Facilitates Their Work
Thomas PEDERIVA mentions the ease of handling DimoMaint MX for personnel not familiar with IT. Furthermore, the mobile application greatly simplifies field operations. “The cloud – with French servers – streamlines updates performed continuously, avoiding the need to do it yourself. The customer service is particularly responsive. Finally, the company’s experience in the healthcare sector with over 200 equipped establishments reassures the governance.” Moreover, he notes multiple benefits following the implementation:
- Quick handling of fixes,
- Acceleration of the validation process, previously very cumbersome,
- Possibility of working offline,
- Less time wasted, as there are fewer back-and-forths,
- Implementation of a preventive maintenance plan,
- Improvement in stock management,
- Enhanced traceability and reporting,
- Better regulatory compliance.
The work request form has been deployed for caregivers: “It’s a true incident collection portal. The 2,500 people on site have access to the CMMS. We no longer seek double validation from the supervisor, as we have simplified the process to try to empower the staff, knowing that maintenance retains the authority to decide whether a work request is acceptable or not,” concludes Thomas PEDERIVA.
Three Major Upcoming Projects
Upcoming actions are numerous, including the integration of APAVE follow-ups and the verification of electrical installation controls. The aim is to address reported anomalies and non-conformities and directly generate an automatic work order in the CMMS. Additionally, estimating the ROI will allow for analyzing the return on investment of the CMMS and the valuation of stock. Finally, Thomas PEDERIVA plans to finalize stock management and integrate IoT sensors into the CMMS to estimate the energy consumption of buildings.
Three Tips for Successfully Implementing a CMMS Project
For Thomas PEDERIVA, the CMMS must reflect the field, as a well-constructed base is a performant CMMS. He offers three best practices:
- Involve key users to foster buy-in by involving technicians and managers to meet real needs: train and support from deployment and gather feedback to adjust the tool, without involving too many participants to avoid slowing down the process.
- Address the fundamentals (who, what, when, where, why) to properly structure the approach.
- Structure your data and have a coding logic to ensure the reliability of analyses and management, optimize stocks and interventions, automate and trace fluids, and facilitate system evolution.
