Industries spend nearly $1 trillion annually to maintain their operations, assets and equipment. According to IBM business consulting services, maintenance costs alone represent 20 to 40 percent of operating costs, and this has raised an average of 10 to 15 percent per year.

The evolution of industrial MMS can be traced back to the 1960s. The focus on the reduction of inventory led to the customized software package as part of the MRP (materials resource planning) program, the MRPII (which focused on the manufacturing in terms of financial management) and the ERP systems, which integrated the entire enterprise.

Then came the enterprise asset management (EAM) systems, in which the focus is on managing assets through the entire life cycle. EAM encompasses all stages of the asset life cycle right from the planning, design, purchase, install, operate, maintain and disposal stages. Maintenance management software for all types of equipment form a subset of EAM.

Capital-rich industries like aerospace, automobiles and mining and service industries have assets worth billions of dollars. The bottom line of these industries depends upon the utilization of assets, increasing productivity and also enhancing the lifespan of the assets. Computerized maintenance management systems serve these purposes.

CMMS is composed of networks and software modules. The software modules are customized and designed for various aspects of maintenance management, like equipment data management, predictive and preventive maintenance planning, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), parts and services procurement, employee management and asset performance analysis.

Most MMS implementations fail due to a mismatch between the features of the software and the business processes. Hence, it does not necessarily mean that implementation alone will solve the problems related to maintenance. Top management involvement and the end user familiarity with the software also dictate the success of the system.