New Service Spotlight: Bigfoot CMMS and Service From Smartware Group

Facilities managers (fms) responsible for facilities and equipment maintenance have typically functioned in reactive mode. From employees calling in about overheated conference rooms to machine operators asking for immediate repairs on failed equipment, fms can be easily inundated with 25 to 50 requests for daily repairs.

Radios and cell phones constantly ring; problems get recorded on scraps of paper. Floor mechanics run trying to keep up with the demand while repairs continue to slip through the cracks. An overstuffed paper binder houses machine repair history; replacement parts are disorganized and hard to find; and no amount of paper or staff meetings overcomes the chaos.

Bigfoot CMMS (computerized maintenance management software), made by Smartware Group in Center Harbor, NH, is a web-based solution that assists maintenance operations. Bigfoot manages all aspects of maintenance repair for every piece of equipment in a facility, from production machines to energy systems.

With Bigfoot, fms submit a trouble ticket which gets converted to a work order and dispatched to a repair technician. Bigfoot work order data, including detailed information for assigned technicians, descriptions of repair work completed, and replacement parts used, etc., feeds a preventive maintenance calendar which becomes the cornerstone of the facility’s proactive maintenance operations. Now, instead of waiting until an air conditioner handler unit malfunctions because it needs a filter replacement, the Bigfoot preventive maintenance calendar alerts fms to check the filter before the air conditioner is compromised.

Capabilities & Benefits

In addition to maintenance requests, work order processing, and preventive maintenance scheduling, Bigfoot’s capabilities include predictive maintenance, asset life cycle analysis, parts replacement inventory, and history tracking with built in reporting. Bigfoot saves on maintenance operations by helping facilities avoid system failures.

Bigfoot benefits include:

  • Quick implementation, fast return on investment, increased staff productivity, and greater equipment capacity;
  • Mobile access from any web-enabled device;
  • Information capture on equipment repairs over time; Bigfoot helps maintenance teams analyze historical trends and costs;
  • Keeping track of parts replacement inventory; analyzing replacement parts usage over time; sharing parts across multiple locations to reduce carrying costs; and reducing repair times; and
  • Allowing fms to track the status of repairs, instead of having chase down technicians.

Recently added benefits include:

  • Parts Express—repair technicians can now grab a replacement part, scan the barcode into Bigfoot which matches up the work order with the same barcode, then adjusts the parts inventory database; ad hoc spare parts can now be similarly processed through Bigfoot as well.
  • Bigfoot now also manages non-stocked spare parts.
  • Integration with Active Directory—security data from employees using Bigfoot is automatically transferred to active directory for global IT control.
  • Additional languages have been added.

Bigfoot tracks equipment maintenance costs over time so fms can figure out whether to repair or replace assets and if necessary, suppliers. Bigfoot also reports on repair frequency and cost of work completed by outside vendors to decide whether to renew and/or renegotiate contracts. Bigfoot shows repair cost comparisons of similar equipment in different locations, allowing companies to negotiate with higher priced contractors.

Bigfoot customers report reducing maintenance costs by hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars and as much as 40% due to improved asset maintenance and repair. The product is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Hebrew.