Materials Data 101

Materials: they’re everywhere!

We can think of a material as a spare part used for a larger piece of equipment. In everyday life, examples could include an oil filter in a car or a pump in a laundry machine. With repeated use, these materials experience wear and tear and need to be replaced. In the context of large, asset-intensive businesses that use machinery often, there needs to be an EAM system where information about these materials can easily be found, including details of where they are located in a warehouse, how many there may be, or what piece of machinery they are used for. That way, when a material within a piece of equipment becomes worn down and needs to be replaced, retrieving that replacement can be as simple as looking up the right material in an EAM system and finding all the correct materials data.

What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Like any set of data, materials data can become difficult to manage. When a business is managing thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of materials, keeping all of that information accurate and up to date is tough. This could be for lots of reasons. For instance, the EAM system may not be very user-friendly, causing workers to take shortcuts with what kind of data they enter and where. This may lead to inaccurate materials data, duplicate materials data, or materials data that is limited to older naming conventions which present employees may not be used to. Looking up a material that is needed for the maintenance of a piece of equipment becomes a much bigger task. An employee may have to sift through tons and tons of information before they find the spare part they are looking for. When they do find what they’re looking for, they may think, “Can I trust that this information is right?”

Cleansing your materials data

A materials cleanse could be the right step towards improving the quality of your materials data. A cleanse is a chance to review the spare parts in your EAM system and really ensure that all the information in your system is both useful and accurate. A cleansing solution makes it possible to easily add or delete information, search up spare parts quickly, and modernize the naming conventions of your system that otherwise might hold you back. To learn more about materials cleansing, you can find our helpful check list and tip sheet at the link below. If a cleanse sounds like something you may need, reach out and book a demo to discover where we can help!