Industrial maintenance: towards an uberization of industry?

The world of industrial maintenance is gradually changing: how can we take advantage of these changes to develop a more efficient model?

Over the past ten years, technological developments have marked our daily lives and populated our world, like Google, Facebook, Le Bon Coin, Uber... These are all tools that have gradually revolutionized our relationship with technology and that influence us at every moment. The industrial maintenance sector, on the other hand, still needs to be modernized.

Many shortcomings are still too present and it is necessary to draw up an overview of the situation in order to provide the right answers. The industrial maintenance sector suffers from a bad reputation, but it is nevertheless undergoing timid improvements, which are struggling to take hold. Mobility Work is committed to proving that profound changes are possible: they will have to happen gradually, but our application already shows that other maintenance is possible, so what could a more advanced new generation maintenance ?

From what angle should industrial maintenance be approached?

It is commonly accepted that industrial maintenance suffers from a fairly negative image. We tend to imagine technicians working in dusty factories, dismantling engines, changing parts and making adjustments to grease-filled machines. This perception of the environment is distorted by preconceived ideas, which has the consequence of driving away profiles potentially interested in this field. The numbers speak for themselves: in some high schools, the number of students in BTS Industrial Maintenance has fallen by 50%. These courses are no longer as attractive as before and have an aging image, which is not very attractive for dynamic young people who are more likely to be interested in design or even R&D.

It must be admitted that industrial maintenance has not been valued enough, on the contrary, which has resulted in a decrease in the level requested in these BTS. The professors are adamant: to once again attract students, the administrations wanted to make this highly technical environment more affordable, so that those who had a professional bachelor's degree could choose this path.

Engineering schools are no exception either. Very few students choose to turn to maintenance, resulting in a reduction in the number of hours of lessons taught : only twenty out of the three years of training required. It is obvious that, if this model persists, future managers will have major shortcomings and may be less able to make the right decisions concerning equipment and its maintenance, even though well-conducted operations guarantee the fluidity of a company's activity and production.

Observable benefits in the business world

On the other hand, the gap has gradually widened and businesses are now aware of how difficult it is to recruit. Again, maintenance managers are unanimous and deplore this lack of qualified technicians. One of them even says: “We are opening ten positions for two candidates, the market is very difficult in terms of recruitment in the maintenance world! ”. While the level of the BTS Industrial Maintenance has dropped considerably, at the same time, recruitment agencies do not hesitate to increase their offers to attract young graduates as soon as they set foot outside of school.

Because of these major difficulties, differences and gaps are growing between employees, who do not have a uniform vision of their work. Indeed, not all have been trained in the same techniques and do not benefit from the same knowledge. If, on the one hand, these varied profiles complement each other, disparities can lead to misunderstandings and dysfunctions: this is why everyone in maintenance must undergo changes.

A strong need for uniformity to change better

While the latter shows a certain desire to modernize and evolve, it is important to take stock of all the difficulties and pitfalls that stand in the way of technologies. Revolutionizing an entire environment is not easy and not everything can be done in one day.

Today, factories face numerous challenges. Some are equipped with the latest production lines while bottleneck machines dating from the eighties, seventies and even sixties are still legion. Of course, you cannot necessarily expect a technician to have all the skills required to be able to intervene on all this equipment and troubleshoot it, as the functionalities are so opposed.

We also observe generational gaps : the profiles are sometimes very different and while some always work on paper, others are more likely to turn toIoT (Internet of Things), the factory 4.0 technologies such as augmented reality, etc. Ultimately, there is a real need for uniformity because modern solutions remain tools that cannot replace the expertise and know-how of technicians and their managers.

Technology as a solution

As we can see, industrial maintenance needs a facelift to attract new profiles: there are many areas for improvement in terms of technology. Robotics, automation, tablets, sensors, applications and others are all arguments that must be put forward to attract younger generations to this form of Maintenance 4.0. It is obvious that the machines of tomorrow will always be more connected, robotized and intelligent and that technicians and managers will have to acquire ever more advanced and more advanced technological knowledge.

In the end, this is why the Mobility Work application is in total opposition to conventional maintenance management tools. In companies, it is not uncommon to meet technicians and managers who think they always have good control of their maintenance using Excel files. This archaic method can be harmful in many ways since it leads to loss of information, potential errors, slows down production processes... Unfortunately, the CMMS solutions that are multiplying on the current market are still today, for the most part, far too expensive and unsuitable. The interfaces are not at all intuitive, the functionalities are difficult to understand, the design is very basic and finally no one would want to put their nose into these software and stick to it on a daily basis. Instead of making the work of technicians easier, it makes their job even more difficult.

Mobility Work CMMS is built around a community of users, who exchange and follow news from their factory thanks to the news feed

Technology must be truly at the service of industrial maintenance so that changes are felt in all areas. This is, among other things, what allows the new generation CMMS tool Mobility Work : the technician can manage all his tasks from the application, consult the activity of his colleagues, monitor his work, communicate with the collaborators of his team and members of the community, share information on a larger scale, check the health of a machine... In short, it is a simple and very intuitive tool that allows even the least trained in technology to have a whole new vision of maintenance, and which appeals to future potentials. professionals in the field.

From employee to freelance status?

But the changes do not stop there: it is the conventional vision of work itself that is being upset. With the emergence of applications such as Uber, the world quickly understood this need and the growing desire of people to be their own boss. The idea of working for yourself and enjoying some independence is very popular and it is interesting to look at all these possibilities. What would be the world of industrial maintenance of tomorrow?

Maintenance technicians would no longer be part of a company strictly speaking but rather part of a community, where independence and mutual assistance would be the key words. Everyone would then be free to work with the service providers and for the customers of their choice thanks to a geolocation feature, work the number of hours that would suit them best and choose the type of machine on which they wish to work. The scoring system, which is already very common today, could even be adopted to allow the most hardworking and competent professionals to be rewarded for their work, increase their workload and develop their network. The Mobility Work maintenance management platform already offers all these functionalities, and aims to support you in your transition to 4.0 in all simplicity.

Create your equipment sheets in the Mobility Work maintenance management application to trigger tasks and activities

Projecting ourselves in this way allows us to better understand all the challenges that industrial maintenance presents in the 4.0 era: we have the opportunity to evolve towards a freer and more open model where everyone would have a major role to play in this large community. In response to these observations, Mobility Work is the community tool par excellence since it aims to become a major social network dedicated to maintenance. Communication and interaction, major concepts today, are at the heart of our application.

Mobility Work is perfectly in line with this line by offering innovative functionalities that allow a fresh look at next-generation industrial maintenance. To find out more about our application, feel free to test the trial version and watch our presentation video.