Micro-Coax, an aeronautical and aerospace custom electronics manufacturer, moved into a new, larger facility in Pottstown, PA, 12 years ago. The new facility allows the company to significantly enhance its research, manufacturing, administrative and control capabilities, while providing room for expansion to accommodate the company’s steady growth.

Preventive maintenance was stagnant at the company for the last five to six years, with few updates, as PM work orders were difficult to enter, update or change. Many times, preventive maintenance was performed without supporting documentation. Micro-Coax needed a system that was user friendly and affordable. In addition, work orders required for corrective repairs were entered using a separate, home- grown system that was difficult to search and unable to provide the required details.

Accessing data required considerable interface with the original programmer. As a result, employees became reluctant use the system and a significant amount of work was completed with little documentation other than “word of mouth”. No one had a good handle on when assets were available, or when they would be returned to service if they were down. The maintenance team was spending more time “negotiating” than maintaining and repairing. We knew change was mandatory.

eMaint CMMS was selected after a search of several months, during which a field of three candidate systems was narrowed down to eMaint. ‘Software as a Service’ was a new concept to the company, and required some time to build understanding and acceptance. Ultimately, eMaint was chosen because of its ease-of-use and the minimal amount of I.T. support required to customize screens and produce reports. The PM system and the assets were transferred immediately onto eMaint as soon as we turned the software on.

Micro-Coax now utilizes the different tabs offered by eMaint to create complete records for emergency work, assure proper regulatory compliance for PMs and to manage projects. As eMaint became increasingly integrated into the company’s business policies and procedures, it made sense to incorporate the system into Micro-Coax’s Tool and Die Shop and Production Engineering Group as well. The system’s flexibility allowed them to use eMaint as the bridge between the teams when collaboration is called for.

Brian O., Micro-Coax, Maintenance and Facilities Manager