Grinnell College Increases PM Completion by 28% and Saves 15hrs Per Week with eMaint

Grinnell College is a private, residential liberal arts college located in Grinnell, Iowa. It serves over 1,700 students on its 192-acre campus.

Safety and comfort for students and staff is a top priority for the college. But with 90 buildings and over 10,000 assets, including 3,000 life safety components like fire extinguishers and exit signs, documenting equipment conditions and inspections was a challenge.

Prior to eMaint, Grinnell College used a Microsoft Access database to document its inspections. Workers also ​​used multiple systems to track inspections and manage work orders. But the college wanted to combine everything into a single system that could simplify tracking, allow them to run reports, and ensure they remained compliant with monthly inspection requirements.

Students also needed to be able to put in work requests for maintenance, and technicians needed to be able to access work orders and asset history no matter which building they were working in.

They turned to eMaint CMMS for the solution.

Moving to eMaint was a simple process, which was made even easier with the support of the eMaint implementation team. “We had staff that helped support it, and ​​the eMaint implementation team was there when we needed,” said Charles Besick, maintenance manager at Grinnell College. “They just did an awesome job for us from start to finish, and made sure before we went live [that] we had most of the kinks out.”

Plus,​​ in-person training from the eMaint implementation team made it easier for Grinnell maintenance staff to take full advantage of all the CMMS had to offer. “From the beginning, the training was phenomenal,” he said. “The eMaint boot camps are well worth it for people that really need it.”

Each asset was assigned a bar code, which workers could scan to access its history. From their laptops, technicians could document inspections, create or update work orders, or perform other ​​tasks without leaving the area. And most importantly, instead of using multiple systems, everything was contained in the eMaint database.

It wasn’t long before Grinnell College started seeing the benefits of its new CMMS.

The Grinnell College team transitioned to paperless maintenance management, equipping each tradesman with a laptop, and gained the power to track project-specific costs.

With eMaint, technicians can now easily scan assets on their monthly life safety inspections. They document equipment conditions as they walk through each facility, ensuring they meet regulatory compliance requirements and that all assets are working as they should. The system automatically creates work orders if needed so repairs can be completed quickly.

“We have the data now to show we’ve checked assets monthly if we ever get audited,” said Besick. “The biggest thing is just keeping the students and staff and everybody safe here on campus.”

Students and staff can also​​ use a dedicated web link to request work on their assets. “Students don’t know when an air handler needs to be worked on; they just know their air conditioner isn’t working,” explained Besick. “We simplified the system and set it so the student just identifies the building, and then our trades guys know where to go to fix the problem.”

In addition to documenting inspections and streamlining work orders, Grinnell College uses eMaint to optimize its spare parts inventory levels. ​​The maintenance team can easily check if spare parts are on hand, and the accounting team can run inventory reports for its end-of-month reporting. “All of that is very critical for us to be successful,” said Besick.

Grinnell College looks forward to implementing eMaint X5 in the coming year, which will add ​​even more features. “The speed is going to be awesome,” said Besick. “It’s going to be nice to have a dedicated server for X5, and we’re excited to be able to add more photos to our work orders.” Their plans include integrating other facility management departments to join them in paperless maintenance management.