Case study

Grand Traverse County Uses eMaint and Fluke Thermal Imagers to Ensure Facility Availability

Customer Since: 2021 | Industry: Government

Government

Customer since 2021 5 min read

Grand Traverse County, Michigan switched to eMaint in 2022. They pair eMaint with condition monitoring practices to maintain 22 facilities and a vehicle fleet.

Summary

Grand Traverse County, Michigan began using eMaint CMMS in 2022. They pair eMaint with condition monitoring practices, including thermography and oil analysis, to maintain 22 facilities totaling 400,000 square feet, along with a small vehicle fleet. eMaint’s superior customer service and customization capabilities were two of the reasons behind the switch.

eMaint helped Grand Traverse County effectively complete 900+ work orders last year.
eMaint is helping the county reach its goal of making sure facilities and equipment are available and operating as designed 98% of the time.
Thermography tools helped the county reduce energy waste, save costs, and make progress towards its commitment to stop using fossil fuels by 2040.

BACKGROUND

Grand Traverse County, located in northern Michigan, is home to nearly 100,000 people. Their facilities maintenance team of eight, led by Joe Berry, is responsible for 22 facilities totaling more than 400,000 square feet, as well as about a dozen vehicles. In 2022, Grand Traverse County made the move to eMaint to help them take their asset management to the next level.

The priorities of a county government are different than the considerations of other industries, such as those focused on production. As the director of facilities management for the county, Berry and his team are focused on maximizing the reliability and availability of their assets, so they can offer the best possible service to the residents of Grand Traverse County. “We’re customer service. We are here to serve,” he said.

The county’s goal is to make sure its buildings are available for use and its equipment is operating as designed 98% of the time. Optimal use of resources is another priority. “How can I best maintain these buildings, and how can I keep our costs as minimal as possible, because I’m utilizing taxpayer funds,” said Berry.

CHALLENGES

The county’s maintenance team relies heavily on a CMMS to complete their work. However, the CMMS the county was using before eMaint lacked good customer support. “It would take two weeks for somebody to get back to me,” he said.

The lack of support from their previous CMMS made it difficult for the team to keep up with work orders and meet their goals. They needed a seamless solution to manage these work orders (typically 12 new work orders for week on top of existing projects), while also enabling them to proactively monitor and maintain the county’s assets.

FOIA requests are another unique consideration for the county as a government agency. The county needed to be able to keep thorough records, including timestamps, to help them respond to these requests. “With eMaint, I can print it right off and say, ‘There you go, in black and white.’ It protects everybody, protects the county, and it’s just a very easy-to-use system,” said Berry.

IMPLEMENTATION

Moving from their previous CMMS to eMaint took about six weeks, Berry said. Compared to their previous CMMS, eMaint offered Berry and his team prompt and responsive customer support. Berry explained one recent occasion where he made a request that was addressed immediately. “A couple months ago, I said, ‘Hey, I’d like to do this.’ And eMaint said, ‘Well, hold on a sec, so I understand.’ And then said, ‘Go ahead and refresh your browser.’ I refreshed it, and they said, ‘Like this?’ Done. It was just really neat.”

Grand Traverse County also worked with eMaint to customize some of their forms so they can track whether or not permits, including electrical and HVAC permits, were required for any work done. “The customizability of it, that’s where it really outshined some of the other systems,” Berry said.

RESULTS

The team has already seen many results since implementing eMaint. One great example is energy efficiency. Traverse City, located in Grand Traverse County, has pledged to stop using fossil fuels by 2040 — the first city in Michigan to make such a pledge. To find and reduce energy waste, Berry has been using thermography. “40% of your energy loss is through stuff you can fix right now,” he said. “I’m doing thermography on all the buildings, finding out where there are window leaks, door leaks, roof leaks.”

The county paired the eMaint CMMS with Fluke’s Ti401 Pro thermography camera to capture and record this information, and it’s already saved the county more than $10,000 by helping them easily identify and fix the root causes of energy loss in their facilities.

Tracking and trending asset data in eMaint has helped Grand Traverse County extend asset life. It’s also helping them plan ahead for future expenditures — especially important when considering a limited budget. “Take thermography for looking at trends,” Berry said. “Is my roof starting to show wear, are we getting to the point where we need to start forecasting out a replacement? Or for a piece of equipment where the bearings are starting to warm up, are we getting to that peak of service life?” This helps Berry and his team plan ahead when assets need to be repaired or replaced.

In true Michigan form, another facility the team manages is a hockey rink. Keeping the ice in top condition requires some special considerations. “Humidity is a big one,” Berry said. “We always have to watch our dehumidifiers and compressors for making the ice.” The rink is a pole barn-type building, and to keep the rink in good condition, they need to make sure the air is constantly cycling. Otherwise, stalactites will form on the ceiling and drip down onto the ice, causing build-up on the rink that constantly needs to be shaved down with a Zamboni.

There are many more opportunities that Berry is exploring to keep his facilities and equipment operating smoothly and cost-effectively. For example, in the near future, Berry plans to start using vibration analysis on some of the county’s HVAC equipment.

Benefits

eMaint’s mobile capabilities are key for a small team responsible for facilities across an entire county. Berry said his team uses eMaint on phones, tablets, or laptops to complete their on-location work, including referring to the details of a work order or accessing manuals when needed.

Looking ahead, Berry plans to continue moving the team toward predictive maintenance. The ability to optimize the county’s inventory management, and thus reducing costs, is one of the benefits he sees.

They are already able to use predictive maintenance and maximize their inventory management for the county’s saltwater pool, which requires rock salt and UV bulbs. The facility is important to the community, Berry said, because the YMCA uses it for all their classes, and the U.S. Coast Guard uses it for the rescue swimmers to keep their qualifications up.

eMaint has helped the county’s maintenance team improve communication among themselves as well as with other departments and other stakeholders. “It pulls us together,” Berry said. “It helps my maintenance team communicate better with all the other departments and makes us work together as a total team.”

“One of the nice things is I can take my laptop and I can go anywhere in the county, and whether it’s a hotspot or wireless, put everything I need into it right away. And that way it’s continually built. So I always have eMaint with me.”

– Joe Berry, director of facilities maintenance, Grand Traverse County

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Grand Traverse County Uses eMaint and Fluke Thermal Imagers to Ensure Facility Availability

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