What is a CMMS?

A CMMS (Computerised Maintenance Management System) is software that manages a plant's maintenance: assets, breakdowns, preventive schedules, spares, vendors and the analytics on top.

The core loop: an asset register with history → fault reporting → work orders with labour and parts → preventive schedules that fire automatically → stores control → reports (downtime, cost, PM compliance).

CMMS vs EAM: EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) extends CMMS with procurement, project and financial depth — most plants under one roof need a strong CMMS, not an EAM.

The failure mode of CMMS projects is adoption, not features: if reporting a fault is harder than shouting across the shop floor, the software becomes a data graveyard. Judge any CMMS by its worst-case user — the newest operator on the night shift.