All Organized Factories Are Alike, Every Disorganized Factory Is Disorganized in Its Own Way

Tolstoy began Anna Karenina with the famous line: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” With apologies to literature, the same could be said of factories: organized plants are alike in their structure and efficiency, but disorganized factories each struggle in their own unique way.

For well-run plants, the value of a modern CMMS maintenance software like AnyMaint is clear: more control, less manual work, and better results. But our greatest challenge—and our greatest pride when it works—comes with factories that lack order: no processes, no formal maintenance procedures, sometimes not even an equipment list.

The hardest step: getting started

For a plant looking to upgrade its maintenance management solution, the first steps are usually the toughest. On the surface, creating an equipment list sounds simple. In practice, it can drag on for months. Similarly, each “easy” pre-project task—defining workflows, setting responsibilities—can stall progress for weeks and even block the entire rollout.

Breaking the deadlock

How do we move past these stalls and launch successfully? Two principles guide us:

1. Gemba: seeing through the worker’s eyes Borrowed from Lean Manufacturing, Gemba means going to the factory floor, speaking with operators, and experiencing the process as they do.

For example, one client doubted operators could describe faults reliably and asked to allow “empty” breakdown reports. At first it seemed wrong, but after reviewing the process we built a special workflow to support it. Workers logged reports instantly, and details were added later. With the right maintenance software for manufacturing, the process became efficient instead of burdensome.

2. Every problem is ours—and every fix is an opportunity When users fail, it’s not their fault alone. We see every problem as a chance to improve the product. That mindset is how AI maintenance software evolves to meet real-world challenges—and how we stay ahead of competitors.

Take fault reporting. On many shop floors, breakdowns never get reported because the process is too complicated. If a worker must complete five steps—remembering to report, finding a computer, logging in, describing the issue, routing it correctly—and each succeeds 80% of the time, the total success rate is just 33%. Two out of three faults vanish.

We streamlined the process, cut unnecessary steps, and strengthened the others. Result: Immediate increase in reporting success! Same workers, same equipment—less effort, more data.

Choosing a better ending

Spoiler Alert! Tolstoy’s heroine ended her story under a train, unable to change her fate.

Factories don’t need to share that destiny.

With the right CMMS for manufacturing, you can transform maintenance management, capture accurate data, reduce downtime, and cut the hidden costs of poor quality.

AnyMaint: Actionable AI. Your maintenance co-pilot.