What is Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)?

What is EAM?

Enterprise asset management (EAM) features a holistic network of controlled systems, software, and services dedicated to maintaining physical assets and infrastructure throughout their entire lifecycle—from asset procurement to disposal. An EAM system ultimately lets organizations optimize the performance and efficiency of their physical assets and infrastructure while reducing operating costs and ensuring compliance with relevant standards.

Centralized Asset Management

An EAM system also centralizes asset management across multiple sites so maintenance teams can more easily monitor and maintain assets regardless of their location.

Organizations have hundreds, if not thousands or millions, of assets. Managing each of these assets through their life cycles requires implementing a strategy to manage them from their purchase to their end. An enterprise asset management system gives companies this capability.

Benefits of EAM Solutions

EAM best practices enable maintenance and reliability teams to strategically manage their complex, asset-filled environments by tracking asset health, performance, and efficiency. An EAM system gives organizations a comprehensive view of their operations and assets, giving them the visibility they need to identify bottlenecks, improve efficiencies, and ensure maximum uptime for all assets. In addition, an EAM saves time and reduces errors by automating workflows, such as issuing work orders and reordering spare parts.

Asset Tracking and Predictive Maintenance

Another capability of EAM is asset tracking, which provides real-time reports on each asset’s current status and expected state and generates alerts when actions are needed. The AI-powered system further enables predictive maintenance by gathering real-time condition data about each asset and using machine learning algorithms to determine when and where maintenance is required.

Integration with IoT Devices

Internet of Things (IoT) devices also gather real-time and historical data that can be used to estimate the lifespan of a physical asset and diagnose parts that require repairs. This is essential for knowing when to replace aging infrastructure, allowing managers to mitigate risks and develop more effective business processes. Equally important, an EAM system and IoT devices enable visibility into all assets, even in remote locations, so that they can be monitored from anywhere. This minimizes the risks of frequently sending technicians to remote and hazardous locations.

Work Order Automation and Scheduling

An EAM system can also automatically create work requests and display the progress of each work order. The system also enables users to optimize work schedules for employees and contractors to ensure maintenance activities are completed at the right time and by the right person.

Supply Chain and Inventory Optimization

Additionally, an EAM system facilitates a more efficient supply chain by spotlighting undervalued maintenance, repair, and operations (MROs). EAM solutions encompass all kinds of inventory management and stock controls, such as purchasing spare parts, predicting the demand for materials, or automatically reordering stock that is running low.

EAM Software Features and Capabilities

A focused enterprise asset management software (EAM software) is a specialized solution that allows users to implement EAM strategies to extend asset life. With EAM software, teams can track asset health, gauge risk, and expenses, and gain visibility into equipment performance across their entire organization.

Digitization of Facilities

For example, one EAM software feature to look for is the ability to digitize an entire facility. With this feature, users can fully view asset health and performance, including details such as schematics or historical records.

Tracking and Monitoring with EAM Software

Thoroughly tracking and monitoring critical assets in EAM software helps companies boost productivity, optimize processes, and promote sustainable, safe practices. Preventing asset breakdown by using integrated condition monitoring improves worker safety. When assets don’t reach critical levels, work environments are safer.

Compliance with Regulations

Most organizations contend with several layers of regulations. Depending on the organization’s operations and production, regulatory bodies like the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and others can all impact EAM software decisions.

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

EAM solutions should help organizations comply with strict quality, environmental, energy, safety, and regulatory standards. Using EAM software, organizations can:

• Compile detailed documentation on work performed
• Attach standard operating procedures (SOPs), instructions, lockout/tag-out procedures, and other safety information to work orders
• Capture start/stop times of inspections, attach inspection sheets and track pass/fail metrics

Integration with Financial Departments

EAM software can also connect with other departments, such as finance. From commissioning to decommissioning, EAM software helps organizations make data-backed capital spending decisions using data gathered from all an asset’s life steps.

Compared to on-premise software, an EAM system is deployed in the cloud and provides many capabilities and advantages. For example, an EAM:

• Is compatible with critical applications used for enterprise collaboration
• Combines preventative, condition-based, and prescriptive maintenance strategies
• Standardizes and automates documentation
• Fosters communication between different roles, such as issuing an emergency order or coordinating technician work items
• Creates automated reports to identify asset management goals and measure KPIs
• Provides visibility into top-performing sites so best practices can be replicated across all facilities

Let us put our tools, sensors, software, and services to work for you.

Comprehensive Asset Management

Instead of being siloed into separate departments with dedicated systems, EAM software combines information from multiple systems, creating a cohesive, standardized view of the organization across various areas.

Common EAM Software Features

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software offers users a wide range of features and capabilities for managing assets, spare parts, maintenance, reporting, and more.

Asset Lifecycle Management

Managing and optimizing the lifecycle of machine assets is a crucial feature of EAM, which is made possible by an asset database. EAM software gives you the power to track asset condition, performance, and maintenance history, allowing you to analyze where the asset is in its lifecycle and how to prolong its lifespan.

Supply Chain Management

How and when parts are purchased and whether critical spares arrive on time to solve production line shutdowns can make a powerful difference in reducing downtime. EAM software often offers purchasing and inventory management capabilities, along with ERP and financial system integration, so you can maintain a strong supply chain.

Maintenance Planning and Scheduling

EAM software gives you the tools to plan preventive maintenance (PM), assign work orders to your team, and gain perspective on whether your maintenance strategy is working or you need to change your maintenance schedules. Leading EAM solutions like eMaint CMMS offer an intuitive, drag-and-drop PM calendar.

Work Order Management

Maintenance work is crucial to asset health, making work order management an essential feature in EAMs. To gain insights, you can create work requests or orders, schedule PMs, and view work order history. The award-winning eMaint CMMS also allows users to develop multi-asset work orders, inspection-round work orders, and work orders that automatically trigger based on condition monitoring data.

Predictive Maintenance

Advanced EAM software integrates with condition monitoring in the form of IoT sensors or SCADA/PLC systems to warn users that machine failures may be coming. This empowers predictive maintenance – work done at the right time to prevent machine failures.

Spare Parts Inventory Management

Managing a maintenance storeroom is challenging, but with an EAM system, you can optimize your inventory levels so that critical spare parts are on hand while costs are kept low. You can view all your parts in a database, and with eMaint CMMS, you can even take advantage of a Parts Reorder List that lists parts that are running below.

Financial Management

EAM systems often integrate with purchasing software like ERPs, allowing you to build workflows that automatically update inventory levels, streamline purchase orders, send labor charges, and more.

Regulatory Compliance

Specific EAM software like eMaint CMMS is designed to simplify regulatory compliance: comprehensive audit trails, password-protected e-signatures, easy-to-use compliance dashboards, and more.

Mobile EAM

A mobile EAM software offers a smartphone app that helps users manage maintenance on the go, from completing work orders to booking spare parts. eMaint’s mobile app, Fluke Mobile, also lets users work offline, and their changes sync once a connection is established.

Reporting & Analytics

All of this information is stored in the EAM database and is often accessible through data visualization tools, such as reports and dashboards for tracking asset health and maintenance KPIs.

Inputs Needed for an Effective EAM Program

Implementing an EAM program requires careful planning and effective communication between various company areas. For example, an effective EAM program requires input from the following departments:

• Maintenance: A CMMS provides information about asset maintenance, status, historical data, and analytics about each asset. An effective EAM program leverages this data to provide even more insight.
• Financial management: An EAM program can connect with enterprise resource planning software like SAP and Oracle NetSuite to gather financial data for improved resource planning.
• Sales: Customer relationship management (CRM) software like SalesForce and HubSpot need information from other systems to operate effectively. EAM software with application programming interface (API) integrations can create that connectivity.
• Inventory management: Without effective inventory management, companies waste money and storage space by carrying unneeded inventory. Inventory management software is a crucial part of the EAM strategy.
• Compliance and regulatory information: EAM provides a storehouse for regulatory requirements and records of inspections, audits, and certifications. This information and safety information like protocols and SOPs are accessible to anyone who needs them.

Connecting Different Systems

This connectivity is nearly impossible without a dedicated EAM software program that can access a wide variety of information and connect data inputs from multiple sources into one easily accessible location. However, not every type of EAM software is capable of connecting all the different systems and software that enterprises need to implement an EAM program effectively.

Enterprise Asset Management Systems Support OEE

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is an important key performance indicator (KPI) that shows how effectively a piece of equipment is being used. Enterprise asset management systems support OEE by providing data and management tools to effectively maintain and manage your organization’s assets and equipment throughout their entire life cycles—from procurement to retirement.

Optimizing Supply Chain and Inventory Management

In addition, EAM systems help teams manage the supply chain, spare parts inventory, and shipment arrival dates to keep production and maintenance schedules running as efficiently as possible. EAM typically refers not to just one software program but to a strategy that combines multiple software programs, systems, and solutions to provide a comprehensive approach to asset management.

Centralized Data Management

An EAM system is a significant step from manual asset and facilities management approaches. Instead of using manual, error-prone spreadsheets to keep track of all of your assets and related activities, an EAM system continuously captures this information in a centralized digital location.

Comprehensive Data Collection

EAM exemplifies the act of collecting data from all the interlocking operations inside a plant. Everything is documented and accessed in one place: equipment registration, maintenance task assignment, expense budgeting, process documentation, and other essential functions.

Flagging and Monitoring Poor-Performing Assets

An enterprise asset management system (EAM) also supports overall equipment effectiveness by flagging poor-performing assets and using sensors to increase data precision. This allows you to respond proactively to calls for repairs before they lead to failure and unplanned downtime. An EAM system enables best practices for ensuring asset availability, reliability, and longevity.

What is the Difference Between EAM and CMMS?

Enterprise asset management is an asset lifecycle strategy. Computerized maintenance management system software is a tool that centralizes and optimizes the information integral to EAM.

Comparing EAM and CMMS

A CMMS serves as a control center for keeping records on spare parts, measuring continuous asset health, and planning a maintenance agenda. Conversely, an EAM system builds upon that with additional functions designed to provide a complete view of the entire lifecycle of your assets and infrastructure. This includes additional capabilities related to accounting and expense management, asset procurement and disposal, planning and scheduling, reporting and analytics, supply chain and inventory optimization, management of safety initiatives, and much more.

Key Differences Between EAM and CMMS

CMMS is software that automates tasks, streamlines processes, and increases communication and transparency. It helps maintenance teams effectively manage assets, from machinery to fleets to facilities.

Overlap and Distinctions

Both EAM and CMMS systems have overlapping capabilities, so the terms are often used interchangeably. However, there are some important differences between them.

Holistic View of EAM

In short, EAM is a much more holistic system that touches every aspect of infrastructure and asset management. Meanwhile, a CMMS can be part of an overall EAM strategy, but the CMMS specifically focuses on maintenance management while an asset operates within your facility.

What is the Difference Between EAM vs. CMMS vs. ERP?

Comparing EAM, CMMS, and ERP

Enterprise resource management is the practice of integrating and organizing business data in one centralized system. An ERP software covers core organizational functions such as production, inventory, sales, accounting, etc. The visibility from centrally collected, managed, and shared data can drive efficiency and improve decision-making.

Understanding EAM Strategies

Enterprise asset management encompasses many core functions but is an asset lifecycle strategy — not software. Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is a tool that centralizes and optimizes the information integral to EAM.

Functions of CMMS Software

CMMS is software that automates tasks, streamlines processes, and increases communication and transparency. It helps maintenance teams effectively manage assets, from machinery to fleets to facilities.

Lifecycle Management in EAM

A CMMS is specifically responsible for overseeing equipment already in use and the maintenance required during its run cycle. Most of the tracking occurs through work orders and scheduled repairs or replacements, with some reports thrown in here and there.

Role of ERP Software

Enterprise resource management is the practice of integrating and organizing business data in one centralized system. An ERP software covers core organizational functions such as production, inventory, sales, accounting, etc. The visibility from centrally collected, managed, and shared data can drive efficiency and improve decision-making.

Combining EAM with CMMS and ERP

Enterprise asset management encompasses many of the same core functions as CMMS software and ERP software. Still, EAM refers to the overall strategy and systems used to execute these capabilities throughout the entire life cycles of your assets.

How do EAM and SaaS Work Together?

Implementing EAM Strategies with SaaS

Software as a service (SaaS) EAM programs, which are cloud-based, let organizations implement their EAM strategies and customize their experiences. Cloud-based applications also allow teams to access EAM actions from anywhere. Meter readings, electronic signatures, work order processing, and more can be accomplished from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Benefits of SaaS EAM

Today’s workplaces are highly mobile, with fewer workers sitting at desks and more on-site getting things done. An enterprise asset management strategy fits into predictive maintenance practices, and SaaS tools allow organizations to access and use EAM resources more effectively.

Data-Driven Insights with EAM SaaS

When everything is tracked and monitored from inception to completion, leadership can gain better insights into business value. Providing reports and dashboards shows the benefits of enterprise asset management actions.

How Does an EAM Help to Maintain Infrastructure?

Network of Interconnected Sensors

An EAM system works through a network of interconnected sensors planted on critical assets in a facility to acquire data about their health. This process has evolved from manual data entry into automated wireless tracking with the help of fully integrated EAM software.

Remote Monitoring and Lifecycle Management

Establishing a network of assets means teams can monitor machines remotely during their entire lifecycle. This allows organizations to seamlessly plan, execute, and analyze maintenance or production activities in one centralized system.

Preventing Supply Shortages and Downtime

EAM is designed to prevent supply shortages, unplanned downtime, and sudden equipment breakdowns, ensuring organizations stay on top of asset performance no matter what happens. EAM software can store data in the cloud to increase data storage capacity and strengthen security with access privileges. Many programs can also complement the functionalities of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Supporting Capital Planning and Risk Assessment

Above all, an EAM makes it possible to oversee capital planning, procurement, installation, risk assessment, and other mission-critical applications. Most enterprises rely on an EAM system to coordinate and execute performance.

Best Practices for EAM in Asset-Intensive Organizations

Data Collection and Analysis

EAM can improve processes in many areas by collecting data associated with the workforce, supply chain, parts inventory, regulatory bodies, and asset health. Then, that data can be analyzed for trends and used to guide improvements to the asset management system throughout the organization.

Communication and Standard Guidelines

Many people participate in asset maintenance, resource allocation, and installation, so they need to be able to communicate over a shared EAM system to exchange updated files or report abnormal readings to another department. This way, they all get notifications when an incident occurs on flagged components.

Creating an Asset Hierarchy

Standard guidelines should dictate what role each person has—for example, lockout and tagout rules when employees enter or exit a station. Make these guidelines visible to all staff registered on the software to ensure they fully understand the standard operating procedures (SOPs), Preventive maintenance (PM) checklists, inspections, contracts, and training protocols.

Tagging and Labeling Assets

One avenue worth exploring in an EAM solution is capturing live data with analytical tools to generate procurement, installation, and maintenance data logs. This can simplify predictive modeling to help you make informed decisions about costly issues like which parts to supply.

Condition Monitoring and Predictive Modeling

Before executing a preventive maintenance strategy, create an asset hierarchy that tracks each through meaningful criteria. This usually means setting categories by part or unit to plan for condition monitoring. (On that note, you should tag or label fixed and moveable assets to disclose essential details from purchase history to depreciation value.)

Reliability Mindset and Core Competencies

Successful asset management involves shifting toward a reliability mindset to consolidate manufacturing operations and focus on core competencies. Therefore, equipment should be serviced throughout its lifecycle to maximize periods of uptime and plan for potential failures.

Ensuring Asset Availability and Longevity

By adopting these best practices, everything will stay on your EAM system.

How is Enterprise Asset Management used in Manufacturing?

Optimizing Asset Health

Manufacturers need to optimize asset health so that production losses from downtime don’t hurt the bottom line. Leveraging the principles of EAM keeps production lines up and running.

Maximizing Asset Availability

Using real-time data and analytics, teams can act to maximize asset availability and extend asset life. An EAM strategy also makes optimizing parts inventory management and scheduling easier. Tracking contracts, supply, inventory costs, and labor provides insights into expenditure management. Finance departments and maintenance teams can work together to improve an organization’s bottom line.

Centralized Asset View

Many organizations have buildings scattered across different sites that must be monitored. However, with EAM software, the assets can be viewed on a single platform due to GIS mapping and IoT technology.

Advanced Tracking and Detection

EAM software has built-in tracking and detection to tell you which assets are causing delays in production. It uses computer imaging to identify physical defects by failure mode. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can interpret the data and recommend corrective action to prevent unexpected breakdowns.

Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

When preventive and predictive maintenance dates are scheduled, engineers, technicians, and supervisors on the field are assigned individual duties. With tools to organize workflows, it’s easy to divide complex facilities for better resource management.

Optimizing Work Orders

Through predictive analytics, plant managers can decide what type of work orders to approve to avoid downtime consequences. Technicians and engineers will receive blueprints of each asset’s condition, with its history of repairs and documentation attached.

Quality Assurance and Financial Integration

They can use EAM software to conduct quality assurance and demonstrate ongoing product excellence or embed asset-oriented financials into their business processes to stay on budget. The software obtains insights into work order fulfillment alongside a machine’s uptime or downtime frequency.

Real Cost Savings with EAM

The actual cost savings from EAM come from correlating production with labor and supply in a holistic outlook, as it becomes clear how one asset’s performance affects that of another. As a result, EAM software can secure plant workers’ planning and procurement needs.

Industry Acceptance and Benefits

EAM solutions have been accepted by the life science, healthcare, petroleum, and railway industries because of their potential to transform the future of Manufacturing through AI, IoT, and SaaS integrations. Curbing the cost of upkeep and extending the longevity of assets allow for greater transparency and accountability among enterprise distributors.

Which Industries use Enterprise Asset Management?

Application Across Different Sectors

Any asset-intensive organization can use enterprise asset management to improve its operational effectiveness. EAM can help different industries address their specific challenges.

Questions to Ask Before Selecting the Best EAM Software For Your Organization

Choosing the Right EAM Software

Choosing a dedicated enterprise asset management software can be a difficult decision. Implementing a new EAM software can mean sweeping changes throughout your organization, and making the wrong choice can result in wasted money, wasted time, and poor return on investment.

Key Considerations for EAM Software

Before selecting an EAM software program, here are some questions you may want to ask:

• How easily does this software integrate with your existing maintenance, inventory, and accounting software? Easy integration typically means lower costs and a more fluid transition to using EAM software.
• Does this software include reporting and analytics? The best way to catch inefficiencies in your operations is by analyzing data to identify changes and trends. If the software provides reporting and analytics, how easy is capturing the information most important to your organization?
• How and where will the data be stored? If you are looking for on-site or cloud-based data storage, ensure the system is compatible with your needs. Then, determine who should access EAM data and how often it should be backed up.
• Is this system scalable? Consider how this software will adapt if your company grows or adds more locations. How quickly will it be able to scale, and what will the process look like?
• What does the support look like? When adopting a new system, employees from different departments will need training. Does your prospective software provider offer training and technical support?
• Does the software support mobile use? If you need remote access for employees, it’s essential to determine how easy it will be for your team to get the information they need if they’re working in the field or off-premises.
• What is the software’s pricing structure? Check if pricing options change based on the number of users, the number of times you call support, or the number of assets being tracked.

These questions can help you narrow down the field and ensure you’re making a good choice when you pick an EAM software program for your business.

Industry-Specific EAM Applications

• Food & Beverage: An EAM solution can help prepare food & beverage facilities for FDA audits, simplify meeting compliance standards, and decrease budgetary burdens.
• Automotive: Implementing EAM software can help standardize operations across production lines and facilities and meet strict International Automotive Task Force (IATF) regulations.
• Fleet maintenance: Leverage an EAM to manage fleet asset repair and maintenance and track key metrics such as total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Healthcare: An EAM strategy streamlines and digitizes recordkeeping, which helps teams keep healthcare facilities safe and healthy, meet compliance regulations, and more easily pass audits.

EAM Software Solutions

Flexible and Configurable Asset Management

Our cloud-based software allows you to manage, track, and analyze assets with a single, configurable software. We’ll work with you every step of the way so you can configure work order templates, asset hierarchies, and parts inventory storerooms. eMaint is mobile, too: users can access the eMaint app on their smartphone or tablet, whether on the factory floor or at a remote work site.

Multi-Site Management

eMaint is a multi-site EAM. You can manage multiple work sites and standardize a winning maintenance strategy across the company, boosting global maintenance metrics. eMaint is also multilingual, allowing users to work in 33+ languages so success doesn’t get lost in translation. Teams can even convert currencies, time zones, and numeric formats. Your maintenance data is all standardized to streamline enterprise-level reporting, and audit tracking simplifies regulatory compliance.

Simplified EAM Integration

eMaint EAM allows for streamlined workflows and seamless data sharing between eMaint and 1000+ apps. You can tap into siloed production monitoring data from SCADA, PLC, or BMS systems and automate eMaint work orders to trigger when the data indicates a failure is coming. You can connect MRO teams to critical business software like ERP and BI platforms. eMaint also integrates seamlessly with Fluke 3563 vibration sensors, giving you in-depth asset health data you can analyze with eMaint condition monitoring.

Get the Most Value out of Enterprise Asset Management Systems

Organizations should include connected reliability principles in their enterprise asset management strategies to keep up with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Connected data, systems, and teams allow for advanced analytics, increased communication, and expansion of IIoT initiatives. When teams make data-driven maintenance and management decisions, they improve asset efficiency and performance, transforming maintenance into a business value driver.

Frequently Asked Questions for Enterprise Asset Management Software

1. What Does EAM Stand For?

EAM stands for Enterprise Asset Management.

2. Is EAM the Same as ERP?

EAM and ERP are different. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) is a strategy for managing assets’ lifecycles across enterprise-level businesses, from maintenance strategy to cost analysis. EAM often refers to EAM software, which simplifies asset and maintenance management. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is designed for recording, tracking, and managing business activity and finance. Leading EAM software like eMaint can integrate with your ERP, connecting maintenance and finance to streamline your work.

3. Is SAP an EAM Tool?

SAP, or Systems, Applications, or products in Data Processing, is a popular ERP software and business management platform that can also serve as an EAM. Industrial businesses utilize SAP for various applications, from resource planning to inventory and business analytics. Connecting your EAM to SAP gives you a bridge between maintenance and finance that simplifies purchases and defends data quality.

4. What is EAM and APM?

EAM stands for Enterprise Asset Management. APM stands for Asset Performance Management, a strategy that can complement EAM but focuses more on strengthening asset performance, primarily through asset monitoring and analysis, which can be achieved with IoT sensors or SCADA/PLC systems and predictive analytics.

5. What are the top five benefits of Enterprise Asset Management?

1. Digitization of assets: Combining your EAM strategy with a CMMS allows you to centralize information and monitor holdings through a single screen. The best solutions offer condition monitoring, automated work orders, and mobile-friendly software to keep your workers on the go.
2. Maximizing asset life: Historical and real-time asset data can improve decision-making and boost asset efficiency and longevity.
3. Aligning maintenance and Operations: maintenance teams use data to determine when actions are performed, while operations and reliability engineers gain meaningful insights from metrics. An effective EAM strategy considers other departmental needs that support MRO and business goals.
4. Moving toward predictive maintenance and IIoT: An EAM strategy aligns with the expansion of IIoT technologies. More teams see the value of connected condition monitoring in gaining real-time insights.
5. maintenance as a business value driver: Leveraging an EAM strategy in your operations will ensure you’re ready for anything. When maintenance is planned and controlled, operations run more smoothly, safely, and efficiently.

6. How does Enterprise Asset Management help maintenance teams optimize their operations?

Having a centralized location to manage the scheduling and execution of work boosts transparency and efficiency. EAM is also about balancing asset needs with labor availability. Tracking, scheduling, and organizing employees and contractors, including their training and certification, is vital to a robust EAM strategy.
Assets, parts and components, and materials used to maintain equipment are all supply chain or contracting efforts. Effective EAM solutions integrate supply chain and contract management.

7. What departments or business functions benefit from Enterprise Asset Management?

EAM can draw on and impact all departments. For example, improving asset data can give finance better information on spending, helping align maintenance with organizational goals.
Analytics are the backbone of data-driven decisions. Providing analytics in dashboards and reports allows stakeholders to gain insights into tasks, track maintenance KPIs, and more.