EAM versus CMMS: What's Right for Your Company?
Part Two: Integration Concerns
Joe Strub and P.J. Jakovljevic - March 16, 2004

Integration Concerns

Many of the benefits from enterprise asset management (EAM) software result from the ability to exchange data from other systems and subsystems. These interfaces are not trivial in design or construction. For example, one of the simpler interfaces involves inventory. Namely, EAM software needs access to inventory to determine the availability of repair parts, whereas your manufacturing system needs access to inventory to dispense ingredients or bills of material (BOM). Typically, EAM software will have its repository of inventory consisting of repair parts. On the other hand, a manufacturing ERP system will have its repository of inventory, which can accommodate ingredients, BOM, and repair parts. Designers of manufacturing systems are not that short-sighted to think that every company has computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) or EAM software...