Power plants are essential to our everyday lives — filled with energy and, more importantly, dangerous. Power plants can’t make errors, so maintenance and management must be top-notch. And organizing all of that work is challenging — if not impossible — to do manually. So how can you handle day-to-day operations at peak efficiency? With power plant software CMMS software).
Compare Top CMMS Software Leaders
What This Article Covers
Best Power Plant Software
Choosing the right power plant software for your organization can be tricky since there are a plethora of options available on the market. Our analysts have compiled a list of leading power plant software to get you started.
UpKeep
UpKeep is a CMMS solution and enterprise asset management (EAM) program. Available on mobile devices, it’s an all-in-one solution appropriate for businesses of all types.
Maintenance and facility managers can use it to handle work orders, schedule preventative maintenance and track assets. Using CMMS software can help you avoid unplanned downtime and increase the life of your equipment.
Keep your workforce mobile and on the same page using UpKeep’s mobile app. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Work Order Management — 100
- Maintenance Request Management — 96
- Mobile CMMS — 93
- Asset Tracking — 91
- Purchase Order Management — 85
Top Benefits
- Limit Downtime: Log and cite downtime with an asset’s work order history. This helps technicians filter reports by asset and location and know which assets need maintenance and repair, reducing the chances of unexpected downtime.
- View Usage History: Logs room usage and tracks lockout/tagout operations by technicians for auditing purposes. For improved maintenance and record-keeping, add notes, floorplans and various other documents to these histories.
- Automate Workflows: Limit clerical effort by automatically assigning work to specific technicians based on location or asset type. When you reach the threshold value, automate the reordering of spare parts in the inventory management module.
- Streamline Client Requests: Enable clients to submit work order requests online through the request portal. You can create a branded portal to streamline client experiences and ease manager workflow by allowing external work order creation.
- Analyze and Forecast Costs: Assess asset life span and determine whether it’s worth fixing by comparing depreciation data with downtime data using cost analysis and forecasting functionalities.
Primary Features
- Work Order Management: Role-based access allows users of various categories (tenants, technicians and managers) to create work order requests via the customer portal or mobile app. The requester can track the status of their work order and, if necessary, make changes to the details.
- Maintenance Management: Add pre-made or custom checklists within work orders. Use preventive maintenance scheduling to create calendar-based plans as far out into the future as needed.
- Reporting: Gather insight into both high-level metrics and granular details. Generate reports on individual assets or whole facilities to identify which assets require the most maintenance, gauge technician efficiency, calculate work order completion rates and much more.
- Asset Management: Asset management entails keeping track of and monitoring the performance of assets. Get a complete picture of an asset’s life cycle, repair costs and information.
- Mobile App: Enable technicians to send in-app messages to connect with management and each other and update work orders in the field using the mobile app.
Limitations
- Difficult to export and import data.
- Cards aren’t visible after the work order is closed.
- The task is only visible to the assigned person and not to team members.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Automatic Downtime Update — Not Supported
- AI-based Parts Forecasting — Not Supported
- Incident Management — Not Supported
- Spare Parts List View — Supported With Workarounds
- Auto-create Corrective Work Orders — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Limble CMMS
Limble CMMS provides cloud-based tools to track, organize and manage assets. Features include real-time asset data, maintenance task management, work requests and inventory tracking.
It’s designed to serve businesses of any size and caters to all industries.
Use a color-coded calendar to organize and schedule preventive maintenance with Limble CMMS. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Work Order Management — 90
- Mobile CMMS — 89
- Purchase Order Management — 85
- Inventory Management — 83
- Maintenance Request Management — 81
Top Benefits
- Customize Workflows: Create customized integrations and functions based on your organization’s requirements. Customizing functionality and integrating with your existing systems lets you work the way you want within a single platform.
- Ensure Equipment Safety: Perform safety procedures before beginning maintenance on a machine to ensure that it’s switched off and doesn’t cause harm to the technician. A technician can upload an image of the “lockout tag” to specify the entire procedure or use work order templates to complete the process.
- Increase Mobility: Teams can communicate, view and create work orders, manage preventive maintenance tasks, respond to and log problems, and look up critical information while diagnosing a problem from any location.
Primary Features
- Preventive Maintenance: The preventive maintenance builder feature allows you to create checklists and guidelines for technicians, add instructional images, and automatically update meter readings. You can set conditions to start work orders, estimate completion time, identify parts needed and set work priorities.
- Asset Management: Track the health and cost of your assets. Assets organized in a parent-to-child hierarchy and customized fields provide specific details like location, model and meter reading. A centralized asset card displays all this information, and you can mark assets with a QR code for real-time data and updates.
- Inventory Management: Set custom thresholds for each part and receive email notifications when parts fall below the threshold. Technicians can check inventory availability while creating work orders or check other locations. A forecast feature predicts how many parts may be needed in the upcoming year.
- Vendor Management: Integrating vendors stores their information and allows communication via comments or email. Assign assets or parts to specific vendors and vendor data like parts used, invoices and project history.
- Reports and Dashboards: A customizable dashboard displays KPIs and maintenance information. View reports create drag-and-drop widgets like tiles, graphs, lists and calendars. Custom reports renew automatically after a set period.
Limitations
- There’s no offline access to the software.
- It doesn’t offer interactive plans or mapping.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Automatic Downtime Update — Not Supported
- Depreciation Tracking — Not Supported
- AI-based Parts Forecasting — Not Supported
- Maintenance Request Approval — Not Supported
- User Collaboration in Mobile App — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Fiix
Fiix offers you the ability to manage and track assets, manage work, and analyze reports to make data-driven decisions. It also enables you to manage various operations, including:
- Availability and power generation
- Operating capacity
- Plant load factor (PLF) and efficiency
- Inspection scheduling
- Work orders based on machinery triggers, barcode scanning, and image attachments
Fiix is designed for medium-sized and large companies and serves manufacturing, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.
Monitor maintenance KPIs using Fiix to gain actionable insights on performed or needed plant maintenance. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Mobile CMMS — 91
- Preventive and Predictive Maintenance — 87
- Purchase Order Management — 85
- Inventory Management — 86
- Maintenance Request Management — 85
Top Benefits
- Simplify Data Searches: You can use nameplate information or identifying details to search for asset information so you can find what you’re looking for quickly.
- Access Information Remotely: Technicians can access information while in the field with the mobile app. Accessing and updating asset, work order and maintenance information remotely helps your technicians keep data accurate and up to date.
- Streamline Communication: Keep other departments in the loop and send emails about work orders, low stock times and more. Automate processes like sending reports to plant and operation managers or sending notifications to production when an asset goes offline, so everyone knows what they need to do when.
- Automate Task Scheduling: You can automatically assign an asset to a specific user, group or work order and a maintenance task to a team or a staff member.
- Simplify Integrations: Prebuilt integrations with IoT partners and developer tools help you easily connect with business software like SAP, Oracle EAM and Oracle NetSuite and connect with sensors and assets to control systems.
Primary Features
- Asset Maintenance Management: Fiix organizes and tracks assets with features to build and import asset hierarchies, store information, track asset history, organize parts inventory, manage downtime, and ensure equipment efficiency.
- Failure Codes: This feature provides technicians with preset failure codes to provide support, understand the cause of failure and provide an action framework.
- Preventive Maintenance: Date- or time-based, meter reading, and event- and alarm-based triggers automate preventive maintenance tasks by sending standardized task lists and notifications for upcoming maintenance.
- Downtime Tracking: You can track and measure equipment uptime, downtime and history. Prebuilt widgets analyze stored information to determine asset KPIs, such as mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR).
- Meter Readings: You can track equipment usage with meter readings and create triggers for scheduled maintenance activities based on these readings.
Limitations
- It’s difficult to customize reports.
- A desktop version isn’t available.
- Multisite project capabilities are limited.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Offline Meter Readings Capture — Not Supported
- Automatic Downtime Update — Not Supported
- Depreciation Tracking — Not Supported
- Interactive Plans and Mapping — Not Supported
- Embedded External Content — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
FTMaintenance
FTMaintenance is a feature-rich and user-friendly solution that allows organizations to control their maintenance program completely. Executives, maintenance managers and technicians can use a unified interface to document, manage and track all maintenance activities.
Create new work orders and filter existing ones by various categories, including customer, location, assets, attachments and more using FTMaintenance. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Purchase Order Management — 98
- Maintenance Request Management — 95
- Asset Tracking — 88
- Work Order Management — 85
- Inventory Management — 80
Top Benefits
- Increase Equipment Uptime: Easily schedule and track preventive maintenance tasks for equipment, ensuring proper maintenance and reducing unplanned downtime.
- Improve Regulatory Compliance: Meet compliance requirements for equipment by accessing documentation and reports that demonstrate the same.
- Avoid Overstocking: Manage inventory levels and order parts and supplies when needed, helping to avoid stockouts, overstocking and waste.
- Go Paperless: Replace hard copies, manuals and spreadsheets by bringing all information about assets, equipment and inventory into one centralized database.
Primary Features
- Asset Management: Manage all company assets and equipment. Keep information such as bills of materials, service history and work orders in a central location for easy access by team members.
- Work Order Management: Generate and track work orders automatically. Plan ahead with a flexible maintenance calendar that includes schedule views to automate work order assignment, distribution and activation.
- Inventory Management: Keep track of MRO inventory across multiple facilities. Keep inventory counts up to date by sending out automated notifications when supplies run low.
- Maintenance Reports: With over 140 built-in templates, you can create comprehensive maintenance reports. To make informed business decisions, analyze data using customizable filters and data views.
- Mobile Accessibility: Access work orders from anywhere, at any time. Enable field maintenance personnel to use mobile devices to create, track and update maintenance activities.
Limitations
- Limited default reports.
- Difficult to choose and edit custom fields.
- Printing issues after preventive maintenance plans are released.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Warranty Tracking — Not Supported
- Embedded External Content — Not Supported
- AI-based Parts Forecasting — Not Supported
- Android App — Not Supported
- LOTO History — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
eMaint
eMaint is a cloud-based CMMS software for tracking, managing and controlling assets, work orders and requests. It includes workflows, inventory and spare parts, maintenance management, equipment condition monitoring, and regulatory compliance support.
It’s suitable for companies of all sizes and serves many industries worldwide, including manufacturing, oil and gas, health care and education.
Store reference materials of assets in your plant, including safety documents and images of tools and parts, using eMaint. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Dashboards and Reports — 100
- Preventive and Predictive Maintenance — 90
- Inventory Management — 90
- Asset Tracking — 82
- Maintenance Request Management — 75
Top Benefits
- Stay Productive Offline: Technicians can access and record work orders, log labor hours, and take notes without an internet connection. The updates will directly sync to their eMaint accounts once they go online.
- Visualize Asset Locations: Pin point assets and their locations by uploading images to visualize maintenance management data on a floor plan, schematic, site map or any other image.
- Centralize Documents: Upload and store SOPs, warranty certificates, safety manuals, lockout/tagout procedures, images of assets and parts, and more into multi-level folders and sub-folders. Centralize your documents ensures you have the information you need, when you need it.
- Avoid Stockpiling Parts: Tracking inventory by location helps you use resources and avoid stockpiling spare parts in one place.
- Connect Systems: You can integrate with third-party applications, including ERP software and financial systems, fuel card systems, machine run-time data systems, SCADA and PLC systems, fluid analysis tools, and condition monitoring solutions. This helps automate asset management, procurement and inventory management.
Primary Features
- Work Order Permitting: Manage and store work permits on work order records and edit them with a built-in PDF editor. It supports uploading PDF work permit forms. Once you complete a work permit document, it’s attached to the work order record, allowing you to oversee the completion of work permits.
- Condition Monitoring: Track the status of individual assets by monitoring their noise, vibration, temperature, lubricants, wear, corrosion, pressure and flow. When you establish upper and lower limits of acceptable operation, the system can automatically generate work orders if a reading falls outside of those limits.
- Work Requests: Create a personalized workflow process for handling work requests, including submission, approval, rejection and completion. Simplify management, organization and prioritization of work and material requests. Automate email notifications to customers once a work request is approved or rejected.
- Preventive Maintenance Scheduling: You can define an unlimited number of calendar or meter-based preventive maintenance tasks for individual assets. The preventive maintenance task recorder lets you include and store task procedures, guidelines and other relevant information.
- Spare Parts Management: You can track and access information in a list view that includes location, on-hand amount, unit cost and item number. Attach images to part records for identification and auto-generate a purchase order when the available number of parts falls below the threshold.
Limitations
- Graphs aren’t clickable.
- Doesn’t support multiple databases.
- The universal requester account doesn’t display the dashboard or asset map.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Automatic Downtime Update — Not Supported
- Depreciation Tracking — Not Supported
- AI-based Parts Forecasting — Not Supported
- Mobile Push Notifications — Not Supported
- LOTO History — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
The Future
Technology is advancing rapidly. No matter what the technology is — from our phones to refrigerators to cars — they’re all vastly superior today than they were even two years ago. The same, naturally, is true of today’s power plants. And as they evolve, so too does power plant maintenance software.
With this in mind, what changes can we expect to see in the future for power plants and the software that helps maintain them?
Increased Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly popular in power plant software to optimize plant performance, reduce downtime and enhance predictive maintenance.
With the help of AI and ML algorithms, operators can identify potential equipment failures before they happen, predict future energy demands and optimize power plant operations to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Better Real-time Monitoring
Nothing can replace the advantages of gathering data in real time. More and more software vendors are adding the ability to collect real-time data, which you can use to perform in-depth analyses of the plant’s systems and processes. You can then quickly respond to any issues that you discover.
These real-time business analytics help improve safety, efficiency and revenue. They enhance safety by providing information on any system malfunctions (more on this later), while they improve efficiency by highlighting slowdowns in your various day-to-day operations. Combining these two leads to lower equipment downtime and quicker operations, which drives revenue.
Improved Predictability Using IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) for inventory management is more prevalent in the warehousing, manufacturing and energy sectors than anywhere else. Although it’s not yet an industry standard for power plants, it’s quickly becoming commonplace.
Power plant management software integrates with these IoT systems to keep pace, providing workers and managers with invaluable information. In addition, these systems can analyze data to provide insights into equipment failures.
IoT-based predictive maintenance uses sensors and monitors built into the machine or equipment to test variables related to downtime, equipment performance and failure rates.
Enhanced Cyber Security
Cybersecurity is becoming a top priority for power plant operators as they look to protect their facilities from cyber threats and attacks. Power plants are critical infrastructure, and any disruption to their operations can have severe consequences.
Therefore, operators are adopting more advanced security measures and protocols to prevent unauthorized access and protect against cyber threats. These measures may include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, encryption and multi-factor authentication, among others.
Next Steps
As we look ahead to the future of power plants and power plant software, it seems a lot brighter than it did not all that long ago. Challenges and uncertainties are still ahead, especially as renewable energy continues its growth. But when armed with power plant software that provides the right features, plants can improve and adapt to our ever-changing world.
Take a look at our CMMS requirements template and choose the best software for your plant.
Or, if you’re ready start comparing the systems mentioned above with other top solutions, you can check out our comparison report.
What changes do you expect for the industry in the coming years? What features do power plant software solutions need to include to best support these trends? Share your thoughts below!
Analyst-Picked Related Content
Pricing Guide: Discover the true cost of CMMS software
Comparison Report: An Interactive analyst report with comparison ratings, reviews and pricing