Published: February 21, 2018  Updated: May 07, 2025

Boosting Production: How CMMS Elevated Efficiency at Red Star Yeast

In the realm of manufacturing, maintaining peak operational efficiency stands as a critical objective. This article delves into how the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) from Mapcon Technologies elevated efficiency at Red Star Yeast Co. LLC. Red Star is a significant North American yeast producer formed through a joint venture between Lesaffre Yeast Corp. and Archer Daniels Midland.

The company's Cedar Rapids, Iowa, facility, which commenced operations in 2005 and has since grown into the continent's largest fresh yeast manufacturer, initially relied on cumbersome Excel spreadsheets for crucial maintenance tasks. This approach presented several hurdles for the maintenance department, ultimately prompting a search for a more effective solution.

The Limitations of Spreadsheet-Based Maintenance Management

Before adopting a dedicated system, Red Star Yeast managed all its equipment data, work orders, and preventive maintenance schedules using Microsoft Excel. While a common tool, Excel revealed significant shortcomings when applied to the complexities of industrial maintenance.

Usability Challenges

The shared nature of Excel spreadsheets often led to frustrating usability issues. A common occurrence involved a user inadvertently locking a spreadsheet, which rendered it inaccessible to other team members until the lock was removed. Consequently, personnel had to resort to memorizing essential information or jotting it down elsewhere for later entry. This process lacked accountability, as the system provided no way to track who entered or modified data. The absence of user initials or change logs meant accidental overwriting of critical information, sometimes data accumulated over years, became a real concern.

Inefficient Inventory Tracking

Managing the plant's inventory through spreadsheets proved to be an inefficient endeavor. Locating necessary parts often became a time-consuming scavenger hunt. This difficulty frequently led personnel to the incorrect conclusion that parts were out of stock, triggering unnecessary and costly reorders. Conversely, even when a worker located a part on the spreadsheet, the system offered no precise information about its physical location within the facility. This lack of accurate tracking also resulted in stockouts, preventing timely reordering and subsequently increasing machine downtime, a significant impediment to production.

The Cumbersome Work Order Process

Generating and managing work orders within the Excel environment presented its own set of challenges. Each technician maintained a separate tab on the master spreadsheet, alongside a general tab for all work orders. Supervisors would input repair details into the central work-order tab and then communicate this information verbally to a technician or manually add it to their individual tab. At the close of each shift, every technician had to copy and paste their completed work-order rows and email them to the entire maintenance department.

Department supervisors then faced the arduous task of reviewing the comprehensive spreadsheet to ascertain the completion status of each work order. This often involved physically locating and speaking with individual technicians, a process that consumed a substantial portion of a supervisor's daily schedule.

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Manual Preventive Maintenance Scheduling

Creating and scheduling preventive maintenance tasks also proved to be a labor-intensive process. For each piece of equipment, a checklist was developed and stored on a shared network drive. The actual scheduling of these PM tasks relied entirely on manual methods, adding another layer of time-consuming work for the maintenance team.

The Solution: Implementation of a CMMS

The turning point arrived in 2007 with the addition of Eric Tucker, the senior technical buyer and future CMMS system administrator, to the Red Star team. By this time, the Cedar Rapids facility had already begun exploring alternatives for its inadequate inventory management system. Tucker's prior experience with computerized maintenance management systems convinced him that a CMMS represented the optimal path forward. Following a period of evaluation, Red Star Yeast made the decision in the fall of 2008 to acquire a CMMS from MAPCON Technologies, Inc.

Tangible Improvements with CMMS Implementation

< p>The implementation of the MAPCON CMMS and the subsequent upload of all pertinent data marked a significant shift in the plant's maintenance work processes. Recognizing the need for concurrent access, the company invested in multiple user licenses for the software. This eliminated the bottleneck inherent in the spreadsheet system, where only one person could access and work on the data at any given time. Red Star Yeast continues to report significant advantages stemming from this system.

Enhanced Parts Management

Plant personnel observed a marked improvement in inventory tracking with the adoption of the MAPCON CMMS. The system's search functionality allowed users to quickly locate necessary parts, effectively eliminating the unnecessary procurement of duplicate items. Furthermore, the CMMS featured an automatic reorder function. This valuable tool notifies an administrator when the quantity of a specific part falls below a predetermined minimum level. This proactive alert system enables immediate reordering, thereby preventing instances where required parts are unavailable, a situation that previously contributed to significant machine downtime.

The CMMS also incorporated a dedicated field for recording the precise storage location of each part. This feature eliminated the need for technicians to spend valuable time searching the facility for needed items. The company even installed a computer terminal in a central maintenance area, enabling technicians to quickly check the availability and location of parts stored on upper levels before making the trip, a change that directly contributed to reduced machine downtime.

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Simplified Work Order Management

The CMMS dramatically simplified the creation and management of work orders at Red Star Yeast. Now, technicians can access MAPCON via their mobile devices or desktop computers and navigate to the intuitive work-order screen. Here, they can input all necessary details for a repair and even attach relevant documents such as photos or equipment manuals for enhanced clarity. Upon completion of the repair, technicians themselves can close the work order within the system. This capability freed supervisors from the time-consuming task of manually checking the status of each work order at the end of every shift. Instead, supervisors can now log into the CMMS and generate an open work-order report, providing a clear overview of all outstanding tasks. Beyond simplifying creation and tracking, the CMMS also made it easier to review the complete repair history of any maintained equipment. This historical data allows personnel to make informed decisions about whether to repair or replace an aging or frequently failing asset.

Automated Preventive Maintenance Scheduling

The CMMS introduced the capability to schedule preventive maintenance tasks directly within the system. When a scheduled PM task becomes due, the system automatically generates a work order, ensuring that critical maintenance activities are consistently performed on time. This automation provides a significant advantage during audits. Instead of manually compiling maintenance records, users can simply access the information for a specific piece of equipment within the CMMS, where all associated PMs, along with their completion status, are readily displayed for auditors.

Integration with Existing Systems

A significant benefit of the chosen CMMS involved its ability to integrate seamlessly with Red Star’s existing financial management system, Oracle. This integration played a key role in simplifying the plant's financial tracking and reporting processes, creating a more cohesive and efficient operational environment.

The journey of Red Star Yeast from reliance on spreadsheets to the adoption of a CMMS illustrates a common challenge faced by growing manufacturing operations. The move to a dedicated system not only addressed immediate inefficiencies but also laid a foundation for more proactive and informed maintenance practices. The experience underscores the idea that embracing technology tailored to specific operational needs can yield substantial improvements in productivity and overall plant performance, allowing companies like Red Star Yeast to focus on their core business of producing quality products.

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