Case Study, Corteva Agriscience, MAPCON CMMS

Background

Corteva Agriscience, the agricultural division of DowDuPont, was originally founded as Pioneer seed company in 1926. It is the largest US-owned company that produces hybrid seed and agricultural chemicals in the world. Their seed business is centralized in Johnston, Iowa and houses approximately a thousand researchers who are dedicated to creating crop seeds with improved herbicide tolerance, insect protection, and increased performance.

The Challenges

Originally, Corteva used a maintenance management system which was a combination of SAP, FM:Interact, and their own program.

This hybrid system was mostly used for space management and had very limited maintenance management capabilities, and absolutely no inventory tracking. In addition, the system was relatively cumbersome and not at all user-friendly, and system users found it difficult to get accurate maintenance reporting metrics, such as equipment repair history, from the system. Workers wanted a system where they could easily track and maintain inventory items, which was something their hybrid system just couldn’t do.

The Solution

Once it was decided a computerized maintenance management system CMMS) was necessary, a small committee was formed to review different software, and a pros and cons list was made for each option.

"We outlined all of the pros and cons of MAPCON. And quite frankly, I can’t recall any cons," Safety and Quality Management Specialist Ron Christensen said.

According to Christensen, one thing that set MAPCON apart was the ability to have their system customized to fit their specific needs. Prior to purchasing MAPCON CMMS, a few Corteva employees met with the sales staff of Mapcon Technologies, Inc. to make sure the software could do exactly what they needed. While MAPCON originally didn’t fit every single need, the system was easily customized to do everything they needed.

The Results

Since implementing MAPCON in 2015, the company has seen a dramatic improvement on maintenance. In fact, their compliance percentage of completed work orders has doubled. This was due to the fact that MAPCON has reports which can easily be generated to provide information on what has been completed and what work is still outstanding. This ensures that no work order is left open or uncompleted, which in turn reduces equipment downtime. A reduction in downtime inevitably saves the company money.

Corteva has also seen improvement with inventory tracking. Since their old system didn’t have a way to track inventory, it was easy for duplicate parts or tools to be ordered or for items to run out. MAPCON allows workers to see exactly how many of each item is available. The system also allows users to set a minimum reorder point, so a purchase requisition is created once an item reaches a certain quantity. Barcoding has been integrated with their inventory management, so when parts are used or come in, they can simply be scanned with a barcode scanner and the necessary information will show up in MAPCON. This feature is especially helpful when partnered with MAPCON’s mobile application.

Not only has the software been an asset to the company, but the staff of Mapcon Technologies, Inc. has been as well. Corteva and Mapcon staff regularly work together to come up with innovative solutions to the company’s very specific needs, and support specialists are available whenever needed.

"I think it’s a valuable tool, it’s a good product, and I would recommend it to any organization that has a need for a CMMS." Christensen stated.

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