Maintenance and reliability
What is a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)?
A CMMS manages assets, work orders, preventive maintenance schedules and spare parts. What it does, CMMS versus EAM, and how it connects to MES and ERP.
Quick answer
A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) is software that manages maintenance work: the asset register, work orders, preventive maintenance schedules, spare parts and maintenance history. It replaces paper job cards and spreadsheets and gives KPIs such as MTBF, MTTR and PM compliance.
Updated 30 October 2026. Written by the Ajinkya Technologies engineering team, reviewed by Amey Kadle.
CMMS explained
At its core a CMMS answers four questions: what assets do we have, what work is due or open on each, who did what and when, and which parts were used. Technicians receive work orders on a phone or tablet, record findings and time, and close jobs; planners schedule preventive tasks and see the backlog; stores track critical spares.
An EAM (enterprise asset management) system covers the same ground plus the wider asset lifecycle: acquisition, capital planning, depreciation and disposal, often across many sites. In practice many plants use the maintenance module of their ERP, such as SAP Plant Maintenance, as their CMMS, sometimes with a simpler mobile front end for technicians.
The value of a CMMS rises sharply when it is connected to the shop floor. Machine stops can open work orders automatically, run hours and stroke counts can trigger usage based PM, and condition monitoring alerts can become planned jobs. Without that link, the CMMS depends on people remembering to log what happened, and its MTBF and MTTR figures are only as good as those notes.
Key concepts
- Asset register, work orders, PM, spares, history
- Mobile work orders for technicians
- CMMS versus EAM: EAM covers the whole lifecycle
- ERP maintenance modules often act as the CMMS
- Machine connected triggers make data reliable
Questions
What is the difference between CMMS and EAM?
A CMMS focuses on maintenance execution. An EAM covers the full asset lifecycle, including acquisition, capital planning and disposal, usually across multiple sites.
Can SAP Plant Maintenance be our CMMS?
Yes. Many plants use SAP PM as the system of record and add a mobile front end and machine integration so technicians and machines feed it directly.
How does a CMMS connect to MES?
Through machine signals and events: stops can raise work orders, counters can trigger usage based PM, and maintenance status can block production orders on an asset that is down.
References
How we help with CMMS
We build mobile maintenance and QR asset systems that work alongside SAP PM or as a standalone CMMS, with machine stops and counters feeding work orders automatically.
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Related terms
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