40% More Uptime: How Odyssey ERP Transformed Maintenance at Great Lakes Castings
By Kristen Johnson, Continuous Improvement Supervisor at Great Lakes Castings LLC
At Great Lakes Castings, we saw a 40% improvement in machine uptime and a 98% reduction in emergency parts shipments just by utilizing even more of the Odyssey ERP software.
The Maintenance Management module transformed how our team works, and if you’re an Odyssey ERP user who’s only scratching the surface of what the system can do, my advice is simple: dig deeper.
A New Approach to Maintenance
Before we began using the module, our maintenance operation looked a lot like a horse race. Imagine a field of horses lined up at the start of the Kentucky Derby. The gates spring open, and it’s an all-out dash toward the finish line.
In the same way, when a piece of our equipment went down, everyone on our maintenance team would bolt off to fix it. It was an inefficient allocation of resources and expensive.
You don’t want your entire maintenance staff racing to correct the same problem. Maybe you send one mechanic and an electrician to handle the breakdown while everyone else sticks to the scheduled work. That change in thinking, and a way to manage it, was huge for us, and Odyssey ERP’s Maintenance Management module helped make it happen.
Give Supervisors a Plan, Not Just a Problem List
Just a couple of years ago, even our supervisors were in reactive mode. They bounced from issue to issue without a clear plan for the day.
With Odyssey ERP, we now give them an eight-hour schedule for every shift, with prioritized assignments, start dates, due dates, and detailed instructions for each preventive maintenance task. Of course, unexpected downtime still happens, but they no longer throw the whole plan out the window. We deal with what’s urgent and keep the rest of the team focused on what’s scheduled.
My advice is to take the time to set up your preventive maintenance schedules in the software. Once you do, the structure it provides will pay for itself in saved time and fewer emergencies.
Use what Odyssey ERP Already Gives You
One of the best things about Odyssey ERP is that it’s all connected; there are no separate servers, no duplicate data entry, no jumping between inventory, purchasing, and accounting systems.
For example, when we order parts for a job, that work order is automatically linked to inventory, labor hours, and costs. That connection alone has saved us wasted time and confusion.
Another big win is how labor hours flow through the system. We’re able to pull that data for payroll and assign it to a specific account, whether it’s tied to a particular machine, department, or work area.
When someone logs hours to a work order, we instantly know which machine or preventive maintenance task was completed in that time. The accounting team can use that same entry for payroll and cost tracking without having to re-enter anything. One entry, multiple uses —that’s a huge efficiency gain.
If you’re still working outside the system for things like parts ordering, cost tracking, or labor accounting, you’re missing one of Odyssey ERP’s biggest advantages.
Real-Time Insights
Thanks to Odyssey ERP, here’s what our maintenance process looks like for us today: We stage the parts for a job in a specific spot. The labor hours get assigned to that job, the technicians check their assignments, grab the parts, get the work done, and then mark it as complete.
When the job is closed, the Odyssey ERP software instantly shows us the total cost, including materials, labor, and other expenses. That’s quite a change from our previous process, when we had to piece that information together from multiple systems.
Now, because Odyssey ERP ties labor hours to specific machines or work areas, we can see exactly how much an operation costs, which is insight that used to take hours to compile manually.
My Advice to Odyssey ERP Users
We’ve seen a lot of things change since adopting Odyssey as our ERP software. From my perspective, the biggest change is that we start every shift with a plan.
Each technician gets eight hours of scheduled work based on priority, due date, and their skillset. Breakdowns are still fixed, but they don’t derail an entire day. That single change—moving to a scheduled, steady, and focused pace—has made us more productive and a lot less stressed.
If you’re an Odyssey ERP user, don’t just use it for the basics. Explore the modules you’re not using yet, like Maintenance Management, and see how they can solve problems you’ve just been living with. The tools are there. The information is there. You just have to use it.
We’ve seen the results first-hand at Great Lakes Castings—less scrambling and better organization. The results speak for themselves: 40% more uptime and a 98% drop in emergency parts shipments. For us, it’s proof that using Odyssey ERP to its full potential really pays off.
To learn more about Odyssey ERP’s Maintenance Management module, contact B&L today!
< Back to Blog