DUNEDIN, FLA.—Mintek Mobile Data Solutions, one of the lodging industry’s leading providers of automated preventive maintenance (PM) systems, announces the installation of WinTrack PM in three of the nation’s busiest hotels: the Radisson Valley Forge in Valley Forge, Pa.; The Battle House—A Renaissance Hotel in Mobile, Ala.; and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Mich.
WinTrack PM software, which incorporates handheld devices and bar coding to ensure that PMs, rounds, inspections and work orders are accomplished on time, is helping to extend the life of each hotel’s most valuable assets. Streamlined work flow processes, increased energy efficiency, and improved guest satisfaction are some of the other benefits these properties are enjoying.
“We are pleased that these three hotels are experiencing the many benefits of WinTrack PM,” says Lind Hutton, President of Mintek Mobile Data Solutions. “Each property has quickly discovered how much more efficient WinTrack PM can be when compared to the paper-based preventive maintenance systems that are so common in the lodging industry.”
Pennsylvania Success Story
At the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge and Scanticon hotels, where WinTrack PM was implemented six months ago, 23 engineers use the system to perform PMs throughout the 488-room complex. Both hotels are part of the Valley Forge Convention Plaza, which offers more than 150,000 square feet of meeting, exhibit and banquet space. According to Dale McCambridge, CEOE, Director of Engineering at the hotel, the convention center is included in the area that his team has to maintain each day.
When first implementing WinTrack PM at the Radisson, bar codes were discreetly placed on every item needing a PM. Now, when an engineer scans a bar code on a piece of equipment, it prompts him to answer previously determined questions. After the PM has been completed, the bar code is scanned again. Each step is recorded within WinTrack PM.
“WinTrack PM adds accountability to the PM process,” McCambridge says. “Prior to WinTrack PM, we would miss PMs on items because we would lose track of them. This system does not let us forget. It has cut our paperwork by two-thirds.”
With WinTrack PM, McCambridge knows exactly when an engineer was at a piece of equipment, what was recorded, and how long the engineer was there. WinTrack PM automates PM scheduling so that no PM is missed. Work orders can be generated automatically through the handheld based on answers provided by engineers.
WinTrack PM is used so extensively at the Radisson that one employee is dedicated to it full time. A total of 1,500 inspection points are monitored by the system and McCambridge expects that number to climb to 2,000 later this year. Included in the 1,500 inspection points are 100 points that are checked in each guestroom. Boilers, PTACs, heat pumps and other equipment are also routinely checked.
“We even use it to track our elevator inspections, even though we use an outside vendor for the service,” McCambridge says.
WinTrack PM makes it easy to generate the following types of reports: PM and rounds history, inspection results, open work orders, parts needed, and facility overview. McCambridge says his team generates guestroom PM and open work order reports most often.
Benefits Grow Over Time
At The Battle House—A Renaissance Hotel in Mobile, Ala., a total of nine engineers use WinTrack PM. Mintek’s system has been in place at the all-new 238-room hotel since September of last year.
“WinTrack PM does a great job in helping us to track every bit of maintenance we do,” says Phil Mahaney, Chief Engineer. “Every part we replace is tracked within WinTrack PM and I have my monthly fire extinguisher rounds on it.”
Mahaney says that prior to working at the Renaissance Hotel, he worked at hotels that used paper-based systems for PM, rounds and work orders.
“WinTrack PM is easier and much more efficient,” he says. “It is a great PM tool. It becomes more valuable the longer you have it. Five years down the road, we will be able to see everything we have done to a piece of equipment.”
The Battle House—A Renaissance Hotel is a PCH Hotels & Resorts-managed property. Additional PCH hotels that will soon implement WinTrack PM include the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile, Ala., the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa in Point Clear, Ala., and the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel and Conference Center at Capitol Hill in Prattville, Ala.
Amway Grand Opts for System
Like the engineers at the Radisson Valley Forge and The Battle House—A Renaissance Hotel, those at the 682-room Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Mich. also use WinTrack PM to perform PM on that property’s most valuable equipment. That is no small task, given the size of the hotel. The property has 42 different meeting and reception areas and is attached to the DeVos Place Convention Center. The hotel also has seven different food-and-beverage facilities.
Efrain Melendez, Energy Manager at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, says his staff of 14 mechanics has been using WinTrack PM since last summer to perform PMs on all equipment and to also check on items such as lighting, wallpaper, carpet and plumbing in each of the property’s guestrooms.
“My guys are happy with the system because it has eliminated all of the paperwork we used to have to complete,” Melendez says. “We always know when we have to perform PMs. Guest satisfaction has increased because we do PMs more frequently.”
Melendez says heating and cooling equipment also runs more efficiently thanks to frequent monitoring prompted by WinTrack PM.
“We save energy by keeping our equipment in good shape,” he says.
“Like our more than 300 other hotel customers, the engineering teams at the Radisson Valley Forge, The Battle House—A Renaissance Hotel, and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel have discovered that WinTrack PM does much more than streamline PM processes; it provides peace of mind,” says Mintek’s Hutton.
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