Picture the call. A big maintenance software company runs a polished demo for your team. The screens look great, the slides are full of logos, and everyone nods along.
Then the questions start after the call ends. Where exactly is our data stored? Why does support only answer after lunch, Toronto time? And how much will all of this really cost by the time it is running on our floor?
Most CMMS buying guides are written for American plants, so they never ask these questions. If you run a plant in Ontario, or anywhere in Canada, here are the five I would ask before signing anything.
The 5 questions
1. Where does my data live?
Your machine history, your work orders and your production numbers are some of the most sensitive data your company owns. Some customers, especially in aerospace and defence, now ask their suppliers exactly where that data is stored. Ask the vendor for a straight answer: which country, which city, which provider. If they need a week to find out, that tells you something too.
2. Who answers the phone, and when?
A machine that goes down at 7 in the morning cannot wait for a help desk that opens at 9 Pacific time. Ask for the support hours in your own time zone, and ask who actually picks up: a person who knows a production floor, or a ticket number.
3. What is the total cost, not just the monthly price?
The monthly price on the website is rarely what you end up paying. Ask about everything around it:
- Setup fees and the consultants needed to "go live".
- Per user pricing. If every operator needs a paid seat, the bill grows every time you hire, so people end up sharing logins.
- The months of lost time while your team prepares data and learns the system.
Add it all up for the first year. That is the real price.
4. Will it help me pass my audits?
Whether it is a customer audit, ISO, or food safety, the auditor wants to see proof: the procedure, the record that it was followed, who signed it, and when. Ask the vendor to show you a real audit record from the system, not a slide. And ask what happens to old records when something is deleted.
5. Can I leave if it doesn't work?
This is the question nobody asks at the start, and everybody wishes they had. If you pay a large amount up front, you will feel stuck with the system even when the floor hates it. Ask for a free trial on your own machines, month to month terms, and a clear way to take your data with you.
Could a Canadian FFMS Be the Smarter Choice for Your Plant?
I asked myself these same five questions when I decided what DOVAmfg had to be. DOVAmfg is an FFMS, which stands for Full Floor Management System: a single system for the whole production floor, so maintenance, the schedule and production stop living in separate tools. It has three parts: the schedule, real time production tracking, and the maintenance and compliance hub.
Here is how DOVAmfg answers the five questions:
- Your data stays in Canada. DOVAmfg is a Toronto company, and your data is stored in Montréal.
- Support in your time zone. Monday to Friday, 9 to 6 Eastern time, from people who have run production floors.
- No surprises in the total cost. No setup fee, no consultants, and operators and office users are free, as many as you need. Setup takes one day. The price is one flat $240 USD a month per location for up to 12 machines, with every feature included. Our first five Founding Partners also pay half for their first 24 months.
- Audit ready records. The compliance hub keeps your procedures, the forms your team fills in, and who completed each one and when. Deleted items keep their records, so the history an auditor asks for is still there.
- You can leave. Every plan starts with a 30 day free trial, and you pay month by month. There is no big investment to protect, so DOVAmfg has to earn its place on your floor every month.
If you are choosing a CMMS for a plant in Ontario, or anywhere in Canada, book a 30 minute demo with me. Bring your five questions, and ask me every one of them.
