NARENCO Improves MRO Visibility for Customers and Drives Growth with eMaint

Founded in 2009, NARENCO is a renewable energy corporation that designs, develops, builds, and operates utility-scale solar installations. Their solar farms range from around 60 to 650 acres and produce as much as 70 megawatts of power per site.

NARENCO oversees every phase of each solar project—from site development to operations and maintenance. Their maintenance, reliability, and operations rely on computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software to manage over 4,000 assets installed at 36 customer sites.

Before switching to eMaint, NARENCO used a different CMMS. However, they found it was “too constrictive” for their needs, according to Olivia Staats, Operations and Compliance Manager at NARENCO. “With the previous CMMS, we were not able to adapt the software to our needs,” Staats explains.

One of NARENCO’s immediate challenges to implementing a CMMS was getting their team fully on board and excited to adopt the solution. “We didn’t have great success with the previous system, so our technicians were resistant. They’d already seen one failure,” Staats says. “But now our technicians see that eMaint is a successful program. In the last year alone, we did 5,638 preventive maintenance tasks and documented to our customers that we’ve handled close to 2,000 corrective work orders. They’re more driven to use it.”

Another challenge for NARENCO was the complexity and uniqueness of their maintenance operations. For example, while NARENCO operates and maintains 36 solar sites, the company does not own all of them. This presents complexities in terms of contracts, reporting, inventory, and more. So, they needed a highly configurable CMMS. eMaint offered the perfect balance of out-of-the-box capability and a high level of customizability to meet NARENCO’s unique needs.

NARENCO began the eMaint implementation process in October 2021 with the goal of rolling it out to their team just a few months later in December. The team leveraged a variety of tools and resources—including eMaint University, eMaint’s customer success portal, and ongoing in-house trainings—to prepare and train their staff throughout the implementation.

“We really found the implementation very valuable,” Staats says. “It forced us to outline our work management process and what we wanted that to look like—which is a major success driver of the program.”

The implementation made it possible for NARENCO to start using eMaint right out of the box, while also building out the platform so that it was more configured to their needs. Staats found the support resources especially helpful. “With eMaint, we never feel like we’re alone,” she says.

Granular Asset-Level Data
Since the implementation was completed, NARENCO has been able to extract granular data and insights into installed equipment. This new level of visibility has made activities easier for the NARENCO team—from customer reporting to warranty claims. For example, for each asset, the team can easily track and communicate to their customers which preventive maintenance tasks were done in a particular month, what corrective actions were taken, whether there are any unresolved issues, or if there are trends that require attention.

Improved Invoicing
Another one of NARENCO’s objectives with their CMMS implementation was to develop a comprehensive understanding of financial performance for their operations and manufacturing group—and develop the appropriate tracking tools. Within that overarching goal, they hoped to complete 100% of NCS (noncovered service invoicing) and invoice them at the same month. To achieve this, NARENCO created custom forms for quotes and invoicing within eMaint. “Our internal goal was 100 percent,” says Staats, “and we hit 95 to 100 percent of that goal in the first six months.”

Everything Technicians Need on the Go—At Their Fingertips
Finally, eMaint’s mobile CMMS features have also been a crucial benefit for NARENCO. “Huge solar installations are not built near city centers where service and connectivity are always available,” says Amanda Smith, Director of Operations and Maintenance at NARENCO. “For our technicians who work remotely to be able to access their work orders—and to be able to update those work orders out in the field without connectivity—was a huge win for us.”

Using Fluke Mobile, eMaint’s mobile CMMS, NARENCO’s technicians can complete tasks, do work order charges, add documents, update notes, and more—from anywhere. Another major benefit of Fluke Mobile was the ability to pull documents connected to the asset. Technicians working on a piece of equipment can access the manual and other documentation in real time. They no longer need to be connected to to find information and update work orders—saving time and preventing unnecessary delays.

Having this information at their fingertips also helped ensure accuracy and quality. “Once you step away from a site or a task, your ability to remember 100 percent of the details decreases,” says Smith, “With Fluke Mobile, technicians can update their work orders in real time with accurate information even without connectivity.”

One of NARENCO’s goals for 2023 is to take fuller advantage of eMaint’s parts management tools. In particular, NARENCO would like to simplify and improve how their technicians in the field keep track of inventory.

“We have multiple inventory locations because we have multiple inventory owners,” Staats says. “A lot of our contracts dictate that we hold a certain number of spare parts for their site, which means they own the parts, not us. So, we have to keep them separate from NARENCO’s inventory. We’re really grateful that eMaint can help us configure that process to fit our needs.”

Maintenance standardization is another one of their 2023 goals, which includes establishing metrics and standardizing processes across the board to ensure their long-term success.

And eMaint has already helped NARENCO grow – a trend they’re excited to see continue in 2023. With eMaint, NARENCO can keep their equipment in good operating condition and keep their customers informed about maintenance activities. If there’s a problem, technicians can respond promptly and get the equipment back up and running quickly. This has led to more new projects with their customers. “It’s led to a lot of our growth that we’re taking on this year,” says Staats.