Fiix Webinar Recap: Mastering Cold Starts After Unexpected Shutdowns

When production stalls, facilities shut down unexpectedly, or staff are laid off, resilience becomes a critical challenge. To help Fiix users navigate these disruptions, we launched a two‑part webinar series—Hot Stops & Cold Starts.

In Part 2, Fiix CMMS Coordinator Brandon De Melo joined Charles Rogers and Steve Ricard from Fiix’s professional services team to discuss turning unplanned downtime into a strategic advantage and preparing for a flawless restart after an extended outage. Brandon, who works for a global automotive supplier, shared the story of his recent COVID‑19‑induced shutdown.

Did you miss Part 1? Access the full recap here.

Who’s Who: Webinar Participants

Brandon De Melo, CMMS Coordinator

Brandon is a Manufacturing Engineer with 4.5 years at a global automotive supplier and played a pivotal role in implementing Fiix at his facility.

Steve Ricard, Implementation Team Manager

A Certified Facility Manager and Certified Reliability Leader, Steve brings 34 years of maintenance management experience and is a sought‑after national speaker.

Charles Rogers, Senior Implementation Consultant

Charles is a Mechanical Engineer with over 33 years of training and field experience in maintenance, reliability, risk management, and OSHA PSM.

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04:15 Brandon described a rapid shutdown triggered by COVID‑19, noting the urgent need for sanitation supplies and PPE. "Everything happened so fast – we shut down utilities, steamers, flushed them out, and laid off all employees," he said.

One of our main priorities was obviously our workers’ safety. – Brandon De Melo

06:40 Brandon highlighted two key take‑aways from Part 1:

1. Closing SMs as incomplete vs. pausing them.
2. Updating multiple status fields simultaneously to save time.

08:05 He explained how weekend shutdowns at his plant allow essential maintenance work to be completed and tracked, including labor costs.

10:15 With re‑tooling impossible, Brandon used the downtime to produce face‑mask brackets for a local hospital with his 3‑D printer at home.

11:00 Brandon emphasized the importance of restart planning: “Put in the time now to make a difference tomorrow.” – Brandon De Melo

Start Planning Yesterday

12:15 Charles discussed why restart planning is critical, common pitfalls, and various restart strategies.

17:40 Charles reviewed essential restart checklists, and the audience—including Brandon—shared the types of checklists they use.

22:05 Steve opened a Fiix demo environment to show how to identify critical assets and create a critical‑asset PM checklist. He referenced insights from previous guest Tom Dufton.

27:55 After a poll revealed only 6 % of participants use their CMMS for restart management, Steve demonstrated additional features:

• Color‑coded shutdown and restart maintenance types
• Work‑order prioritization and its benefits
• Restart event triggers for automated WOs with required labor tasks
• Adding work permits to WOs

Steve explained that restart triggers can be time‑based, meter‑based, or event‑based, following Fiix’s crawl‑walk‑run philosophy.

You can’t report on what you don’t record. – Steve Ricard

39:35 Charles summarized key considerations for a successful restart:

• Set realistic, staggered restart goals.
• Schedule pre‑start sanitation and maintenance crews.
• Conduct a critical‑equipment PM blitz 5‑7 days before start‑up.
• Test utilities for leaks and closed valves.
• Verify critical process controls, instrument air lines, and safety interlocks.
• Check steam traps and conveyor systems.

Host virtual meetings with cross‑functional stakeholders now to plan pre‑start and restart strategies. – Charles Rogers

44:00 Brandon mentioned a sanitation “crash‑cart” to reassure returning workers and ensure safety.

46:40 An audience member sought advice on convincing management to allocate maintenance time. Steve reframed maintenance as a profit center, citing the cost of downtime from rushed production and equipment failures.

49:48 When asked for KPIs to measure shutdown and startup performance, Charles provided examples:

• # of shutdown WOs before the shutdown.
• # of shutdown WOs completed during the shutdown.
• # of “found work” or unplanned PMs completed during the shutdown.
• # of emergency WOs generated during restart.
• Time to full production vs. forecasted.

In Closing

If you’re dealing with a facility shutdown, Fiix wishes you and your team a swift, safe return to operations. Stay healthy, wash your hands, and we look forward to sharing our next webinar with you.