Bush Brothers Modernizes Maintenance with Fiix CMMS

Application Area: Computerized Maintenance Management Systems and Asset Reliability
Industry Sector: Food and Beverage Manufacturing

Operating a full-spectrum production facility in Augusta, Wisconsin, Bush Brothers and Company processes, cans, and distributes bean products under continuous operational schedules. The integrated plant manages every stage from raw ingredient intake to final packaging and outbound logistics. As production lines expanded, the plant required a modern maintenance architecture to reduce downtime risks across critical canning assets. The engineering team identified the need for a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) that provided interface flexibility, user autonomy, and scalability without constant vendor intervention for routine software modifications.

Standardizing Asset Hierarchies and Maintenance Workflows
Following an evaluation of shortlisted software suppliers, the manufacturer selected Fiix CMMS by Rockwell Automation. The software provided an intuitive configuration environment enabling plant personnel to build customized preventive maintenance routines, adjust equipment parameters, and register machine assets directly.

Implementation was directed by Anthony Peterson, Maintenance and Reliability Manager. Drawing on operational experience from earlier enterprise software rollouts, management assembled a cross-functional deployment team comprising maintenance technicians, operational personnel, and plant supervisors. Working in conjunction with professional implementation specialists, the team standardized asset hierarchies, established unified equipment naming conventions, and connected spare parts inventory with the facility's existing enterprise resource planning platform.

Operational Autonomy and Planned Maintenance Execution
The deployment transitioned work order workflows from disconnected manual requests into an integrated digital interface. Field technicians gained direct control over work orders, preventive maintenance scheduling, backlog management, and historical component performance logging.

“One of the big things we really wanted is we wanted interface flexibility, so we didn't have to go to the software manufacturer every time we wanted to make a little tweak or change,” noted Anthony Peterson, Maintenance and Reliability Manager at Bush Brothers and Company. “We think we can someday get to that 90%+ efficiencies mark, which is pretty high for a changeover line.”

Measurable Efficiency Gains Across Processing Lines
The digital maintenance platform established structured preventive routines across more than 6,400 physical assets, supporting 161 active users across company sites. Work order execution reached a 97 percent on-time completion rate, raising plant maintenance efficiency to 85 percent. By eliminating administrative bottlenecks and automating work tracking, the Augusta facility stabilized line changeovers, reduced mechanical intervention delays, and built a data framework for future predictive analytics integration.

Edited by Romila DSilva, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.