Philippines-based Sandigan Ship Services (Sandigan) has signed up with BASS for the delivery of BASSnet Maintenance (PMS) software for its fleet of vessels, giving its stamp of approval to the Maintenance module’s versatile, efficient and easy-to-use features.

To date, BASS’ PMS (Planned Maintenance System) inventory control modules have been installed on 11 of Sandigan’s ships, with another 16 vessels slated for installation by December this year.

"The BASSnet fleet management system has many features which will enable improved decision-making throughout our operations and achieve greater transparency, for internal review, follow up, reporting, and business improvement, as well as for reporting to external parties and our stakeholders," said Capt. Tomoyoshi Yanagita, president of Sandigan Ship Services.

"More automated processes, less administrative paperwork, compliance, and a better understanding of how the entire fleet is run with BASSnet fleet management systems are what we hope to achieve in the long term," Capt Yanagita added.

BASS won the confidence of Sandigan after it thumped five leading marine IT companies in an extensive selection process, where the respective companies made presentations to Sandigan, which assessed the capabilities of all the participants.

"Sandigan’s selection of BASS’s fleet maintenance system is a valuable recognition of BASS’ consistent ability to meet our customers’ needs and expectations," said BASS Head of Sales (Asia), Mark Ravi.

BASS won the coveted job as its PMS/inventory control modules are simple to use, and are based on current IT trends. BASSnet Maintenance is built on the latest Microsoft .NET technology, and allows applications of common skills across a variety of devices, application types, and programming tasks, and integrates with other tools and technologies to build the right solution, while reducing workloads.

The module functions as a planned or structured maintenance system which handles Sandigan vessels’ components, spare list and job maintenance procedures that areverified by a superintendent.

Thanks to the module’s advanced functionalities, Sandigan’s vessel maintenance information is now reported in a timely and accurate manner accompanied by relevant data, with the maintenance system constantly providing up-to-date information. The process involves all components including a list of spare parts, transfer of materials and maintenance jobs impacting ships, to be fed into the system. Additional information including photographs, measurements and reports are also attachable.

Once the vessel has carried out updates on the jobs completed, a replicator is run and all information is automatically transferred to the company’s office database. This ensures that the operator has a comprehensive, credible, accurate and easily accessible maintenance history of the vessel, accessible to both personnel onboard as well as in the office.

With the use of a planner filter, jobs can be separated based on their importance ranking. The Planner screen gives users a good overview of the maintenance tasks ahead, showing the scheduled jobs based on the filters that are specified.

Once a job is concluded, the reporting system offers an option to move the just concluded job to history. This "move to history" option is solely controlled by the
Master/Chief engineer onboard a vessel, or superintendant in the office who reviews the job reporting and makes any corrections/additions as required.

The system also offers a sub-component function, which is for equipment that is movable, and have their own life cycle and maintenance program. This sub module will plan their maintenance program by keeping track of running hours separately, for example, main engine pistons and exhaust valves.