How US LBM Standardized Maintenance Across 40+ Plants With MaintainX

In his role as manufacturing operations manager at US LBM, Matt Bartman faced a challenge that may sound familiar to other multi-site leaders at fast-growing companies: inconsistency. 

Rapid growth and acquisitions meant dozens of facilities managed assets, procedures, and work orders in different systems. “When you grow fast and you're pulling in so many different companies, methodologies, leadership, and so forth, there are a million different ways to do something,” Matt explains. 

Ultimately, Matt needed a system to get all teams on the same page.

Challenges

Lack of standard processes

Of the more than 60 manufacturing plants Matt supports across the United States, some had their own CMMS tools, while others relied on institutional knowledge. This meant processes differed widely across sites. 

As Matt puts it: “Some folks were like, ‘Bob knows how to do this. He's been doing it forever.’ And some sites had a CMMS in place…we had the whole range.”

No unified, accurate record of assets 

The lack of a unified asset list across the organization made it difficult to share parts, connect locations with similar assets, and compare common equipment issues.

Communication barriers

With many plants running the same equipment, news about updates needs to travel fast.

“When we have improvements on equipment, we want to be able to communicate them to everybody,” Matt explains. Without a channel for global communication, network-wide upgrades were inconsistent and time-consuming to coordinate.

Why MaintainX

When Matt and his team set out to evaluate CMMS providers, they looked at several vendors, weighing factors like functionality, usability, and vendor responsiveness. MaintainX quickly distinguished itself as the best solution on all fronts. 

“I knew that after looking at about seven different CMMS providers—from custom solutions to out-of-the-box—that MaintainX was the best one,” says Matt.

“MaintainX took the cake. Everything we needed, in a cleaner package, with a team that moves fast.”

Easy-to-use platform

MaintainX’s interface was user-friendly enough that teams could begin working in the app immediately, which was critical to an efficient rollout. “You can jump in and not even do the training and start using it pretty easily,” Matt says.

Unmatched customer experience

The MaintainX team also stood out for their refreshingly fast responses. During the selection process, Matt received answers to his questions within hours, compared to weeks from other vendors. 

“MaintainX had [our IT questionnaire] done within 24 hours,” Matt says. “Fast, accurate, respectful—that's what we look for in a partner.”

Outstanding value

One of the key factors in leadership’s decision to implement MaintainX was the impressive power the software delivered at a great value. “The tool is very affordable. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg… It improves productivity, improves asset lifespan, improves safety, for a pretty reasonable cost.”

Results

Easy implementation

Matt resisted the “iron fist” approach to getting teams on board, instead relying on relationships with plant managers and the natural appeal of a powerful, easy-to-use tool. “An implementation is a lot easier when you know you have something really cool to give everybody,” Matt says.

Signs of success soon appeared, like sites showing up to office hours and operators suggesting improvements. Even small signals, like a site leader notifying Matt that a departing employee’s access needed replacing, became proof of engagement.

Standardization plus flexibility

Matt opted for an iterative rollout of the software: three to five sites at a time, with each wave refining the process for the next. The early focus was on assets, procedures, and work orders. “What’s the 20% of the tool that’s going to give us 80% of our impact?” Matt explains. “That’s what we focused on first.”

He locked down naming conventions for assets to ensure clean global reporting. But at the same time, he left room for flexibility. Procedures were distributed as a starting point, but sites were encouraged to adapt them and share improvements. 

This balance has allowed best practices to bubble up. “We generate procedures and hand them out…but sites have the flexibility to change them, and I hope they do,” Matt says.

His advice for successful software adoption? “Roll it out in waves. Only standardize what you must. Leave room for creativity so the best ideas can spread.”

Foundation in place nationwide

MaintainX’s implementation at US LBM’s plants is about 90% complete. 

For the first time, the company has one platform to unify their maintenance practices across the country. Technicians are consistently using the tool, sharing ideas, and treating maintenance as a collective strength rather than an isolated function.

Looking ahead

With the foundation set, US LBM’s journey with MaintainX is just beginning. Matt sees future opportunities for expanding dashboards, integrating machine data, and continuing to share best practices across sites.