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How to Make Your MRO a Well-Oiled Machine
MRO teams keep the workplaces we depend on running. What do MRO employees depend on to ensure that happens?
Jeff Fiala
Jul 15, 2025
MRO teams keep factories, facilities, shops, and buildings running, yet their work is often invisible until something breaks. They maintain machines, track spare parts, handle inspections, and respond to emergencies. The job demands constant awareness of what needs attention now, what can wait, and what might fail soon if ignored.
What makes this hard work harder?
Ticket management- It can be a challenge to assign, track, and close tasks. Many MRO teams still rely on paper checklists, whiteboards, or word-of-mouth instructions. Work orders can get lost in a pile. A technician finishes a job, but the supervisor doesn’t know it’s done or whether another task should be escalated. Without a clear system, the same issue can reappear because the root cause was missed.
Scheduled work- Another gap is recurring work. Routine checks, lubrication, filter changes- these keep machines reliable. If they’re not tracked properly, people forget or rush through them. One missed task can snowball into a shutdown that brings productivity to a halt for hours.
Tribal knowledge- There’s also the problem of knowledge staying in people’s heads. Long-time workers know what to do and when to do it, but newer staff don’t. If experienced people leave or retire, the team loses critical memory.
Information hunting- Many operations leaders underestimate how much time MRO workers spend tracking down information. A technician might spend half an hour just locating the right manual, schematics, or service history before fixing a piece of equipment. In older plants, some records still live in file cabinets or binders that get misplaced. That wasted time adds up to lost productivity and longer downtime.
Memorialized activity- When equipment goes down unexpectedly, chaos spreads fast. Supervisors scramble to find out who’s available, what parts are in stock, and whether a work order even exists. If communication depends on walkie-talkies or word of mouth, details slip through the cracks. Spare parts might not be reordered on time, which means future repairs get delayed too.
Rework- Another hidden cost is rework. If one person finishes a repair but doesn’t document it clearly, the next shift may repeat the work or overlook something critical. Poor handoffs between shifts cause tension, mistakes, and finger-pointing. For operations teams already stretched thin, these problems drain hours they don’t have.
How companies can make MRO a seamless operation
UnDesked fills these gaps by digitizing the daily flow of MRO work. Recurring tasks don’t just live on paper; they’re visible, assigned, and timestamped. If a job needs escalation- say, a small leak turns into a major hazard- it triggers an alert so it doesn’t sit unnoticed. All task updates stay in one place, so supervisors and technicians see the same status in real time.
Technicians can access instructions, manuals, or checklists right on their phones or shared screens. No more chasing binders or scribbled notes. Over time, work history builds a record of what’s been done, what’s failed before, and how problems were fixed. That helps plan better and train new staff faster.
UnDesked helps by giving every technician, supervisor, and manager the same real-time picture. Anyone can see open tasks, what’s overdue, and what’s escalating. Parts used for a repair are logged automatically, so inventory stays accurate. If an issue repeats, maintenance history makes it easier to find root causes instead of patching symptoms.
Good MRO work prevents small breakdowns from turning into big shutdowns. But that only works if tasks are visible, repeatable, and easy to hand off. UnDesked removes the guesswork by making the daily grind digital, so the people keeping operations running don’t waste time chasing papers or repeating what’s already been done. It’s about making sure good work sticks — shift to shift, person to person, year after year.
When MRO tasks run through UnDesked, operations get fewer surprises, less rework, and fewer costly breakdowns. The people doing the work know what’s next, what’s urgent, and what’s done. Nothing falls through the cracks.