How Precision Polymer Turned Their Under-Used Aptean Agility EAM/ CMMS into 95% Asset Availability
Industry Specialist manufacturing high-performance sealing solutions for sectors including oil and gas, motorsport, and general industrial machinery.
Product Aptean Agility EAM/CMMS
Background Precision Polymer Engineering (PPE) is a specialist manufacturer of high-performance seals, producing O-rings, gaskets, and related components used across multiple sectors: from oil rigs and refineries to Formula One cars and general industrial machinery. PPE is part of IDEX Corporation, a global group with sister businesses operating around the world. PPE’s UK operations are based in Blackburn and Leeds, with the Blackburn site employing around 160 people. Aptean Agility EAM/CMMS has been in place at the Blackburn site for roughly two and a half years. When Mark Lynch joined PPE a year ago as Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Stores Controller, he was tasked with taking full ownership of Agility and driving adoption across the site. With experience using Agility at two prior companies, Mark knew what “good” looked like. But on arrival, he found a system that hadn’t yet fully been embedded into day-to-day operations.
Challenges:
» The system itself had not been fully set up and was not being utilised correctly.
» Limited visibility of stock levels, asset status, and maintenance activity across the site.
» Maintenance being carried out
without a reliable record, leaving no audit trail.
Benefits:
» Asset availability now consistently running at 95–97%.
» Real-time mobile job visibility,
speeding up response times and reducing duplicated work.
» Automated stock reorder triggers,
replacing manual, ad-hoc ordering.
» Agility AI cutting a multi-metric
report generation down from a manual task to under a minute.
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The Challenge When Mark joined, the underlying issue at Blackburn wasn’t the system itself, but the fact that it had never been fully set up or embedded across the site. The result was a lack of visibility and understanding across three key areas: what stock was held, what assets and critical spares needed the closest attention, and what maintenance work was being completed. The mobile devices originally selected by PPE and issued to their engineers were unreliable and slow. This resulted in Agility not being used on the shop floor, and any updates being made were recorded later making real-time visibility of stock levels and jobs complete impossible.
“The system was being used, but not as well as it could be. The mobile phones that we’d purchased for the engineers weren’t as good as they could have been. There were constant connection issues, and they were slow. So, the guys didn’t want to use them, and everybody ended up using the PC in the workshop instead, which wasn’t ideal.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
The lack of visibility created knock-on issues elsewhere too. For example, the production department struggled with machine downtime because teams couldn’t see where jobs stood in the system. Maintenance was another blind spot. Work was completed, but rarely recorded, resulting in the business having no reliable way to demonstrate compliance or build a maintenance history. “A lot of the PPMs were getting done; however, we had no record of it. It was about making sure everything could be recorded, so we’ve got a paper trail,” Mark explains. That record now gives PPE clear evidence of what maintenance has taken place and when — invaluable, especially during audits. Stores told a similar story. Missing location and barcode data meant engineers couldn’t check stock themselves, and instead emailed Mark directly for parts. Leading to no visibility of consumption or reorder levels, and risking critical parts being unavailable or costly overstocking.
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“The money you’ll save using Agility — on spares, downtime; engineers being tied up on one task rather than moving to the next — is immeasurable. You’ll make that back multiple times over. But it’s also about your organisation’s reputation. If you’re struggling with downtime and can’t satisfy your customers, they’ll go elsewhere.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
The Solution Working alongside long-serving colleague, Barrie Greenwood, Mark completed a full assessment of the site’s assets and PPM status within Agility and rebuilt the register, creating what he describes as “a digital twin of what we’ve physically got on the shop floor.” Because the asset register sits at the heart of Agility, getting it accurate in the system, gave the team this foundation to identify critical spares and rebuild the PPM checklists and frequencies from the ground up. The result: the right parts were always on hand, and the right maintenance happened at the right time, reducing the risk of unplanned downtime. In March, Mark relaunched Agility at the Blackburn site, replacing the original mobile devices with new iPhones running the Agility app. Senior PS Consultant for Aptean Agility EAM/CMMS, Marrwan Arebi supported Mark and his team throughout the rebuild and relaunch to ensure everything was set up to deliver maximum value. Engagement with the Agility system improved immediately, as engineers embraced the system as part of their day-to-day role. As part of the relaunch, the team also rationalised a confusing set of priority and fault codes that had grown unwieldy over time - a legacy of how the system had originally been configured by Mark’s predecessors.
“We had lots of different priority codes that didn’t really make sense. We cleansed it right back and started from scratch — electrical fault, mechanical fault, the basics — so the guys aren’t clicking through fifteen menus to get to what they need, making the whole process more streamlined and efficient.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
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Support from the Aptean Agility team was central to making the relaunch achievable alongside day-today operational pressures. “If it was left to myself, I would have struggled to give it the time it deserved to relaunch and set everything up properly while managing the ongoing challenges of day-to-day operations. However, we’ve had the support of Marrwan, who has been our go-to guy.” “We ran a workshop with the team once we’d simplified the mobile setup. It gave everyone space to raise questions and flag anything they weren’t sure about, helping us to build clear communication across the group and making sure everyone could use Agility properly and get the most out of it.” That level of support from the Aptean Agility team has remained consistent well beyond the initial relaunch — a theme Mark returns to throughout his experience with Aptean. Whether it’s training, a quick phone call, or a support ticket, he describes a team that consistently goes out of its way to help, often noticing and remembering the small, personal touches as much as the technical fixes.
“I’ve got nothing but praise for the guys at Aptean Agility. There’s one chap, Jack — it was three minutes before the end of his shift, but I had a problem that needed sorting, and he spent twenty minutes with me. He didn’t rush me at all. It was fantastic.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
Results With the asset register, PPM schedule, and mobile devices all in place, Precision Polymer has seen a marked improvement in reliability. Asset availability at Blackburn now consistently sits between 95% and 97% — a meaningful shift for a site that had previously struggled to see, let alone act on, this kind of data.
“Our asset availability now hovers around 95 to 97%, which is brilliant. That’s since we really started utilising the system properly, since the relaunch in March.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
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Real-time mobile visibility has also changed how the team responds to jobs. Where production teams previously had no way of knowing where a job stood, engineers can now see requests come through on their phones from the moment they’re raised, and respond immediately.
“The production team didn’t have visibility of where things were within the system, so the reporting feature wasn’t working. Once they had visibility of where things were, things weren’t being duplicated. We’re able to see a job come through on the phone straight away, and if the guys are in the area, they can just walk over — things are happening at a much faster rate.”
“Now I’m able to run a report, see what’s been consumed, and I’m getting a trigger level on my dashboard for parts below minimum quantity. Before I do anything else in the morning, I can see what I need to order — it’s there, ready to go.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
Shift handover reports have added a further layer of continuity, giving incoming teams visibility of any issues or quick fixes from the previous shift. Rather than starting the day cold, engineers know exactly what to pick up and prioritise from the moment they arrive, making sure time on shift is spent working rather than getting up to speed. The push toward better visibility has transformed stores management. Where engineers once had no way to check stock themselves, accurate data now means consumption and reorder levels are visible at a glance, replacing what had been a manual, email-based ordering process with proactive, planned purchasing.
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Embracing Agility AI Precision Polymer is one of the first Agility customers to trial Agility AI, after a demonstration of what the tool could do sparked Mark‘s interest.
“It’s such a benefit with the AI. We’re currently trialling it — I watched the presentation, and I thought, wow, that looks good.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
Since then, Mark has used Agility AI to build RAG-style reports on asset downtime and vulnerability, and to generate the recurring KPI reports he produces every Monday — turning a task that once required pulling data from multiple places into a job that takes seconds.
“My boss asked me for four metrics, and I had it ready straight away. Then he said, ‘Now I need the same again for nine more assets, in a format I can turn into a visual.’ Within a minute, it was all ready to go. I run a few reports every Monday — and within thirty seconds I’ve got all my stats ready to put on the board.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
Beyond reporting, Mark has also found Agility AI useful simply for finding his way around the system — an everyday time-saver rather than a headline feature, but one that adds up:
“It’s like having a little co-worker who says, ‘here you go, it’s over here.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
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Having seen what Agility AI can do during the trial, Mark expects the team’s use of it to continue growing as confidence builds — though he’s clear that it complements, rather than replaces, the relationships built with the Aptean team through training and hands-on support.
“I think that will get used more and more over time. There’s always going to be that human interaction — we need it.” Mark Lynch, CMMS and Stores Controller, Precision Polymer
The Future Beyond Blackburn, Mark is conscious that there could be opportunities within the wider PPE business and if an opportunity arose in future to roll Agility out more widely, Mark would relish the chance to be involved — though his focus for now remains on fully embedding Agility at Blackburn.
Asked why he would recommend Agility to a peer, Mark points to both cost and reputation — framing it not just as a maintenance tool, but as something that protects the wider business. “The money you’ll save using Agility — on spares, downtime; engineers being tied up on one task rather than moving to the next — is immeasurable. You’ll make that back multiple times over. But it’s also about your organisation’s reputation. If you’re struggling with downtime and can’t satisfy your customers, they’ll go elsewhere.”
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