April 29, 2014
How Equipment Maintenance Can Save You Money
If you run a facility or work in the reliability industry, you will inevitably find yourself in the position of answering the question, "Does equipment maintenance save you money?" After all of the costs associated with maintaining machinery - parts, labor, software, and so forth - is it really cheaper than just buying new machines? Of course, it is! Don't believe me? Keep reading this blog post and you will!
Working in the maintenance industry and being a "maintenance professional," it probably goes without saying that you do not need an article to tell you the benefits of equipment maintenance, but you may find yourself in the odd situation of explaining how the work you do - or your workers perform - saves money.
Equipment Maintenance Saves You Money
There it is, in a big, pretty headline. There are many ways that routine maintenance and preventative maintenance can not only save you money but actually increase your profits as well. For starters, equipment maintenance not only ensures that your assets last the entirety of their product lifespan but in most cases, it actually extends their life.
Another, often overlooked (yet incredibly important) way that equipment maintenance can save you money is by reducing energy consumption and associated bills. As machines age (especially in an industrial setting or harsh environments), they begin to malfunction, and if they're not properly maintained, they can quickly become energy hogs, consuming much more electricity and resources than they normally require. Simple preventative maintenance helps make sure that that doesn't happen.
Perhaps the biggest cost for a company is a shutdown scenario. When machines die or quit working, so do employees. If employees aren't working, then they are not making you money - even though you still have to pay them. This is a very real, nightmare scenario that can cost your company oodles of money. The longer it takes to get back up and running, the worse the situation becomes.
Something else to consider when thinking about how equipment maintenance can save you money is worker safety. Aside from being a tragedy that can ruin lives, on-site injuries that occur because of faulty equipment (which, in turn, was caused by lack of proper maintenance) can be very costly - think in terms of millions of dollars. Lawyer fees and court-ordered damage awards can bankrupt a business in no time.
Along the same lines as worker safety, not meeting regulatory standards can also be cost-prohibitive, resulting in fees and fines - not to mention causing a possible shutdown, in worst-case scenarios (we've already discussed how costly that can become).
Finally, if you work in a facility or building where clients routinely visit, lack of equipment maintenance can become visible really quickly. A client seeing your sloppy machinery and lack of care will quickly reconsider doing business with you. After all, if you can't care for the meat and potatoes of your company, how will you treat your business dealings with your clients?
So there you have it, as promised - proof that equipment maintenance can save you money. I will even go a step further and say that the lack of some sort of maintenance management system will cost you money, and as they say, that is just plain bad for business.