You could have the most expensive, advanced machines on the market, but no piece of equipment will get you results if it doesn’t work.

There are two types of maintenance companies can perform on their equipment: preventative and reactive. Many companies focus most of their budgets and efforts on the latter, which means you only perform maintenance when something breaks, or a problem arises.

However, the benefits preventative maintenance bring to your operations are too great to ignore. Just as you would get regular oil changes and tires for your car, you should also perform preventative maintenance on your company’s equipment. If you don’t currently have a preventative maintenance schedule, these three reasons should motivate you to create one.

1. You Improve Workplace Safety

When your equipment isn’t functioning properly, quality and productivity aren’t the only things at risk. You’re also more susceptible to workplace injuries or incidents.

Preventative maintenance checks machines on a routine basis to ensure everything’s in working order. This means you’re better able to catch issues before they become larger problems that can seriously injure your workers.

Routine maintenance can also boost your employees’ confidence in your company. They recognize that you’re committed to creating a safe work environment for them, plus it gives them incentive to practice safety in the workplace.

2. Preventative Maintenance Boosts Operational Efficiency

When a machine breaks unexpectedly, how long does it take you to get it up and running again?

Some problems may only take a few minutes, but others aren’t so easily diagnosed. It could take several minutes or longer simply to find the malfunctioning part, and even longer to repair or replace it. In addition, once you do find the culprit, you need to ensure you have the right parts and tools on hand to repair it. You’ll also need to test your fix to make sure you’ve discovered the right issue.

While you’re fixing your equipment, your employees are patiently waiting. They’re not able to remain productive, which can set off a chain reaction regarding order fulfillment, shipping, lead times, and training and onboarding activities.

Investing a little time in preventative maintenance can go a long way in ensuring your equipment is operating at peak performance at all times. As a result, you may enjoy quicker output from your machines because they’ll be working at the highest level possible.

To further increase your efficiency, plan your maintenance tasks around the typical workflow, such as when machines already experience downtime, during slow production times of the year, or even during an overnight shift when your activities will affect the least amount of people.

3. You Prolong the Life of Your Equipment and Assets

Equipment replacement doesn’t come cheap, and you need to get as many miles out of each machine or device as possible.

It’s no secret that equipment that’s been well taken care of will last longer, giving you more life out of every machine, device, and component. This means you’ll be able to hold off longer on costly equipment replacement to keep your profitability as high as possible. The better you take care of your equipment, the more you expect to get from it.

In Closing

Creating a preventative maintenance plan is a time and resource investment, but it should also be considered a profit center for your company. The small amount of time and money you put into your plan more than covers the loss of profits from extended downtime, payroll costs, and loss of productivity associated with equipment failure.

Further reading: The Role of Preventative Maintenance Software