CMMS Insight Blog

Equipment Maintenance Best Practices

Jun 14, 2019 12:31:45 PM / by CMMS Insight Staff

Your machines are the backbone of your entire business. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to take on projects and generate income.

So it only makes sense you would want to take care of them, right?

If that’s the case, why are you neglecting equipment maintenance until your machines break down? That’s like not brushing your teeth until you get a cavity–the logic is completely backward.

Here’s why your company should be doing regular equipment maintenance instead of spot treatment.

Keep Equipment Running Efficiently

One of the biggest benefits of regular equipment maintenance is that it keeps your machines running smoothly and efficiently.

Think of it this way.

Your machines do a lot of work in the course of a day. Over the course of a year, that adds up to a lot of wear and tear. So what started as a small problem in January might be a big problem if it’s allowed to fester until April.

Regular machine preventative maintenance can help you keep tabs on your machines and spot minor issues before they take a turn for the worse.

Plus, regular maintenance helps your machines run at their prime, which means they’re working way more efficiently and getting the job done better than they would otherwise.

Reduce Downtime

This is also why regular maintenance helps reduce downtime.

When your machines aren’t working, they aren’t earning money. More importantly, they’re holding up your processes, which means that no one can get back to work until the problem is fixed.

Research shows that the average manufacturer has about 800 hours of downtime per year, and the cost of that downtime is downright absurd. For automotive manufacturers, for example, that downtime costs about $22,000 per minute.

Chances are, you can’t afford those kinds of losses. The problem is that you can’t predict when you’ll have downtime or how long it will last. However, you can take steps to minimize the amount of downtime by conducting regularly scheduled maintenance. This helps keep your machines operating in top condition and reduces the risk of unplanned downtime since your technicians will be able to spot potential problems during maintenance.

Avoid Expensive Repairs

Downtime aside, regular equipment maintenance can also help you dodge larger, more expensive repairs.

The reality is that bigger, complex repairs cost you way more than minor fixes–especially if those large and complex repairs create unexpected downtime.

Put it this way.

When your machines unexpectedly break down, you have to scramble to figure out what the problem is. If it’s a big problem that can’t be fixed fast, you can’t use that machine for its current project or take on new projects, since the cash flow from the original project is interrupted.

Add in the cost of repairing the machine and you’re looking at one hefty price tag.

Which one sounds better: scrambling to make an expensive fix, or avoiding that expensive fix altogether? Which one sounds cheaper?

It’s a known fact. If you want to reduce overall maintenance costs, do regular maintenance to avoid bigger problems.

Need More Tips on Equipment Maintenance?

Equipment maintenance is an undertaking, especially if you have a large fleet, but it’s not impossible by any stretch.

You just have to be strategic about using your resources. If you need more help to get your machine maintenance up to par, check out our blog for more CMMS tips.

Topics: Facility Management, Asset Management

Written by CMMS Insight Staff