Are you investing in preventing breaks for your equipment or fixing it as you go?
Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and COO at SafeSourcing.
Over the course of the past four days we have taken a look at a common process companies go through to evaluate their Repair & Maintenance spend for equipment their businesses use. Depending on where the company is in deciding on a break-fix VS preventative maintenance focused plan determines which of three steps they are likely to run. Controlling current expenses while information about the internal and external landscapes are gathered is the first step many companies take before finally ending up with a primarily preventative maintenance model. Today we will take a look at some of the benefits our customers are seeing with this approach.
Extend the life – Companies that move toward a primarily preventative maintenance based program are seeing that they can extend the life of their equipment by 10-15%. Because vendors are inspecting the equipment and performing regular preventative maintenance tasks, the equipment operates in a manner it was designed to and maintains a life expectancy at our beyond what was intended. A side benefit to having the equipment run as it was designed, was an overall energy efficiency improvement of 8-15% by customers employing a PM program. As motors, compressors, etc. operate free of debris and dirt they will use less energy leading to reduced energy related costs.
Reduce the severity – Although helpful, PM programs do not eliminate issues that arise with equipment, however when a PM program was in place, SafeSourcing customers saw a 15-20% reduction in the frequency of repairs that were needed and 20-30% reduction in downtime when that equipment did break due to a reduction in break severity. Break fix costs and operation downtime are two of the biggest enemies to a business. By having PM vendors perform routine inspections, issues that were just beginning were caught early and addressed quickly and less expensively which caused less downtime of the equipment. These inspections also reduced the number of issues due to being caught early and by having the equipment properly calibrated to operate as intended.
Reduce the overall cost – The overall affect customers saw when improving on or switching to a primarily preventative maintenance focused model was exciting, averaging 15-20% from their current R&M costs for that equipment. Factors such as the amount of attention which had previously been devoted to researching which program would fit and the existing internal expertise on R&M issues had the potential to raise these numbers significantly. Customers found that they purchased replacement equipment less frequently and repairs happened less frequently and with less severity than they had before. Reduced downtime and increased energy efficiency were KPIs seldom analyzed but have very real dollar savings attached to them.
At SafeSourcing our goal is to develop a program of sourcing that is going to have the best fit for a company. We use our team, expertise, database and eSourcing tools to ensure a company has all of the information necessary to make the smartest decision for their business. For more information on this process or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.
We look forward to your comments.
