As a facility manager, you’ve probably come across the phrase, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. This notion can only work for a certain period as you need proactive repairs to keep your equipment in its optimal working conditions. Well-maintained equipment holds its value better compared to average equipment. Such equipment is less likely to break down, hence lowering repair costs, increasing more working hours, and ultimately increasing revenue.
The main goal of carrying out equipment maintenance is to keep it in its optimal working order. Scheduled equipment maintenance refers to repairs and inspections performed following a predefined maintenance schedule.
If you run a hospital, you probably already have asset tracking software in place as your business relies on tools and equipment. Tracking your equipment maintenance allows you to keep track of the health of your machinery and makes it easy for your team to report issues with the assets.
Setting up Equipment Maintenance
If you rely on tools and equipment, they may suffer from wear and tear that will ultimately lead to their failure. Your well-maintained equipment not only prepares you for the time the failure occurs but also postpones that point of failure.
If your maintenance department lacks a proactive equipment maintenance strategy, equipment failure can become a regular occurrence further leading to production delays, safety incidents, inventory issues, budget problems, and dissatisfied employees.
Preventive equipment maintenance can be as simple as replacing a machine after several run-hours or doing a weekly check. However, if you work with a lot of machines it can become difficult for you to plan for all of them. There are simple steps to creating an equipment maintenance schedule:
1. Take an inventory
An effective equipment maintenance schedule is determined by your understanding of what needs to be maintained. You need to carefully take inventory of your machinery, resources, equipment, and vehicles. Take time to walk through your stores, call centers, and construction sites to make a list of all the equipment that makes your business run effectively.
2. Make Maintenance a Priority
Once you have a list of what needs maintenance, it is up to you to decide when repairs need to be completed. Give priority to a piece of equipment with a higher return on investment and frequently used equipment. If you run a business in the construction sector, you need to prioritize equipment such as bulldozers, loaders, and excavators for preventive maintenance.
3. List Specific Maintenance Tasks
With all equipment listed down, create a detailed procedure for maintenance for every piece of equipment. Indicate how often the maintenance should take place and spare some space for noting observations, questions, and feedback for future reference.
At this stage, take time to get feedback from fellow workers on how equipment runs and their specific conditions. Take time also to gather information about the frequency of breakdowns and malfunctions. Follow it up with creating a comprehensive checklist for the entire facility and equipment.
4. Modifying
If you’re not modifying and tracking your maintenance schedule you could be missing out on the point. If your machine doesn’t experience a breakdown within a given time then you can modify your schedule to save you from spending much time on equipment that seems to be working just fine.
If equipment keeps breaking down, consider investigating why the issue keeps recurring and plan accordingly.
5. Train your Maintenance Team
An equipment maintenance plan will not be meaningful if you cannot execute it. Make your scheduled maintenance plan easy for technicians to read, understand and have the knowledge required to follow maintenance procedures outlined in the plan. Help them understand the common attributes and features between scheduled equipment maintenance and preventive maintenance.
Tracking Equipment Maintenance
Tracking asset maintenance is a work order management process that allows you to keep track of several types of equipment. It makes management easy as you can store a description, serial number, model, and photos of every piece of equipment.
Tracking assets increases productivity and keeps you updated on where your assets are and who is using them. Your organization should take note of maintenance tracking best practices for effective results. These tracking best practices include: using an asset tracking solution, using asset tags, using unique identification code for equipment, and staying up to date with maintenance.
Avoid Frustration in the Future
An effective equipment maintenance tracking system allows you to mitigate losses as a result of asset downtime. Maintenance tracking saves you time, money, and loads of frustrations. An asset tracking software helps you keep track of your equipment maintenance by allowing you to create unique digital asset profiles, where you’ll add information and data like maintenance history. This leads to a more streamlined workflow down the line.