Short-Term Strategies for Lowering Equipment Maintenance Costs
Costs for facility management can run very high in operations of any size. This results in owners, managers, and supervisors constantly on the lookout for new ways to reduce them. With the right planning, any organization can cut costs. Following are some strategies for lowering equipment maintenance costs in the short term, commonly within a few months.
- Balance The Supply Chain
Supply and demand are often the most overwhelming challenge in any operation. Challenges include determining a quantity of spare parts so that you are not under or over stocked, as well as managing various scenarios that can affect your lead time, inventory carry cost, and service levels. Your organization probably uses fixed ordering for repair and maintenance parts in your inventory. You must continuously analyze this to ensure you have safe stock levels, proper order quantity, and re-order strategies. This is similar to demand forecasting strategies that may be implemented in other areas of the plant such as sales data and even automated forecasting tools that can help predict what items your plant will need in the future.
- Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
If you don’t do this already, begin measuring performance from activities and results of your business process. It is important to gather data on both equipment and system performance. That knowledge allows you to make improvements by tracking where you are on progress and performance. Choose key performance indicators that reflect real time situations. For example, an operational plant should measure factors surrounding equipment reliability in order to make the best use of funds and other resources. However, the most important KPIs are those that measure the effectiveness of your organization. Ultimately, choosing KPIs involves getting an overall feel of your activity, its efficiency, as well as the wear and tear on your equipment.
- Retrain Maintenance and Production Supervisors
Investing in a compulsory asset management course at the diploma level can pay for itself in just a few months’ time. This enables your supervisors to have the proper, most up to date knowledge in order to make the best decisions necessary. They should also be trained to know the design and engineering requirements for each machine they are in charge of. Maintenance and production supervisors are key to asset management success because they decide the allocation of limited resources and skills. This strategy will help the organization perform better, more profitably, and with a higher level of efficiency.
- Give Non-Maintenance Personnel More Confidence
It is also important to educate non-maintenance personnel. This especially includes workers who operate a particular piece of equipment regularly. They should know how to identify issues with the equipment such as unusual noises, vibration, damage, and any other issues that could make the equipment operate outside of its intended parameters. It is important to train them to be the first line of defense in identifying potential problems and common failures.
AMACS designs and manufactures separation and mass transfer equipment and is a trusted supplier to the refining, petrochemical, chemical, and gas processing industries. We have the ability to advise the correct “replacement in-kind equipment” of trays, hardware, packing, and mist eliminators for towers, regardless of the original manufacturer. Our team is available 24/7 to quickly service planned or unplanned shutdowns, while quickly manufacturing items from our Texas facilities.