An unexpected even that stops business productivity for a specific time span, is named as downtime and you are more likely to face it often if your whole business depends on different equipment and tools. There can be a lot of reasons behind business equipment downtime such as operating error, not following the SOPs, poor maintenance and supposed downtime along with use of the equipment etc. As downtime can be more than annoying for a business setting or company, below we have uncovered the proven ways to reduce downtime of business equipment to keep business operations and processes in good flow.
Conduct a Risk Audit
Conducting a risk audit is one of the best ways to reduce downtime of business equipment as it can help you understand that which tool or equipment is going to interrupt business procedures due to the supposed or unexpected downtime. Most of companies are acquiring latest control systems but are still using the more than 20 years old equipment that are more likely to breakdown to increase the downtime. Spare parts of such business equipment or tools often become inaccessible or can be ordered from another country that can add huge amount of expenses to business costs. That is the reason, a risk audit can help the business or company to eliminate the use of old and rot equipment in order to reduce the downtime.
Properly Train Employees
Operating errors are one of the most common causes behind business equipment downtime and you can reduce downtime of business equipment by having properly trained and empowered workforce. If your employees are well trained and educated, they will be able to operate the business equipment and tools more efficiently to keep the business operations running smoothly. They will also be able to identify the potential errors in the tools to get all the necessary repairs done during the reactive maintenance. Every business must organize essential employee training sessions in order to make employees use business tools more effectively to reduce the downtime of business equipment.
Understand Issues and Why They Happened
Knowing the history of all business equipment is the best way to stay on the top of your business assets. Through this way, you can understand the issues and reasons why they happened. In this modern age of technology, there are several ways to track the history of business tools and use of the computerized maintenance management system is one of them. It enables you to keep track of assets’ history and other details regarding recent breakdowns and schedule maintenance etc. In this way, you can easily look back at the maintenance and breakdown data to find out what happened to the equipment and what should be done in order to prevent such issues in future.
Track the Lifespan of Equipment
When using a business tool or equipment by going beyond its useful life, chances of its failure or breakdown are always higher. That’s why, experts always suggest you to keep track of the life of each and every equipment in order to reduce downtime of business equipment and tools. A CMMS can be used to track lifespan of all tools and equipment conveniently that your business is using.
Stick with Regular Maintenance Schedule
As most of businesses and companies run their business operations 24/7, chances of neglecting the regular maintenance schedule are always there and a regularly working tool or equipment can breakdown at any time. So, always create regular maintenance schedules for all your business equipment & tools and stick with them to keep them maintained for a long run. Whether it is preventive maintenance or reactive maintenance, always be on time to make necessary repairs in order to reduce business equipment downtime.
Proper Documentation
If your business or company will have all necessary documentations regarding equipment maintenance and breakdown at place, it would be the great way to reduce downtime of business equipment by having all the required details on hand. Documentation may include history of the equipment, recently performed maintenance, breakdowns, life of the equipment and other details etc that a CMMS can easily keep track of even in a better way. It also provides all the required details within moments as you can also operate some computerized maintenance management systems on mobile.
