By Justin Williams

Budgets are a big concern this year as headline inflation has slowed, but cost pressures are still present throughout the supply chain. Maximizing the stretch of your dollars and minimizing unexpected costs will be critical to maintaining your bottom line. The first quarter of the year is the perfect time to create a proactive maintenance schedule to save money and time on the future upkeep of your facility.

If you aren’t already motivated, here’s something to consider: The cost of deferred maintenance or repair can be up to 30 times the cost of early intervention—and that doesn’t include the potential for unplanned replacements. In perspective, facilities can’t afford not to monitor and maintain equipment properly before problems arise. These costs have to be accounted for in your budget.

Here are six causes of financial losses, each of which is less likely to occur with proactive maintenance:

Emergency Repair Costs

If your facility is operating from a purely reactive setting, your costs are going to add up quickly and without warning. The last thing you want is to be faced with an emergency repair when budgets are already strapped. Proactive maintenance means understanding your costs potential from the jump, and being able to allocate budget before it’s too late.

Downtime Productivity Dips

When your facility experiences unplanned downtime, that means paying employees when they are unable to even do their work. For every day a piece of equipment is out of commission, you’ve lost that day’s operating costs with no return. Taking the time to keep your equipment in good working order means more predictable schedules and fewer excess costs.

OSHA Fines & Penalties

Dangerous and degraded equipment is more than a red flag—it’s a potential for thousands of dollars in fines. Part of keeping up with OSHA requirements means maintaining equipment that is safe to use. A failed inspection will mean downtime and penalties, along with some worry from the people you pay to use that equipment.

Poor People Management

It’s hard to keep skilled employees feeling satisfied in their job conditions when they are forced to use poorly maintained equipment. Take feedback into consideration as your employees are the people interacting with your equipment on a daily basis and will be the first to know when something isn’t going to plan. Going beyond the bare minimum to make sure employees feel confident in the equipment they’re using means lower costs of retention or hiring in the long run.

Supply Chain Slowdowns

Equipment failure at one facility might not seem like a big deal until you consider the ripple effects. An out-of-service forklift means trucks aren’t being loaded, which means others can’t be unloaded, which means a backup of trucks at your facility, which means hours and dollars lost as your entire system comes to a halt to pick up slack.

The Budget Breakdown

We’ve all experienced the headache of extended lead times on material and parts, and a facility functioning reactively can lose months of work waiting for a replacement. Proactive maintenance means monitoring your equipment for parts that are still working but are being worn down, so you can order replacements with plenty of warning.

When your equipment is in working shape, you can rest easy knowing the likelihood of unexpected repairs—and those unexpected costs—will be much lower. Using proactive maintenance means employees understand the status of all their equipment and can make strategic fixes to keep unplanned downtime as infrequent as possible. Because equipment worries are off the table, employees can feel safe and confident in doing their jobs. This simple investment on the front end helps to avoid the costly and disruptive effects of equipment failures, making it a valuable solution for costs savings and for staying within budget throughout the year.

Williams is Senior Director of National Operations at Miner, the docks and doors special division of OnPoint Group.

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