Written by GlueGuard, BWA Associate Member
The Hidden Advantages of Preventative Maintenance Programs
If your business relies on any type of industrial equipment, you already know that you need a preventative maintenance program. But, just like we all know that we should eat better and exercise more, actually implanting a preventative maintenance program is often a low priority.
You’re busy. You have a lot of focus on to keep your business humming and your customers satisfied. But, preventative maintenance programs have many hidden advantages beyond the ones you read about all the time.
Starting a preventative maintenance program may be the difference between your company becoming an industry leader and always being one bad week away from shutting down for good.
Lower Maintenance Costs & Less Downtime
The most common reasons for preventative maintenance programs for industrial equipment are that these programs lower your overall maintenance costs and decrease your downtime.
It’s always cheaper to prevent a problem as part of a scheduled maintenance check than it is to fix a problem that happens without any warning. Just like it’s cheaper to change your oil and to rotate your tires on your car than it is to buy a new engine and a new set of tires, it’s cheaper to regularly service all of your industrial machines.
You already know that planned downtime is easier on your budget and customer satisfaction than emergency equipment shutdowns.
But, lower maintenance costs and decreased downtime aren’t the only reasons for implementing a preventative maintenance program.
Increased Employee Safety
Your people are your most important asset. But, are you treating your employees like you value them? Preventative maintenance isn’t just about your industrial equipment.
It’s really about your people. Malfunctioning equipment is one of the biggest causes of industrial workplace injuries. Your people already know this.
When you invest in a preventative maintenance program, you aren’t just making sure your equipment continues to be able to work year after year, you’re also making sure your employees are being kept safe and able to work year after year.
Improved Employee Morale & Productivity
Your employees are always watching. They care more about what you do than what you say. If you say that you put employee safety first, but you don’t have a preventative maintenance program, your employees will lose trust in you.
Investing in a thorough preventative maintenance program signals to your workforce that you take their safety seriously. It also shows them that you care enough about them to keep the business running.
Shutdowns and injuries do more than hurt your bottom line. They are corrosive to employee morale.
Study after study has shown that decreased morale hurts productivity.
The right preventative maintenance program can also improve employee morale and increase productivity.
Foundation of a Safety Culture
Having a safe workplace requires investment from ownership and a deep level of commitment from management and the employees.
A preventative maintenance program can be the foundation for a remarkable safety culture. Employees will be more likely to make safety a priority when they see management and ownership investing in safety.
The safer your workplace is, the lower your costs will be, and the higher your business’s productivity will be.
Issues like safety and preventative maintenance shouldn’t be seen as an additional hassle. Instead, you should treat a preventative maintenance program like the competitive advantage it is.
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