There are a variety of businesses that rely on the smooth operation of machinery to keep their company going. Printing businesses, agriculture, even financial services need to ensure that their business tech is working as it should be. Without well-functioning machinery, your business efficiency soon takes a nosedive; and a loss of customers swiftly follows.
Of course, it’s not always that simple. While you might know that you need to keep your business machinery in good condition, maintenance is an expensive and often time-consuming task. If your budget is tight and everything seems to be working as it should be, it can be tempting to skip a planned maintenance because you don’t see the point in interrupting a tight production schedule. Even though you know you shouldn’t; often the demands of keeping your business moving can make it too tempting to skip. So, when examining the dos and don’ts of business machinery maintenance, that brings us neatly to our first point…
DON’T Skip Scheduled Maintenance
If you schedule maintenance, then you need to guarantee that you do that maintenance. Yes, it’s inconvenient, especially if taking machines and systems offline stops you from being able to run your business for a few hours – but think about the consequences. Problems that might otherwise have been solved by general maintenance will not be fixed, which could lead to an overall system breakdown.
If this happens – purely because you couldn’t wait a few hours while maintenance took place – then you’re going to have your business crippled for a lot longer than the initial maintenance would have taken. It’s also going to be a lot more expensive. So when you schedule maintenance, you have to see that as being set in stone.
DO Be Thorough
If you’re not particularly au fait with technology, it can be tempting to just brush aside the rigors of maintenance that you should be undertaking. You can check a few basics; the push button switches, the internet connectivity, the cogs under the hood of large machinery – things that are easy enough to see are operating with a quick glance. Then you decide that’s enough, maintenance complete, and you’re done.
Thorough, proper maintenance that is truly worthy of the name is a lot more in depth than this. Sure, the switches, cogs, and connections need to be checked too – but thorough maintenance should involve dummy runs of operations and a thorough component study. A quick glance and polish isn’t going to keep the wheel turning, be that figuratively or literally.
DON’T DIY If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing
While you may have opened a business in your area of professional expertise, there’s no guarantee that you know the ins and outs of every component of the machinery you use. There’s nothing wrong with admitting where you personally are not able to undertake maintenance, and bringing in someone who does.
Good business ownership is all about delegation and understanding when you need assistance. So if you’re not an expert in your machinery or tech, then bring in someone who is to maintain it – anything else could be business suicide.
Maintenance doesn’t have to be a difficult issue, provided you follow the essentials above. Do that, and you will find there’s no spanner in the works in the future for your business.
