The winter months of harsh weathers’ wear and tear can be particularly hard on your manufacturing plant. Unexpected downtime is costly not only to your plant operations but for your customers as well. With the winter season-ending, your maintenance thoughts should be turning toward a winter repair regimen for your plant.

After payroll, the costs of running and maintaining manufacturing plant facilities are often the largest expense. Maintenance and repair are not things you want to leave up to untrained or unqualified staff that may not have the know-how to adequately do the job.

Proper plant maintenance maximizes production capacities and profit potential. It also extends the overall service life of the plant, which also maximizes profit by keeping a plant in service and making money. The longer a plant’s equipment can remain in service, the better.

Here’s a brief checklist of the items you may need to consider for your maintenance repair regimen:

  • HVAC: Keep your plant comfortable and keep your indoor air quality high (obviously of vital importance to sterile or clean-room facilities).
  • Grounds and Landscaping: First impressions come from your plant’s landscaping, parking lot, and grounds. Spring is the perfect time for clean-up, fertilizing, flower, plant and shrub maintenance and trimming.
  • Plumbing: Do a thorough inspection-and-repair tour of water heaters, sanitary sewer lines, bathroom plumbing, potable or non-potable water systems, clean out plugs, grease interceptors, filters, gas plumbing, and any other specialty plumbing features your plant may have.
  • Electrical: Is your plant’s electric service up to the demands of your equipment and systems? Check breakers, junction boxes, weather heads, outlets, backup generators, and all systems with an industrial technician.
  • Material Handling Equipment: What kind of shape are your forklifts and pallet jacks in? Are the tires good? Hydraulic systems? Is it time for preventive maintenance like oil changes, air filter changes, and general check-ups? If you use electric material handling equipment, are the charging stations in good shape?
  • IT: The demands of computer technology just seem to keep growing at many businesses. Spring is an optimal time to get up to speed on viruses, malware and firewall protection, server maintenance or upgrades, software installation and licensing, an audit of IT costs end-to-end, and replacement of any computers or systems that are at the end of their life cycle.
  • Security: Are your business’s doors, windows, and alarm systems all in good shape? What about surveillance cameras, document destruction, and security staffing?
  • Emergency Plans: This could include fire extinguishers, storm or tornado readiness, sprinkler systems, and a whole host of other plans for various consistencies. It might be a good idea to meet with a consultant or other experts to draw up a comprehensive emergency plan and put it in the company handbook, so all your employees are informed and aware.
  • Vehicles: If your operation runs service or delivery trucks, spring is the perfect time for preventive maintenance such as oil changes, tire rotations, wheel alignments, transmission and cooling system service, and life cycle analysis.

To stay competitive in today’s marketplace, a factory, production, or distribution facility has to stay running at peak efficiency, and that means keeping downtime to an absolute minimum. Downtime can be embarrassing at best and can mean a lost contract or lost customer at worst. With the right preparation and a comprehensive maintenance regimen in place, the chances of losing time and money due to failures can be kept to a minimum. Spend a little now or spend a lot later!

Eagle Technology, Inc. is a leading provider of CMMS and EAM solutions for manufacturing facilities worldwide. Eagle’s powerful Proteus software can help you lower costs, reduce capital expenditures, and improve asset performance and longevity.

Call Eagle at 262-241-3845, or send us an email or schedule a demo to see how the tool could help you.