Last Updated on February 20, 2022 by binkhalid
Are you making some of the most common mistakes in equipment maintenance? Wondering how to care for your business equipment properly?
Keeping your company’s equipment in good condition is essential for minimizing expenses and avoiding major downtime. However, much of equipment maintenance relies on knowing what you shouldn’t do.
In this guide, we’ll list 7 mistakes in equipment maintenance that your business needs to avoid.
Table of Contents
1. Making Replacements With the Wrong Parts
Using the wrong replacement parts on business equipment is also a major mistake. Any parts that have worn down and need replacing should be replaced with the correct replacement part.
Not installing the right parts can lead to even worse issues later on down the line, even if it provides a temporary fix. It can also end up costing a lot of money as well since more costly repairs may be required once the parts of equipment you’ve installed fail.
Be sure that you have a plan for sourcing replacement parts and plan in advance as much as possible. Already having replacement parts on hand when something goes wrong can be very helpful and can allow you to minimize downtime and get equipment back to use before too long.
2. Not Taking Accurate Records
Not making great records is another key mistake that businesses make when it comes to handling heavy equipment maintenance. Proper record keeping for maintenance is absolutely essential for a business. Always keep clear records about your equipment.
You should keep a spreadsheet or a log that tracks your usage of the equipment and should make notes about any errors that occurred. You should also keep track of all maintenance activities as well. Ensure that you have data about when each task was performed and what its purpose was.
Having this type of data at your disposal will help you to maintain the equipment more successfully. It will help you identify new problems more quickly.
3. Not Maintaining Equipment With Skilled Professionals
Another mistake to avoid when maintaining business equipment is attempting to do the work yourself when you don’t have the experience or expertise to do so. You should always get repairs and maintenance from those who are skilled and who have the necessary expertise.
Finding great service providers who can help you maintain your equipment is essential to keeping your business gear in great shape. They’ll be able to help you ensure that you don’t waste time and effort trying to take on the work yourself.
4. Failing to Create a Preventative Maintenance Plan
Businesses that don’t have a plan for preventative maintenance are also making a big mistake.
It’s important to maintain equipment before there are signs of trouble or before a piece of equipment breaks down completely. Sometimes problems can occur instantly and with no sign or warning, so it’s important to check your machines regularly and to provide them with the proper care and attention.
Don’t forget that cleaning plays a big part in equipment functionality. Make sure that you have a plan to thoroughly clean equipment regularly in addition to checking overall functionality. If you have equipment with a diesel engine, for example, you’ll want to make sure that you know how to go about cleaning a dpf.
It’s important to create a set schedule for preventative maintenance tasks and to account for this type of maintenance in an overall budget as well. This can help you to keep equipment working strong and can minimize the impact of unexpected breakdowns and issues.
5. Over-Maintaining Equipment
While not performing enough maintenance on business equipment can be a problem, over-maintenance should be avoided as well.
When machines are constantly tweaked and fragile parts are handled and loosened, it can lead to problems. There could be a higher likelihood of a breakdown occurring. Equipment can break down and experience problems if it’s touched and altered too much.
On top of this, over-maintenance can also be a drain on resources. It can waste the time of technicians and lead to overspending and other issues when managing your resources and handling the care and maintenance of equipment.
6. Failing to Collect Employee Feedback
One of the best things that you can do to keep your equipment well-maintained is to make sure that you’re seeking employee feedback when possible.
Whenever technicians handle maintenance and service equipment, collect feedback and get more information from them on their observations and thoughts. Ensure that employees bring up any issues that they have noticed.
If your equipment has problems, be sure to take note of them and take action. Ensure that you have a regular equipment maintenance plan and handle any maintenance tasks that need to be handled before the problems get any worse.
7. Failing to Follow a Pre-Operation Checklist
One of the main equipment maintenance mistakes you’ll want to avoid in your business is not using a pre-operation checklist. Employees should check a piece of equipment in multiple ways before using it to ensure that it’s working as it should be and that it will be safe to operate.
It’s important to have employees go through a pre-inspection checklist which includes doing things such as inspecting the tires, checking fluid levels, checking controls, and more. Only after checking that the machine is in great working order should an employee begin to operate the equipment.
Avoiding These Mistakes in Equipment Maintenance
If you want to keep your business running efficiently while minimizing downtime and setbacks, then you should be sure to avoid the most common mistakes in equipment maintenance. Be sure that you follow all of the advice above if you want to have the best chance of keeping your equipment in great working order.
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