Companies depend on equipment to keep them delivering their products and services, developing new ones, billing customers, transporting their goods, and maintaining the company’s premises, tools, and vehicles. Most every business relies on specific equipment to stay productive.
That’s why breakdowns are so feared. They can stop a company in its tracks, causing significant financial hardship when deliveries can’t be made, products can’t be produced and bills can’t be sent.
Technology and Breakdowns
Modern businesses of all types depend more and more on electronics, the internet and the safe, reliable ability to communicate to get the job done. When breakdowns happen, it causes major headaches.
Clerical staff rely on computers and email to do their job. Research and development uses advanced equipment to create, design and build new prototypes. Assembly lines use robotics and computerized operation. Even trucks use GPS devices that give managers minute-by-minute updates.
The chances for problems to happen with advanced technology are great. When they don’t work, it has a profound impact on the capability of a company to keep things running.
Machinery and Vehicles
Major equipment breakdowns can bring work on a construction site to a halt. If the bulldozer or earthmover is out of service, the parts of the job that depend on them can’t do their job. Workers are left standing around, waiting for repairs or parts, which can take days. This costs the owner money.
A small delivery company is out of action if one or two of its trucks are out for repairs. This can disrupt schedules, make customers mad, and result in lost revenue and lost customers.
Parts of a business don’t operate as standalones. They are interdependent, so if one section is not operating, the others are affected. And this has a very negative impact on the bottom line of your company. The complexities of the newest technologies only exacerbate the problem.
Reducing Risk
The best way to reduce your risk of an equipment breakdown is to keep your machinery, vehicles, and other devices in good repair. Set up a preventive maintenance schedule and stick to it.
As soon as a piece of machinery shows signs of damage or wear, call a repair person. This is the only cost-effective way to ensure reliability.
It is also essential to carry adequate equipment breakdown insurance and business interruption insurance.
