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Set a budget
Maintenance management is just one of the ways to reduce maintenance costs. As in all areas of the business, it must include a budget schedule and investments in processes and human resources.
A well-structured budget prevents unplanned expenses and, most importantly, ensures that there is money left over at the end of the month. There are several possible approaches.
It can be continuous, allowing the budget to be analyzed as a whole and updated monthly according to needs; or static, which does not change over time and cannot be adjusted.
When creating the document, include all elements and costs of a maintenance process, as well as those related to training and upskilling the team.
A good tip is to break it down into materials, tools, and resources, or contracted services, so you can accurately estimate expenses for each stage.
In addition to being efficient, the budget can help the maintenance area demonstrate return on investment, ensuring positive results.
Map your processes
To organize any area of the company, it is extremely important to map the processes. Only then will it be possible to monitor the execution of the planned activities.
Process mapping is also important to identify the cost of each stage and which points are weighing most heavily on your business, as well as the reason why certain steps are more expensive than others.
Train your team
As mentioned above, it is important to invest in training the team to reduce maintenance costs. Employees are responsible for performing processes, handling machines and equipment, and, of course, ensuring the operation of the maintenance area and the business as a whole.
In this sense, it is important to train your team to ensure higher quality in the services provided. In addition, having specialized professionals increases the company’s reliability and reduces the chances of unplanned downtime.
Prioritize activities
There are many tasks related to maintenance, and they have a direct impact on the company’s core activities as well as on costs. Therefore, it is important to know how to prioritize actions and create a workflow aligned with long-term planning.
Identify the demands and organize them based on their importance and the impact they have on your organization. Smaller activities that do not directly affect the company’s core operations should be treated as secondary.
Prioritizing activities and assigning them according to each employee’s experience and expertise leads to increased productivity and a significant reduction in costs.
Develop an Emergency Maintenance Plan
Problems always seem to occur without prior warning, don’t they? That is why one of the ways to reduce maintenance costs is to always have an emergency plan.
This will ensure that there are no prolonged interruptions in operations, allowing deadlines to be met.
In addition to emergency maintenance, it is important to evaluate the reasons that led to a specific failure in order to prevent it from happening again.
Invest in Preventive Maintenance
One of the best ways to reduce maintenance costs is precisely by investing in prevention. It is still very common for companies to leave equipment and process upkeep to the last minute.
However, this can considerably increase costs.
Therefore, establish a maintenance schedule and follow it strictly. Do not forget to share it with your employees and managers. By performing preventive and periodic maintenance, it is possible to extend the useful life of equipment and increase the efficiency of the business.
Use Management Software
Technology has changed corporate routines. Through applications of management software, it is possible to monitor in real time the activitiesperformed across the company.
Using these tools is an excellent option, as they allow you to collect logistics data, record activities and their execution times, and perform increasingly effective maintenance monitoring from equipment and tools to workforce management.
In this way, it becomes easier to identify inefficiencies, failures, and opportunities for improvement, increasing productivity and safety.
Thus, it becomes clear that a few simple actions can help companies organize and reduce maintenance costs without drastically affecting the budget or negatively impacting business operations.
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