Investing in a piece of heavy equipment or other machinery is very expensive. The base price of a tractor in India is roughly 7,00,000. A price tag like that demands that the equipment is treated well to ensure longevity. You might as well treat that as the only piece of equipment you will ever buy.
If you wish to get the best out of your machinery, you need to follow certain guidelines. This also helps in keeping your machine efficient until its lifespan.
Follow a disciplined preventative maintenance program
Maintenance doesn’t mean oiling the machine or changing the filters. The program should cover aspects like component rebuilds, electronic data collection, and a point-to-point inspection program. This ensures the machine is handled with utmost care at all times.
With the help of a preventive maintenance program, you can be sure that your machine is efficient & runs with minimal breakdowns. This also ensures that your machinery holds a good resale value.
A preventative maintenance program not only helps you extend the lifespan of a machine but also helps you save costs that otherwise would result from the many unexpected breakdowns throughout the lifetime operation of your machinery.
Hire A Well-Trained Machine Operator
Investing in hiring a knowledgeable & trained machine operator will benefit you in the long run. A trained operator will not just take care of your machine but also detect failures, if any, at a very early stage. They are also trained to handle the machine in a very delicate way that prevents wear & tear too. Their knowledge can be utilized to save costs by reducing the need for maintenance labor to perform routine tasks.
A trained operator can help in a range of tasks that vary from photo-eye adjustments during task changeovers to the daily cleaning and documentation of the machinery. These steps ensure the machine runs for a longer duration in a smooth manner.
Stick To Manufacturers Specifications for Maintenance
No one knows your machine better than your machine manufacturer. They are aware of every tiny detail about your machine, right from the stage of building it to operating & testing it before selling it to you. Thus, it becomes important to follow all the specifications & steps that he has provided as part of the manual. Also, follow the timeline for servicing as provided by the manufacturer to ensure your machine stays healthy for a lifetime.
If you follow whatever the manufacturer has specified as part of the manual, your machine will run smoothly for years to come.
If you allow the machinery to make you fall behind in preventative maintenance. It could be as simple as using a fluid in the machinery that was not part of the specification, to cause long-time damage to the machine. Always follow the specification or check with the manufacturer if you wish to do alterations to the maintenance programs.
Maintain A Detailed Service Record
It becomes of utmost importance to note down every action taken as part of a preventative maintenance program. You need to capture every detail in the service record to get a clear picture of the machine’s health. The service record should capture minute details like the condition of lights and belts, to the undercarriage and fuel tank.
Some of the key elements that need to be touched upon & noted down are cutting edge, tires or tracks, air filters, axles, hoses, and grease lines of a machine. Most service technicians tend to note down those parts that need maintenance & ignore the rest.
It is best to get an entire report on the entire piece of machinery from end to end, even if the maintenance is limited to a couple of parameters.
It becomes much easier to track down a problem when you have a detailed service history captured at every stage.
Cleaning The Equipment Is Important
Every time an operator returns the machine, he should clean it & keep it ready for the next use. If you fail at cleaning your machine, you are giving way to equipment that is losing hours and miles from its lifespan. You need to ensure it is on the operator’s daily checklist to clean the machine & keep it ready for the next day’s use.
The operator of the machine is accountable for its condition & he needs to treat it with respect and not dump it in a corner with damaged and missing parts.
This ensures there are no alterations done to the equipment that could void warranties and shave down the lifespan of the equipment.
An operator does not have the authority to alter the equipment as he is trained just to use the equipment as per the specs provided by the manufacturer. This means he is not authorized to tweak the engine or do any alteration that will cause a machine breakdown.
If the operator fails to abide by the specifications provide, he should be not allowed to operate that machine.
Take care of your equipment and you’ll receive the full ROI and lifespan that you expected when you bought it. If you wish to sell your used equipment, contact our experts at ToolScribe & we will help you with the listing & selling process end-to-end.