Commercial buildings have standards and when you are faced with an unpredictable breakdown, this can cost you time and money. There are times when reactive maintenance is acceptable, and instances where planned maintenance is better. In this article, we discuss a few examples of when planned maintenance is preferred and when reactive repairs can be selected as a solution instead.
What is Reactive Maintenance?
Generally, the term ‘reactive maintenance’ is synonymous with ‘repairs’ and it takes place when something goes wrong. If equipment malfunctions, for example, you might search for electrical switch suppliers or an electric centre in Swindon to get it working again.
At first glance, reactive maintenance might seem like an obvious way to manage your site, building or equipment. After all, why pay for maintenance when everything is working optimally? When you look a little deeper, however, you’ll find that there are significant drawbacks associated with reactive maintenance.
Without a reactive maintenance contract in place, you might pay higher costs and face lengthier wait times if you need a repair carried out immediately, for example. If this impacts your operations, you could find that your business is unable to function until the work is complete. Depending on the nature of the repair, it could take days or weeks to find the skilled technicians and/or the resources needed to fix the problem. Due to this, many businesses are wary of relying solely on reactive maintenance.
What is Planned Maintenance?
Planned maintenance is a more proactive approach which is designed to reduce the risk of failures. When maintenance is planned in advance, you’ll know when equipment or electrical power will be unavailable and be able to modify your operations accordingly. Planned maintenance can be scheduled for times when your business is closed, for example. However, this isn’t the only advantage associated with routine or planned maintenance. To find out if a proactive approach to electrical maintenance could be right for your business, take a look at some of the benefits it can offer:
Extended Asset Lifespan
When you have a planned maintenance schedule in place, it helps to keep electrics and equipment in good working order for a longer period of time. Essentially, this means that assets tend to last for longer. As a result, companies don’t need to replace equipment as often, thus reducing costs and operational disruption. With greater longevity, the original investment associated with the cost of your assets or site becomes even more cost-effective.
Minimal Disruption
Planned maintenance gives you the opportunity to create a maintenance schedule that works for your business. No matter what industry you operate in, a preventative maintenance routine can be adapted to meet your needs and minimise disruption. This enables your business to keep functioning while an electrician in Swindon can work in accordance with a pre-agreed schedule to keep your site safe and functional.
Reduced Costs
Many people assume that planned maintenance is more expensive than reactive maintenance, but this is rarely the case. The benefits associated with planned maintenance, such as increased asset lifespan and reduced downtime, offset the cost of implementing a proactive maintenance schedule and offer a better return on investment in the long term.
Furthermore, there’s no guarantee of costs when you rely solely on reactive maintenance. If you’re desperate to get essential equipment up and running following a critical breakdown, for example, you might end up paying inflated prices simply to get the work completed.
Quality Workmanship
When you don’t have a planned maintenance schedule in place, you may struggle to find quality workmanship when you need it most. Unfortunately, many businesses pay over the odds for poor-quality work when they’re struggling to find someone to undertake urgent repairs.
Conversely, arranging planned maintenance gives you the opportunity to liaise with a variety of service providers to find a team of qualified and reliable professionals who can provide the services and expertise you need.
Enhanced Workplace Safety
Maintenance should be a critical part of any company’s electrical health and safety policy. Failing to keep electrics or equipment properly maintained can have devastating consequences, particularly if someone is injured or killed as a result of the oversight.
By implementing a planned maintenance program, however, you can meet your regulatory obligations, upgrade your electrical health and safety policy and nurture a workplace culture that promotes employee well-being.
Reduced Environmental Impact
Businesses are under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprints and minimise the impact they have on the environment. Keeping electrics and equipment well-maintained is one way to achieve this, which is why pre-emptive maintenance can be a viable method of enhancing your company’s sustainability. In addition to this, an Edmont electrician Swindon can provide useful advice and information regarding how to lower your energy consumption.
When to Use Planned and Reactive Maintenance
As you can see, the benefits associated with pre-emptive or planned maintenance mean that this type of proactive upkeep is an obvious choice for most businesses. When you have routine maintenance contracts in place, you may find that this incorporates emergency callouts for reactive maintenance too, which makes it easy to access the specialist help you need at any time.
Although reactive maintenance isn’t always the best choice, there are times when it can be an appropriate way to manage assets and electrics. When equipment is non-critical and doesn’t pose a threat to workplace safety, for example, reactive maintenance could be a viable and cost-efficient method of management.
However, reactive maintenance should be used strategically and in conjunction with planned maintenance if you want to get the best of both worlds. With an electrical power bespoke strategy in place, you can leverage the benefits that both planned and reactive maintenance offer and develop an efficient and cost-effective way to protect your site, assets, equipment and brand.
Creating a Bespoke Maintenance Strategy
With planned and reactive M&E contracts available, Edmont makes it easy to create custom maintenance strategies that work for your business. Whether you need frequent optimisation, annual testing or rapid response call-outs, we’re on hand to provide the trusted, reliable service you need.
To learn more or to arrange a maintenance strategy for your business, contact our friendly team now on 01793 825765 or email us at mep@edmont.co.uk.
