Maintaining your priced assets amidst COVID-19

June 20, 2020

COVID-19 hit us at an unexpected time and how long this impact is going to last is still unknown to many. The US economy is undergoing a recession and this is going to impact Apparel Manufacturers all over the world including Sri Lanka. Apart from a few, the Sri Lankan manufacturers cannot expect an immediate recovery of orders from their customers in the US and UK. However bad it is, everyone has to face the situation at hand and adjust budgets, reduce spending and cut costs wherever possible.

Manufacturers are looking for all areas and corners to cut costs. Whatever capacity the machines may be running at, decisions might be taken to bypass some scheduled maintenance activities to compromise on costs.  

Why equipment maintenance costs should not be compromised when looking at possible savings?

The main reason for investing in expensive machinery was to increase the quality and reliability of the end product. Also, such investment was aligned with achieving KPIs such as near-zero unplanned downtime, increase in productivity, efficiency and quality. To maintain the same standard of quality in the end product while achieving the KPIs the machinery has to undergo regular maintenance activities.

Regular maintenance activities include undergoing the recommended services of machinery promptly, replacement of wearable and consumable parts after the set number of hours or based on usage, etc. Before COVID-19 most of the machinery was running at its maximum capacity. Hence the regular services may have been missed or delayed. Therefore this is the ideal time for you to refocus and get your machinery services done so that they are ready when the orders flow in.

Same as doing regular service activities there are also wearable parts in machinery that needs to be replaced from time to time. With the current crisis, manufacturers tend to look for low-cost items when it comes to wearable parts. However, using low-quality wearable parts may result in much costlier outcomes. It’s a matter of cost-effective parts vs the cheapest option. The short term gains vs the repercussion on the long term (or the near future).

Original parts manufactured by the machinery manufacturers are tested for quality and durability. Also, these parts are made to maintain the quality and guarantee given by the machinery manufacturers along with the ability to operate at optimum capacity. Using counterfeit products may result in

  • Under performance
  • Wear and tear and failures of valuable parts
  • Output quality issues

Though it might show you a short term gain, in the end, you might have lost more money in production and quality issues which may result in tarnishing your brand name as well.

The best way to make sure that you are receiving the optimum results from the investment you have made is to make sure you do regular maintenance activities. Stick to the original suppliers of the machinery when it comes to spare parts and wearable parts. Pandemic or no pandemic, your priced possessions need to be taken care of to generate revenue.