How To Decrease Heavy Equipment Maintenance Costs

Heavy equipment is used in several industries and is commonly business-critical, meaning that when unexpected breakdowns occur, expenses can mount quickly. The costs associated with maintenance can be direct, such as emergency repairs and parts. However, costs can also be indirect, such as downtime, reduced productivity, and customer satisfaction. 

Understanding how to decrease heavy equipment maintenance costs and implementing an effective maintenance strategy to keep them low will be essential to successful maintenance management and your company. It will also provide additional benefits, such as increased equipment reliability and lifespan. 

This article will discuss the top strategies to decrease heavy equipment maintenance costs and explain why using advanced Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) software like LLumin’s CMMS+ can improve your efforts. 

Understanding Maintenance Costs 

Before we discuss how to decrease heavy equipment maintenance costs, it’s important to understand the costs associated with managing them. Maintenance costs can be categorized into three main types. We have listed these categories below for your review. 

Heavy Equipment Maintenance Costs
Direct Costs	These include the expenses directly associated with repairs, parts replacement, and labor.
Indirect Costs	These costs are related to the impact of equipment downtime, such as lost productivity and revenue.
Hidden Costs	Often overlooked are the costs associated with energy inefficiency and the shortened lifespan of equipment due to inadequate maintenance.

Tips to Decrease Heavy Equipment Maintenance Costs

If you’re currently experiencing high maintenance costs, you’ll need a proactive maintenance strategy, the right tools, and oversight and tracking of your progress. Whether your company is in construction, mining, or manufacturing, the following tips can help you improve your current strategy or develop a new one.

Implement a Preventive Maintenance Program 

Reactive maintenance or a run-to-failure approach is known for dramatically increasing maintenance costs. Preventive maintenance is critical to keeping costs in check and addressing maintenance issues before they degrade into unexpected downtime and repairs. 

Preventive maintenance will require regularly scheduled inspections and maintenance to prevent equipment failure. This proactive approach will reduce downtime and extend the working life of heavy equipment and other business-critical assets.  

Use Advanced Maintenance Software

Maintenance teams require tools to stay on task and organized and track their progress over days, months, and even years. LLumin’s CMMS+ is a technologically advanced solution that completely streamlines maintenance operations. It automates work order creation, scheduling, and reminders while keeping detailed historical records of all maintenance activities. It also includes advanced features such as condition-based monitoring and real-time advanced data analytics. Using this software, your team can ensure timely maintenance and reduce heavy equipment maintenance costs.

Operator and Technician Training

Operators and technicians with the necessary knowledge and training are significantly less likely to mishandle equipment. They’re less likely to damage or misuse your heavy equipment and assets. Training can help reduce heavy equipment breakdowns and extend the life of your equipment. Regular training to keep your team updated on workplace technology and best practices is a wise investment to help you save money in the long run. 

Predictive Maintenance

More advanced maintenance strategies will be necessary to reduce costs and stay competitive. Predictive maintenance is a maintenance strategy that uses real-time data and advanced analytics to predict when your heavy equipment is likely to fail. This approach will enable you to perform maintenance quickly and avoid unnecessary inspections. It will also make a major impact on reducing unexpected downtime. 

Detailed Maintenance Records 

Detailed and accurate maintenance records will help company stakeholders, managers, and technicians better understand and identify recurring equipment issues and make data-driven plans for future maintenance and repairs. These records are necessary for safety and compliance purposes and can help you analyze significant trends in your maintenance operations. LLumin’s CMMS+ can help make this process easier and more efficient. 

High-Quality Parts and Materials 

Substandard parts can be an underlying cause of frequent equipment breakdowns and directly contribute to higher maintenance costs over time. To avoid this pitfall, invest in high-quality OEM parts to ensure better equipment performance and reliability. 

Inventory Management 

Poor inventory management practices lead to excessive stock, increased inventory overhead, and stockouts. A more effective and efficient inventory management strategy can help ensure you always have the right parts at the right time, lower the costs associated with excess inventory levels, and help your maintenance team reduce downtime caused by a lack of the right parts. LLumin’s CMMS+ advanced inventory tracking and management capabilities can help you track and manage relationships with distributors, maintain inventory levels, and keep inventory costs down.  

Energy Efficiency and Equipment Usage 

One easily overlooked way to keep maintenance costs low is investing in energy-efficient equipment. This can help reduce operational costs and can result in the need for less frequent maintenance. Implement best practices to optimize equipment usage, such as avoiding overloading and maintaining proper operating conditions to decrease heavy equipment maintenance costs. 

Decrease Heavy Equipment Maintenance Costs With LLumin

Heavy equipment maintenance costs can be reduced through a proactive approach that combines predictive maintenance, advanced software solutions, and regular training. With a better understanding of maintenance costs and best practices for managing these costs more effectively, your organization will be better equipped to achieve results. LLumin’s CMMS+ solution can help your team by providing advanced tools to streamline your efforts and achieve the cost savings you’re looking for.