Unplanned Downtime: Don’t Just Minimize it—Avoid it!

Unplanned downtime is the single phrase guaranteed to trigger panic, fear, chaos and ultimately survival instincts. Whether in the business arena with down material handling equipment, manufacturing processing equipment, transportation, etc.; or in your personal life, suffering through power outages or a car that won’t start; everyone, everywhere, has experienced it. You try to control it, but never avoid it. That no longer has to be true with your material handling equipment.

Spending many years in operations management, downtime was an inevitable component of doing business. Every available traditional effort was made, including optimized scheduled maintenance, improved personnel training and timely replacement of aging units, to prevent it. We incorporated new continuous improvement methods from Kaizen to Poka Yoke and could not eliminate it.

Here’s a common scenario that I, and many of you have experienced. Your lift truck goes down in the middle of your busiest schedule and the “domino effect” begins. The operator has no equipment to use and stands idle. A service call is placed and you pray the technician is close by and the lift truck can be repaired. Your other operators struggle to make up the lost productivity. Manufacturing areas run out of materials and their personnel stand idle. Transportation trucks are not loaded and deliveries are late or missed. Now you have to schedule overtime with its significant increase in costs, and face disappointed customers and unhappy executives. Although we might eventually meet our commitments, internal losses are permanent to the bottom line. Inevitably, downtime can’t be prevented or avoided.

Or can it? What if you could further minimize, and in some cases, completely avoid the “D” word for your material handling requirements? Partnering with a supplier who has lived in your shoes, thoroughly understands the impact to your business, and has a creative process plan to accomplish the unthinkable – eliminate downtime, would be a great start.

Do you have an effective plan in place to avoid downtime? Abel Womack has the right products as well as 24/7 service and support to ensure that you do.