Businesses across the UK have been facing rising costs across the board, from massive energy and utility bills to increases in materials reflected in hardware prices. As a result, businesses like food manufacturers will be hoping to cut costs and reduce overheads where possible.
One area where this can be achieved is in equipment spend and in particular, reducing the outgoings on costly new equipment to replace existing hardware.
Manufacturers spend lots of capital on getting the right equipment in to be the backbone of their production processes, without which they simply wouldn’t be able to produce on such scales. With quality hardware costing anywhere up to thousands of pounds, replacing existing equipment is a costly exercise that businesses will hope to avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Businesses can save money by better looking after their equipment using the following methods:
Regular Calibration and Validation
Using accurate equipment is key to producing consistently high-quality products and will reduce your costs in dealing with wasted ingredients and scrapped products. If your business uses weighing scales, then weighing scale calibration can make sure they remain as accurate and reliable as possible.
Calibration can be completed internally by your business, or by a professional calibration provider. Scale calibration and validation of your inspection equipment limits the risk of deterioration and the need for new hardware.
For more information on scale calibration, click the link to read our Guide To Scale Calibration.
Preventative Maintenance Checks
In a similar way to calibration, preventative maintenance can help keep your hardware running for longer. Organising regular checks on your equipment (even if there are no concerns) allows you to verify hardware capability and spot any issues that might become problems further down the line.
Being able to spot these potential issues early on can help your business avoid having to deal with larger problems and defunct equipment. We recommend having regular maintenance checks carried out by a fully trained service provider to make sure your business stays ahead of any hardware concerns.
Day to Day Equipment Care
Correct handling of hardware is key to making sure equipment is in a good working condition. Your business should make sure all operatives who are using equipment are doing so accordingly and with the proper due diligence. This might form part of your business training for staff.
Looking after your equipment on a day-to-day basis can help prevent deterioration and the need to buy new hardware by getting the absolute most out of what you’ve already got. For example with weighing scales, best practice includes keeping your scale clean, watching for water ingress and making sure not to overload the scale.
To find out the best steps you can take to keep your scale in a good working condition, watch our series of videos on YouTube below.
Click the link to see our Top 10 Tips to Keep Your Scale In Great Condition
