Facilities maintenance typically has a big budget, which means finding savings can mean dedicating meaningful resources to other important projects. Whether you need to allocate precious resources elsewhere, or are under pressure to reduce costs, where can you find those savings?
Here are five ways to reduce your facility maintenance expenses and save vital budgetary resources.
1. Look at lifecycle costs.
When making tough decisions, especially if you should repair or replace a given piece of equipment, it’s important to consider the lifecycle costs of both options. For example, by calculating what repairs and eventual replacement of the equipment will cost you this year and ten years down the road in comparison to what replacing the equipment now will cost you across the same timeframe, you’ll be able to better determine the best business decision for your organization.
2. Focus on product and worker productivity.
By not focusing on one or the other, but both product and worker productivity in conjunction, you can find ways to reduce your expenses. While many organizations may purchase the cheapest products in order to reduce costs immediately, these cheaper and poorer quality products may increase labor costs and decrease worker productivity, having a negative effect on overall facility maintenance processes.
Instead of focusing on cutting product costs, instead prioritize reducing the cost of labor. By implementing the right products and processes, your organization will be able to increase productivity and efficiency.
3. Implement training programs.
Whenever you decide to launch a new process, implement a new procedure or use new equipment, you need to educate your staff. A properly trained workforce can mean the difference between efficiency & reduced costs and poor execution & going over budget.
Use the tools at your disposal, be it training videos, manuals, one-on-one training, wall charts or supervisor training sessions, to create a comprehensive and ongoing training program. Not only will your staff experience an improved quality of work and results, you’ll increase overall productivity potential.
4. Identify your biggest time wasters.
Do you know what daily activities waste the most time at your facility? If you’re able to identify the most time-consuming activities and find ways to better allocate that time, you’ll be able to reduce labor expenses and increase efficiency dramatically.
5. Get your team on board.
The more people on board with your cost saving initiatives, the more effective they’ll be. Rally employees around sustainability projects, get them excited about new technological improvements, and demonstrate how new equipment will mean more efficient processes.
The more buy-in you have, the more effective your programs will be and the more your facility’s bottom line will be positively impacted!
Conclusion
Reducing your facility maintenance expenses will undoubtedly mean investing time and effort into strategically planning your cost-saving initiatives. However, by taking the time to chart out ways to increase your facility’s bottom line, the more effective your programs will be and the more money your organization will save!
What are some other ways your organization reduces facility maintenance expenses without negatively affecting quality and productivity?
