The benefits of equipment management help your company achieve four important business objectives:
- Control Costs
- Improve Operations
- Manage People
- Reduce Risk
The National Insurance Crime Bureau reports that the construction industry loses more than $1 billion annually from equipment and tool theft, a figure that grows by approximately 20% each year. And the National Equipment Register notes that only about 10% of those stolen assets are ever recovered.
Theft is just one of the risks that equipment management technology helps you avoid. Cat technologies also help reduce your risk by:
- Helping you maintain maximum fleet availability for fast response to unexpected delays such as weather
- Keeping equipment in proper working condition so that accidents and injuries are reduced
- Replacing machines at the most advantageous time for your business
- Helping you comply with regulations
Construction is a risky business. Effectively managing your equipment is one way to lessen the impact of some of those day-to-day risks.
Weather Delays
By knowing what machines are available at any time and exactly where they’re located, you’ll be better prepared to quickly respond to and recover from weather-related delays.
Breakdowns
Keeping up with preventive maintenance is the single best way to avoid major machine failures. Also, take full advantage of electronic alerts and machine data to help spot small problems before they can cause larger issues.
Cash Flow Crunches
Major repairs and early machine replacements cripple your cash flow. Good equipment management helps you maximize uptime and extend machine life.
Overtime Penalties
Next to the weather, nothing puts you behind schedule faster than the loss of a machine. A good equipment database helps you re-allocate equipment in case of emergencies. Plus, it will let you see when you might need to rent some equipment to make sure you get that completion bonus.
The risks are real across the construction industry, including ones we can’t always see: outside stresses and distractions that interfere with our ability to stay focused and safe on the job. Your jobs are both physically and mentally demanding, so safety extends beyond gloves, glasses and harnesses.
You must instill the mindset of “Safety Starts with Me” in everything you do. Everything you do, has a safety component with it, whether that could be ensuring the house keeping in your office area is neat and organized, or you perform a Job Safety Hazard Analysis before starting a job. By eliminating all the seemingly minor and small hazards around your environment, it adds up and prevent injuries.
