Downtime is one of the most critical challenges widely faced by businesses within the manufacturing sector. Any period of industrial breakdown, whether caused by machine outages or maintenance, can negatively impact productivity, revenue, production schedules, targets and even harm business reputation – a long-term implication which can be extremely costly to a manufacturer. An emergency courier service can offer a solution when downtime strikes.
In a 2018 report titled ‘After the Fall: Cost, Causes and Consequences of Unplanned Downtime’, which surveyed 450 professionals from across the UK, U.S., France, and Germany and spanned various industries, including manufacturing, it was found that 82 percent of companies had experienced an unplanned downtime event in the previous three years. It’s a costly risk to business operations that can strike at any time and to any manufacturer.
“82 percent of companies experienced an unplanned downtime event in the previous three years”
Why is downtime so detrimental to the bottom line?
Downtime is a pain point that is costing Britain’s manufacturers in excess of £180bn every year. When an unexpected stall in production occurs, every minute that operations are stopped has a negative cost implication for the business.
When production grinds to a halt or is forced to operate at a significantly lower capacity, manufacturers risk being unable to deliver to customer schedules and face loss of revenue and even permanent loss of a contract and damage to their reputation.
There are a wide number of causes of downtime which can range from accidents or human error, to unavailable spare parts and breakages. Having emergency breakdown measures in place is vital to ensure your business is not dangerously impacted by the latter two of these factors. That includes having access to an emergency courier service for urgent support.
Secure your back-up plan A, B and C.
Each period of downtime can take between 8 and 72 hours to resolve! And when every minute of line stoppage is money down the drain, the quicker operations can resume, the better.
Manufacturers should take action to implement an emergency breakdown back-up plan, to avoid lost revenue from operational downtime and industrial breakdown. An emergency courier service as Crown SDS can help in many ways with both proactive and reactive logistical support:
Plan A – 24/365 Warehousing and Transportation Solutions
Unplanned downtime is unpredictable and parts procurement lead times can be lengthy. Having an inventory strategy to keep stock of critical parts that might regularly need replacing can help to keep your operations moving.
The length of downtime is mostly determined by the availability of materials to replace or repair faulty parts that might include pumps, belts, sensors or motors.
Opting for a centralised storage solution will ensure 24 hour access to spare parts and machine components, enabling continuous access and rapid 60 minute response, 24 hour courier service to collect and have your parts on the way to reach the engineer fast – to any location.
With in-house stock control, Crown SDS provide warehousing and storage with full parts management and responsive 24 hour courier solutions.
Plan B – Scheduled Same Day Delivery With Live Tracking
Utilise a dedicated same day courier service for periods of scheduled and planned maintenance. This will ensure your parts arrive exactly when and where you need them. A dedicated courier service will ensure your parts always reach the right hands, allowing your engineer to get to work quickly and efficiently, without having to spend time locating parts.
Using an urgent courier service that offers real-time tracking, you’ll always know when parts are going to arrive. Don’t let delayed or misplaced components cost your business.
Plan C – Emergency Breakdown Courier For Parts Direct To Engineer
If it’s not a feasible option for your business to stock parts, be sure to partner with a fast and reliable emergency breakdown courier that can collect replacement parts from your suppliers and deliver on-site, direct to your engineer.
Emergency breakdown courier, Crown SDS will collect from any location within the hour and deliver to your engineer on site. So, you won’t incur a hefty fee whilst an engineer waits for emergency parts to arrive.
‘Cut the Fat’ to Avoid Costly Downtime
Whilst it’s advisable to have a back-up plan in place for when unplanned downtime occurs, we recognise the benefit of implementing and utilising lean processes to improve efficiencies altogether.
Lean processes are the principles that improve workplace efficiency. And whilst they don’t necessarily prevent unplanned downtime, eliminating waste processes (or cutting the fat) means you can focus on and strengthen your operations in the areas that really matter to your operations. Taking out waste processes and instead, factoring in things like scheduled maintenance – can significantly reduce the potential of machine breakdown.
At Crown SDS we’ve worked across many sectors to support and advise our customers with implementation of lean processes, in order to improve operational efficiencies within manufacturing and across many other sectors.
For a bespoke solution that addresses both the time-critical, emergency courier and long-term logistical needs of your business, speak to an experienced member of our team to discuss how we can support you.