Are You Throwing Money Down The Drain?

Here are some ways to save money, and maybe even get some back…

If you’ve bought any machinery or equipment, did you buy any extended warranty plans or servicing packages? If you have, then chances are you’re throwing money away.

A sure way to save money is to have staff do the work for you. In-house maintenance will not only cut costs, but is also more convenient and boosts efficiency in the workplace.

By having in-house maintenance, you can avoid costly downtimes. You don’t have to call in someone from outside to fix your machines, nor do you have to shut it down and take it anywhere. You can continue to run your equipment during normal hours, and have regular preventive maintenance performed by staff after hours or during slow times when the equipment is not being used.

One thing to keep in mind before moving to in-house maintenance is, it’s important to take an inventory of your employee’s skills, and then assign jobs to match their skills. This can be included as part of an employee’s job description, or can be added to their traditional assignments, with extra compensation.

If you don’t have employees who are able to make major repairs, you can hire a technician and that would still save money than paying for long-term service contracts.

Another important area that can get quite costly is insurance premiums on plant and equipment. It is something that can be trimmed down without increasing risk. There are a couple of things to keep in mind to ensure your saving money, but also ensuring you are adequately covered for significant losses when looking at insurance.

• Don’t get insurance or extended warranties on assets that would cause no economic loss to the company if destroyed and that can be inexpensively replaced, such as printers, computer monitors, etc.
• If you have seasonal equipment, have coverage suspended when not in use. If you use the equipment as collateral for a loan, then you may need to keep minimum liability coverage.
• If you have cut down on equipment, cancel the policies associated, if you have not already done so. You can always contact your insurance company and see if you can get some kind of rebate.