Modern Building Services

34 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES JULY/AUGUST 2021 FEATURE INSTALLERS VIEW INSTALLERS VIEW W hen it comes to maintenance strategies, for many organisations the lure of reactive maintenance garners great appeal. The prospect of no up-front investment, a decrease in regular outgoings for routine maintenance tasks, and limited required planning, as teams simply react and fix any issues as and when they occur, certainly presents a compelling case on paper. What many project managers fail to consider, however, is that in the long-term a reactive maintenance plan can actually increase repair and maintenance costs. Indeed, letting your assets run to the point of failure often results in greater costs for parts and call out fees, longer periods of downtime while new assets are ordered, and even non-compliance with regulations. Similarly, the very nature of unscheduled repairs and maintenance, means accurate scheduling and planning is more much difficult and, often, costly, significantly impacting the bottom line. To put this into perspective, unplanned maintenance costs 3 to 9 times more than planned maintenance. For organisations that make intensive use of assets in their operations, such as retailers who rely heavily on everything from lighting to HVAC, in-store security systems and bespoke fixtures to ensure a positive experience for customers, the need for effective maintenance is paramount. Particularly when you consider how important having uninterrupted trading is for the industry. Add to the mix the introduction of advanced systems such as digital POS and displays, contactless collection points, and cashier-less technologies, to name a few, and the maintenance challenges are only compounded. The retail industry is becoming increasingly fast-paced and from a technological perspective, even more complex, meaning it’s easy to see the potential for things to spiral out of control if assets are not properly maintained and managed. This is reflected in the fact that a staggering 81% of retailers experience downtime at least once a year, leaving retailers counting the costs of temporary store closures, reduced footfall and limited sales. Faced with such challenges, project managers are increasingly seeing the value of transitioning to more cost-effective planned maintenance strategies. Making the shift to planned maintenance With a purely reactive maintenance policy organisations are always on the back foot; reacting to changing needs, balancing time and resources to prioritise urgent tasks and limit downtime. Planned maintenance strategies hand the control back to them. For chain store retailers, in particular, the ability to plan maintenance tasks and assign maintenance personnel to multiple sites in a systematic way can ensure seamless upkeep and protect the bottom line. By utilising intelligent technological platforms, designed to optimise remotemonitoring of assets and maintenance requirements, it is becoming increasingly possible to minimise both the potentially detrimental effects and costs of both planned and, perhaps most crucially, unplanned downtime. Well managed and carefully planned preventative maintenance strategies facilitate greater advanced planning when it comes to asset works, meaning seemingly insignificant problems and straightforward repairs can be identified and rectified before they turn into major failures and costly repairs. Through the careful planning of maintenance including; identifying problems and creating work orders, inspecting premises where work Ben Tiffany , M&E Director at Sigma, explains how the outdated reactive maintenance model is costing businesses money, time and valuable resources, and offers an insight into the benefits that planned maintenance strategies can deliver. Planned maintenance: prevention is better than the cure