Global businesses have been forced to rely more than ever on existing and emerging tech as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has created clear polarisation between tasks that can be completed at arm's length, and those which firmly pivot on having a physical presence.
There has been a tendency to think that Big Data, the IIoT, automation and other advances have unlocked all the ways to do things faster, better, cleaner and more cheaply. However, though technology may be able to improve predicting and diagnosing machinery issues, reacting to an outage can still rely heavily on having the right people on the job. For companies in production, engineering and power, for example, it has probably crystallised how valuable on-site machine services are to keep the wheels of industry turning.
Particularly the option to send technicians anywhere in the world, carrying with them the latest portable machining equipment, and using advanced machining techniques, for both planned and urgent tasks.
What is the cost of not thinking ahead properly, or having limited access to in situ machining services?
This is not just about inconvenience when machinery breaks down, fails or is offline for replacement.
The most obvious impact of not being able to call in specialists quickly enough is a reduction in productivity. When capacity falls short of demand, or in-house operations go offline for repair or replacement, you can quickly lose ground to your competitors. Or worse still, simply lose orders.
For example, it’s estimated that unexpected downtime in equipment costs an average of $260,000 per hour. (source: https://www.aberdeen.com/techpro-essentials/stat-of-the-week-the-rising-cost-of-downtime/) In manufacturing, if you have equipment that becomes suddenly unusable for four hours, on average that can crank up a $1,040,000 deficit. (source: https://www.machinemetrics.com/blog/the-real-cost-of-downtime-in-manufacturing)
There is clearly no room for complacency. Research shows that 80% of organisations will experience a major outage of some form. (source: https://www.iofficecorp.com/blog/equipment-downtime).
A high proportion of organisations have made it their top priority to take steps to ensure zero unplanned downtime. This is leading to greater interest in technology’s ability to predict, monitor and react to outages.
However, as this is not a cure-all solution, many specialist operations are also establishing a robust working relationship with a 24-hour emergency machining services team. Ideal for when the worst does happen.
An on-site machining company which can also offer pro-active and planned support – at a competitive price – is something that modern technology will never replace.
