Was, Is And Will Be Your Best Investment
By Greg Sitek
Maintenance.
No matter what equipment, vehicles or tools you own or use, it will perform better, longer, more profitably when maintained.
There are things you buy and write off as a business expense. Tools, vehicles and equipment should never be included in this mix.
Say maintenance and almost immediately you think of the “equipment,” the “machines,” the stuff that drinks gallons of fuel hourly and is critical to the continuation of your operation.
When you hear maintenance do you think about the portable generators, light towers, pumps, welders, and all the other “back-savers” you haul around in the bed of the pickup?
For that matter, what about the pickup? Do you think pickup when you hear or read maintenance?
While we’re at it, do you think about the impact wrenches, grinders, drills, hammers, drill bits, chisels, ratchets and all the other tools that go with you to the job site.
The big stuff is hared to ignore because it’s so obvious. You schedule the routine maintenance for engines, transmissions, drives and all the electric and hydraulic systems; suspension, tires or track/undercarriage and other major systems and/or components. But, do you include the work tools the machine uses — the bucket teeth? the cutting edges? – for example? You know that dull, blunt and worn ground engaging tools may not effectively dig into the material you’re trying to remove but they very effectively cut away your productivity and raise havoc with fuel consumption.
What can be more frustrating than trying to start a compressor on a remote jobsite and discovering that it won’t start because the fuel filter is really dirty or the air filter hasn’t been cleaned since the unit was acquired? Or suppose it’s a welder. Or any other portable piece of equipment.
Doesn’t it make sense to think that if “I needed it enough to buy it it should be important enough to make certain that it is always ready to do what it was designed to do?”
Every piece of equipment, every work tool or attachment, every vehicle, every portable tool, every hand tool, virtually every thing that’s made comes with some kind of manual or instructional document that tells you at least two things:
1. HOW TO USE IT
2. HOW TO MAINTAIN IT
There may also be some warranty information and of course an endless listing of all the bad things that can happen to you as a result of using this “whateveritis” thing.
The point is that there are literally thousands upon thousands of people who spend their workday writing this information; these instructions. I know. Many years ago (before the advent of the Selectric typewriter, fax machine, computer, cell phone – you get the idea) that’s what I did; write shop and service manuals for the auto industry.
The reason, everything man-made demands man-care. It’s that simple.
Your investment in the maintenance of what you use to do your work will result in greater productivity, longer machine/equipment life, lower fuel consumption and improved profitability.
If it was important enough to buy it is important enough to protect. The dollars you invest in maintaining your equipment, machines, attachments and tools you use to do your work will give you a greater ROI than and other investment plan available.
National editorial appeared in the June issues of the 13 ACP magazines.