When assessing a new technology to automate your warehouse, it’s natural to focus on its advantages: efficiencies delivered by new processes; increased speed through motorized movement and heightened precision through advanced sensor suites.

What is often overlooked, or considered as mere background normalcy, is the extent to which a maintenance agreement or planned ongoing servicing is part of your technology platform.

The truth is maintenance matters.

Maintenance is the difference between temporary advantages, and a long-term true solution for prosperity.

At the Invar Group, we put maintenance as one of the central pillars of our provision and processes. We believe it is vital that, as the providers of your turnkey technology solution, we are fully committed and ready to keep it up and running with our maintenance teams. To understand why maintenance is so important, consider the following five realities.

One – Maximised maintenance means maximised ROI

Investing in an automation system of any kind, from a software only solution all the way up to the most advanced robotic ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) is a substantial financial commitment. Maintenance based on a regular schedule ensures that you will maximise your return on investment. rather than dealing with emergencies as they emerge. A maintenance agreement and partnership will keep uptime longer, allowing your solution to focus on revenue generation.

Two – Maintenance partnerships allow for consistent experience

By having a maintenance partner who is part of the same team that helped build your solution in the first place, you have a maintenance arrangement with a unique and profound insight into the way your system works. They will understand the purpose and planning behind the original design, enabling them to maximise the system’s potential, identify vulnerabilities, and pre-emptively address issues.

Three – Maintenance partnerships create collective expertise

By partnering your maintenance with experts who built your automation solution , you are tapping into a wealth of collective experience. The teams you collaborate with in this maintenance partnership make it their ongoing professional mission to solve these kinds of problems consistently. Rather than relying on hastily trained support staff whose only experience would be working on your own system, you draw on the collective professional wisdom of teams of talented technicians and experienced engineers. This is why maintenance partnerships are far superior to ad hoc arrangements, hastily hurried training courses, or hired in temporary support staff.

Four – Maintenance partnerships allow for plans arranged around you

Different businesses will all have different needs. The kinds and levels of maintenance will be determined both by the technology itself, as well as what it is being used for. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. There is also the knowledge of busy peak periods, and how resilient your organisations is to disruption and downtime. With a maintenance partnership, you can be confident that your concerns come first at every stage.

Five – Managed maintenance makes long-term planning possible

With a maintenance partnership that is planned well in advance, you can be much more confident about how your operational schedule will play out in the long run. Major overhauls can be calendared. Minor upgrades can be pre-booked. Regular maintenance can be just that. Regular. More importantly, all these plannings can mean that your technology stays reliable for longer. The ultimate forethought planning requirement.

With a maintenance partnership, you can make the best decisions for you and your business. ROI will be maximised, your teams will have consistent experience, they will bank on collective expertise, they will work around your needs – all of which will allow for long-term planning.

To find out more about how you can take advantage of this kind of maintenance maximised approach, speak to the Invar Group today.

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