Don’t Drop The Ball: Make Planned Downtime Your New Year’s Resolution

Implementing a preventative maintenance schedule and making the switch from reactive to proactive is the cornerstone of downtime avoidance. Maintenance not only elongates the lifespan of equipment and devices, but also improves overall effectiveness and productivity, positively impacting financial performance. 

Plant Engineering Magazine compiled research into how many companies embrace this approach. The study showed that 78% of facilities have a preventative maintenance strategy in place with 59% incorporating a computerised maintenance management system. This approach allows these facilities to schedule regular maintenance, maximising efficiency. Asset management and having readily available (especially obsolete) parts is a huge factor in reducing unplanned downtime risk. Aging programmable logic controllers and discontinued equipment can take multiple weeks to be delivered, so the dreaded downtime is guaranteed to occur. Having surplus stock and keeping track of availability can be the difference between a speedy recovery and a cataclysmic event.

Enter Northern Industrial, here to help your production line avoid the holiday blues and sluggish restart. So the time has come for you to restart after a break but you are faced with a part failure. Even with a planned downtime schedule in place, issues can still arise but have no fear, we have the solution to satisfy your emergency spares cravings. 

SparesVault™ enables proactive manufacturers to manage obsolescence and reduce unplanned downtime. Our service provides a bespoke obsolescence management system, minimising the effort required to procure obsolete spare parts. SparesVault™ provides an extra layer of protection for those who simply cannot afford the disruption and risks associated with unplanned downtime. We enable you to take charge of your assets and secure spare parts coverage for the future, with minimal up-front costs and without the need to house a huge spares inventory at your site.

Substituting obsolete parts for new technologies can be a costly affair and with many businesses choosing to stick with what they know, our team is on hand to support you and your need for obsolete spare parts with guaranteed availability, a cost effective membership and a two year warranty. SparesVault™ allows our team to manage your inventory (including the condition, storage and availability) but we also have you covered with 24/7 call outs and technical support. If that was not enough, we also commit to a fixed price promise in line with our dedication to transparency, allowing you to budget to your hearts’ content for the duration of your plan. We take out the middleman, stocking all your obsolete parts here in our warehouse, nullifying additional third party costs. Cementing the cherry firmly on top, we pride ourselves on giving you options, offering standard, enhanced and premium options, each with their own repertoire of benefits. 

How does it work?

Plan - We will compile a detailed obsolescence report following a comprehensive, expert led review of your system critical assets. With recommendations for parts to be included in your bespoke SparesVault™ inventory.

Implementation - SparesVault inventory is sourced, tested and checked by experienced in-house Northern Industrial engineers. This stock is then held securely at Northern Industrial's bonded stock warehouse facility.

Delivery - In the event of a breakdown, the relevant part will be despatched within the agreed contractual response time. This includes any add-ons selected such as engineer callout or telephone support.

Review - On a regular basis Northern Industrial will carry out a review of the recommended SparesVault inventory levels and propose adjustments where necessary with your agreement.