Maintaining a healthy, profitable business model is similar to maintaining your material handling equipment––it should frequently be checked, with plenty of transparency, by professionals with a proven track record. Contracted maintenance takes the guesswork out of keeping your MHE where it belongs: out on your warehouse floor, driving your supply chain as well as your bottom line.

It's a fast, easy way to reduce the unknowns in a must-have service channel, and an excellent way to ensure consistent performance in industries where it's becoming increasingly rare.

What is Contracted Maintenance?

Contracted maintenance is a smarter way of doing what you already are doing when it comes to maintaining your material handling equipment. Although, it is a little more robust; a fully contracted maintenance program uses one company and one set of professionals to keep your equipment in good working order, repair any unforeseen issues, and even help you buy or lease new equipment when the time comes. It's a predictable cost, unlike ad-hoc solutions that can come with wildly varying results and price points.

There are three variations to consider based on the size of your fleet—dedicated, shared, and remote maintenance.

Dedicated contracted maintenance refers to an individual or team that is solely assigned to your company and site, logging 40 hours a week on your larger fleet of equipment. It's an excellent choice for larger companies with a great deal of equipment to maintain, and industries where time-sensitive shipments are common. Your on-site tech can quickly remedy equipment issues, allowing your warehouse staff to get back to business as usual.

Shared contracted maintenance follows a similar model to dedicated but works well in shared spaces, such as warehouses where two or more companies house their products and equipment. Shared contractors may also be dispatched on an as-needed basis out to your site, allowing you to utilize professional maintenance services without needing to set aside valuable working space. This approach also allows some cost flexibility, letting smaller to mid-sized companies enjoy similar-to-dedicated convenience with a price tag that's more in line with their budget.

Remote contracted maintenance operates in more of a management capacity, acting as a go-between to help your company forecast costs, double-check invoices, and dispatch local vendors for maintenance when needed. If your work site has minimal space or often changes location, this option is incredibly convenient and offers valuable peace of mind no matter where you're using your equipment.

Why You Need Contracted Fleet Maintenance

Convenience is a compelling reason all on its own in a busy warehouse, but there’s much more to contracted maintenance than a reduction of stress.

Contracted fleet maintenance can help with:

• Tracking Costs: Normalize your maintenance costs into periodic and predictable segments, strengthening the accuracy of cost planning.
• Scalability: Replacing equipment unexpectedly can mean big costs—both of the opportunity and actual variety. Contracted maintenance cuts out downtime.
• Training: When you begin working with professionals from the onset, you won't have to train your team in MHE maintenance internally.
• OSHA Compliance: If your equipment isn't up to regulations, you'll run the risk of fines, injuries, and other detriments.
• Safety: Beyond the potential risk to stock through mishandling or broken product, your team will be able to work safer, on more reliable equipment.
• Consolidated Service: Your business needs more than MHE maintenance, of course, and consolidation makes processes and invoice cost-savings significantly easier. Working with a provider like Kenco will give you additional access to connected services, such as dock & door service, racking, striping, signage, and conveyor service and maintenance.

How Does Contracted Maintenance Benefit My Company?

No company likes to be surprised with an unexpectedly high bill from a vendor. It can delay other financial obligations and put important term agreements at risk, resulting in a less reliable supply chain.

Contracted maintenance prevents the peaks and valleys with one steady, reasonably predictable cost, eliminating the sense of financial panic that often accompanies broken equipment.

Beyond the direct cost, consider the valuable time spent finding a technician in a hurry. Without contracted maintenance, that’s a skilled employee that’s not doing what he or she does best, but rather scouring the yellow pages or your business network for a repair company.

When your equipment is well-maintained and monitored, it enjoys a longer lifespan, helping you put off one of the largest must-have costs in warehouse maintenance. That lifespan gives you more time to make a profit and save on equipment with bigger, better capabilities—ones that are better equipped to grow with your company. When your fleet breaks down before its time, it becomes a problem that’s essentially siphoning off your working capital, becoming an unnecessary drain on your resources and holding your team back from performing at their best capacity.

To Sum It Up

Consider the way you do business: terms, MOQs, 3PL pickups, ordering cycles—everything runs better when it fits into a predictable, trustworthy format that won’t cause shocks in your bottom line.

If you’re ready to start applying that proven logic to your material handling equipment, Kenco is ready to help show how contracted maintenance will revolutionize the way you think about MHE. For more information, read our eBook, Why You Should Choose Kenco Material Handling Services for valuable insights about how you can turn your warehouse into a model of efficiency.