In a facility operation, it is vital to consider the expenses spent on maintenance. Operational maintenance expenses can build up fast. Gladly we have some tips that can assist you in ensuring that maintenance costs are minimal to boost profits and make everyone satisfied. Each factor in a facility budget will be explored to give you the necessary information for creating a comprehensive budget for your organization.
What should be included in a plant maintenance budget?
A plant maintenance budget should include the following:
- The type of asset and the nature of work being carried out
- Routine maintenance and the repair of the asset at hand
The particular costs under these two factors should be able to give an account for certain maintenance costs like administration costs, employee costs, and maintenance costs.
The type of asset and work nature
To begin with, the kind of business you are operating determines the maintenance costs. The maintenance cost in a school facility is different from the maintenance cost in a church. In addition, the budget for an organization that creates parts for medical use is more expensive.
Routine repairs and maintenance
The proper budget allocation for repair and maintenance for an inventory of organizations will be in the gap of about 2-4% of the total current replacement value of the machinery. If there is insufficient information on basing the repair and maintenance budget this level of expenses should be used as a minimum value. If maintenance neglect has led to a delay in the required repairs, the amount used in spending should exceed these minimum amounts until the delay has been rectified.
Ensure that this part of your budget covers repairs and routine maintenance for the asset at hand. Budget other expenses in separate more particular names and put a limitation on other additions in your asset budget.
The amount you should spend on asset management
All organizations have different budgets even if they do the same operations. There are going to be some differences among management, employees, and contractors. These differences affect every aspect of the organization’s management and budget.
Factors to put into consideration when budgeting for asset maintenance
It depends on many factors such as:
- Location and age of the machinery
- Labour and hiring costs
- Unexpected repairs
- Unscheduled breakdowns
- Hidden costs that crop up
Location of the machinery.
The most influencing factor is the organization’s location. Hiring a repair technician in let’s say New York to perform repairs in your machinery in the same location will cost less than hiring a technician to perform the same services from Washington DC.
Special machinery
If you require additional special tools, around 10% of the budget should be allocated to service contracts. It is vital to understand that a profit can still be generated with this ratio. This, however, should be the limit for the money allocated to the upkeep of special equipment unless you have justifiable reasons to extend the budget.
Labour and hiring costs
You need to know how much you will be paying for labor and training. This is the labor rate and does not involve benefits or fringes. You will then make calculations on fringe and benefits costs which tend to be expensive averaging up to 40% of the total salary cost.
If you are an organization that does not pay many fringe benefits then the rate will be around 25%. You can now make calculations on the overhead costs such as:
- Managers
- Supervision
- Payroll
- Office supplies
- Equipment and computers
Make space for changes
Making a maintenance budget can be done accurately but you have to leave room for making changes. This is to make sure that you can adjust it as required. For example, a manufacturing industry built in Europe with a seed capital of $400 million. Some governments contributed part of the seed funding with around $100 million being allocated for the refurbishment of the organization’s headquarters.
However, the chief executive of the industry does not make the necessary refurbishments and had some replacements done. This costs money. These kinds of changes must be expected and accounted for when making an organization’s maintenance budget.
Emergency events
Unexpected events will affect the amount of money you should be spending on asset maintenance. You would be required to list your machinery and allocate ten hours annually to attend to unscheduled events that are related to each asset. The cost of materials requires to be arrived at for every asset at hand.
How to build an organizations budget
What to include
Ensure that you have targets for your maintenance program budget. If you lack targets be they small, medium, or large the budget will fail. It depends on your estimation of what you will spend, monitor it, and calculate the results at the end.
Upon making your initial budget ensure that you have some backup plans before things begin to bypass your target estimates. Disasters do happen and it is important to be prepared. Be aware that you will be doing a lot of information gathering. A CMMS system may come in handy when you are creating your maintenance budget. Consider some software to make things easier when creating your budget and also for other maintenance duties within your facility.
What not to include in the budget
Do not include things that are not within the area of facility maintenance. It is often hard to focus on the maintenance requirements when you are looking at the broader picture. Sometimes maintenance budgets can include unnecessary information which is part of the overall scope of the plant.
Some of the methods of averting this include:
- Create a clear objective and focus on the budget before proceeding.
- Involve management, employees, and other relevant parties before completing the budget.
- Ensure that you have backup plans in case things go south.
In summary, by applying the tips discussed in this article, you will be on the right track to making a maintenance budget that makes your bottom line more effective and increase the profit margins of your organization.
