Regardless of the kind of laboratory, the machines will need repair. Running devices day in and day out will wear them down, and parts will break. If you want to minimize the impact this inevitability has on your operation, you should consider preventive maintenance. Here are the benefits of contract maintenance for your lab equipment.
Save on Repairs
A maintenance contract will save the lab big on repairs. The entire purpose of preventive maintenance is to keep large-scale issues from happening. This means a lab will not spend an enormous amount of money fixing a problem that the team could have addressed weeks earlier.
Suppose there is a tiny crack on the backside of a pressurized column in a gas chromatography machine. A maintenance team will check every inch of the machine week after week to ensure no such cracks grow into something worse. But say the laboratory did not employ that team, and the crack grew until the column finally exploded into small metal pieces. Not only could this harm the technician working the machine, but the shrapnel could damage the surrounding machines. Overall, this would be a costly affair.
Decreased Downtime
Regular maintenance heads off problems before they grow into worse issues. Should a large-scale problem shut down operations, the lab will lose valuable assets. Less time worked, compromised tests and data, and lost contracts with clients—all of these and more could happen when a lab completely shuts down.
Preventive maintenance avoids this catastrophe and decreases downtime in a lab setting. It may sound counterintuitive that taking time each day and week to check machines saves time in the long run, but it is certainly true. A short span of downtime does not add up to the days or weeks lost in a lab shutdown.
Improved Productivity
Technicians in a laboratory spend all their time running tests with machines that they understand inside and out. Due to this knowledge base, many techs may feel afraid to run their devices at full capacity all day long. The risk of overworking devices is no small thing, but it is much less risky when done with complete monitoring.
Knowing the benefits of contract maintenance for your lab equipment can help you mitigate the consequences of a catastrophe. If you need lab equipment repair for your operation, reach out to us at GenTech Scientific today.
