Effectively managing equipment can determine if the business makes a profit or takes a financial loss. It comes down to decisions (rent vs. own), reliability, and controlling costs.
Valuable tools to help make informed decisions, reduce expenses, operate more efficiently, and increase profits can be found in business management software with equipment management capabilities.
Getting the most from your equipment
Nothing impacts the cost of equipment more than utilization. With the right software solution, contractors can be confident that equipment is utilized to its fullest extent and that the highest possible return is obtained.
Project/equipment managers gain the ability to track idle time, down time, and productive time (hours, miles, etc.), which are key factors in utilization analysis. Idle time and down time, businesses can develop strategies to control and correct it.
Furthermore, contractors can be sure that the right machine is being used for the right task and that the equipment on the job is being utilized and not sitting idle. Having the ability to assess performance and reliability of the equipment helps project managers keep jobs on schedule and on budget.
Improving reliability
Equipment downtime due to breakdowns causes significant costs and frustration on a project. With a comprehensive preventative maintenance plan, construction companies can extend the lifespan of equipment and thus improve the bottom line.
Hudson Paving is a company that leverages a business management solution with comprehensive equipment management capabilities to improve its productivity and increase profitability. With a fleet of dump trucks and other equipment, the team at Hudson Paving is able to monitor the usage of its equipment, including tracking maintenance needs and money spent on repairs. With more information on each piece of equipment, the contractor can make more reliable decisions on whether to repair or replace a piece of equipment.
Being able to easily drill down to the lowest level of detail allows contractors to easily set requirements for equipment acquisition and disposal and make informed decisions about when to return rental pieces, when to dispose of unused equipment, or when to acquire additional pieces of equipment. With accurate record keeping of equipment location, usage, and maintenance costs found in business management software, owners and project managers have the information needed to make intelligent and timely decisions and maximize the lifecycle of equipment. And by attaining stated levels of reliability and uptime and minimizing total owning and operating costs, businesses can gain that needed competitive advantage in today’s tough marketplace.
Recovering Costs
Business management software solutions also help contractors track profit and loss by equipment or group of equipment in order to effectively monitor the return on investment for an equipment fleet. Businesses can easily know the size, age, and composition of an equipment fleet with just a click of the mouse and can recover expenses associated with equipment fleets by appropriately costing as costs to projects.
Ferrell Concrete, LLC is streamlining their equipment management processes and reaping the benefits. The owner had always considered equipment as an overhead expense because the company had no way to track equipment usage. By implementing construction business software with equipment management features, Ferrell Concrete has automated job cost accounting and project management processes and are able to capture equipment usage costs and bill them directly to appropriate projects, creating a new profit center for the company.
Owners and equipment/project managers will reap significant benefits by using business management software for better equipment management. Having immediate access to real-time information in a central location shared by all in the company allows contractors to know the operational, financial, and mechanical history of each piece of equipment. With this information, businesses can capture operating costs and gain more control of equipment operations, and thus manage more efficiently and profitably.
By effectively managing heavy equipment construction companies can maximize production rates for each piece of equipment and obtain the highest sales value at the end of life. This helps contractors increase profits, reduce maintenance and operating expenses, optimize utilization, and minimize downtime – providing a critical competitive edge and improving return on investment for this capital intensive aspect of the business.
Maxwell Systems is a leading provider of complete business managment solutions that can help construction companies improve equipment management and increase profitability. www.maxwellsystems.com