Unfortunately, the importance of compressed air often only comes into focus when a compressor goes down. Compressed air is like electricity in that respect – you only think about it when you flip the light switch and nothing happens.
For machines that often run around the clock, all year long, air compressor maintenance too often takes a backseat to other issues in the facility. But delaying air compressor maintenance is like ignoring the check engine light in your car – you’ll likely be OK for a while, but when it finally breaks down you’re left standing alone on the side of the road on a stormy night. It isn’t pretty.
Unfortunately, deferring maintenance is one of the biggest trends we’ve seen the past few years in manufacturing due to challenging economic conditions. When companies make these tough decisions they are forced to live with the associated risks. Yet, we also see firsthand, on a daily basis, the benefit regular and routine maintenance procedures provide in efficiency, reduced costs, and increased uptime.
If you conduct maintenance yourself, we encourage you to do it regularly, keep good records and use original parts. We have even created maintenance kits (and this short video) to help you conduct simple service yourself.
Another option is to employ an Atlas Copco Total Responsibility Plan. Because maintenance is so critical to air compressor performance, our Total Responsibility Plan makes it easy for you to keep your compressor running in prime performance. The Total Responsibility Plan also ensures the right people from Atlas Copco get to the right place as fast as possible should an emergency arise. As an added benefit our Total Responsibility Plan provides a fixed cost for maintenance, which always makes the bean counters happy.
So, be sure to remember the importance of regular maintenance. And, if you just don’t have time – let us remember it for you.
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