6 Common Equipment Buying Mistakes to Avoid for Your Business

Business success is hard to come by nowadays. Need proof? Just 25% of start-ups survive past the 15-year point!

The result? There’s almost no room for expensive mistakes. Alas, the potential for making them is almost endless…

Of all the possible errors to be made, though, equipment buying mistakes are some of the most challenging to overcome.

For instance, airlock valve is one of the most consumed equipment in food and beverage industry and choosing right rotary airlock valves is indispensable for it. Picking a low quality airlock valve can be extremely detrimental in terms of increased risk of leaks, lack of proper air pressure regulation, and the inability to accurately control the flow of air, leading to dust and other contaminants entering the system and creating a hazardous environment.

1. Failing to Think Long-Term

One of the biggest equipment buying mistakes owners make is forgetting to account for future needs. It’s a bit like buying clothes for a child. Because they’re growing so fast, you know that anything you purchase for them now won’t fit in a few months/years!

The result? Thrifty parents purposefully buy clothes that are too big for their kids. With room to grow, they’ll get far more use out of them over time.

Take a similar approach with your business equipment.

For example, consider how your production requirements might change. Will you be manufacturing the same products (or selling the same service) to the same extent in 5 years as you are now? If not, the sensible decision would be to invest in equipment now that’ll cater to your business’s ongoing needs as well.

2. Failing to Consider Ongoing Customer Support

Finding the perfect equipment for your business is one thing. Finding the perfect equipment from a vendor that offers high-quality customer support is another thing altogether! Unfortunately, the latter isn’t always guaranteed.

Before you click “purchase”, then, ask the company a few key questions:

• How large is their team of customer support staff?
• Are they available 24/7? If not, when and how can they be contacted?
• Do they offer equipment training for staff?
• Can they resolve problems remotely, over the internet? Do they have proficient local technicians available who can come to you when issues arise?

You can then base your decision on their answers! Think twice about purchasing any equipment from a company with subpar customer service.

3. Failing to Provide Adequate Training

Buying equipment online or offline for your business is all well and good. But the real secret to success is training your employees how to use it! Only then will you experience the true potential of the hardware/software in which you’ve invested.

Unfortunately, many owners, managers, and CEOs fail in this regard. Make sure you’re not one of them! Think about training from the outset and invest heavily to ensure everybody’s confident operating it.

A clever way to approach this is to train a select group of “champions” first. These guys and girls will become your chief technicians who can then carry out ongoing training for future employees who join the team.

Oh, and make the most of visits from technicians! They’re amazing learning opportunities for your team- particularly in the first few months of using the equipment.

4. Failing to Maintain the Equipment

Investing in new equipment is similar to buying a pet. It isn’t a one-time purchase that you can forget about after the initial pay-out! It’s a labor of love that demands ongoing care, attention, and financial input.

Imagine purchasing new industrial shelving units for a factory. Over time, a lack of maintenance could have devastating consequences. Faults would go unnoticed, brackets could break, and, eventually, the whole thing may collapse!

Keep this in mind for the equipment you plan to buy. Strive to clean it regularly and create (and abide by) a preventative maintenance schedule. Perform regular inspections as well, record all maintenance work that gets done, and seek support from expert technicians to handle any issues that arise.

5. Failing to Stock Replacement Parts

Preventative maintenance is invaluable to any business equipment. But it doesn’t work miracles! There will come a time when you need to fit a new part, or an upgraded component, to keep it operational.

And, when that happens, you’ll want to have that particular part or component to hand! Don’t, and all sorts of negative outcomes can happen, including prolonged periods of downtime as you wait for the component(s) to be delivered.

With this is in mind, we recommend talking to the manufacturer. They’ll be able to tell you which spare part(s) are worth stocking. Then, as the months and years pass, you’ll be able to check your maintenance records to see which parts are replaced most often (and how many spares it makes sense to have access to).

6. Failing to Ask Your Team

Rule number one of effective management is to never assume you know what the workforce requires! Unless you have a hand in daily operations, making a unilateral decision on equipment is a recipe for purchasing something inadequate.

Trust us, the people in the proverbial trenches have a much better idea of what they need to do their job. That’s why it’s worth asking them!

Not only are you more likely to buy suitable options for equipment, but your employees will also appreciate being included in the decision. It shows that you respect and value their opinions, which will pay dividends in terms of their workplace satisfaction.

Don’t Make These Equipment Buying Mistakes

The business world’s competitive nature means mistakes can have disastrous outcomes for owners! And, with huge sums of capital on the line, few errors are as serious as those revolving around purchasing equipment.

With any luck, though, the equipment buying mistakes we’ve highlighted above will help in this regard. Keep them in mind and you should be one step closer to avoiding trouble and leveraging high-quality hardware to scale your operation. Would you like to read more articles on similar topics?

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