Medical distribution centers have always served a vital role in patient care by ensuring the seamless supply of equipment and medications for hospitals, clinics, and small practices.

These centers guarantee quality medicine and supplies, protecting the supply chain from counterfeit or inferior products.

A Preventive Maintenance Checklist for Medical Distribution Centers

To run operations smoothly, maintaining facility utilities is essential. Without a safe building and tools in good working order, production may not happen.

In such a workplace, reactive or improper maintenance can bring more work and costs to the company and hinder output levels, which affects the end receivers.

Implementing a preventative maintenance checklist is a great way to ensure a safe and effective working environment.

1. Think About Infrastructure

Rather than waiting for problems to occur, assemble a comprehensive list of utilities that perform essential functions in your facility.

Evaluate and make an inventory of the company’s current state without forgetting the following aspects:

• Structural Integrity – Examine the interior and exterior of the company’s headquarters. Outside, examine grounds, roofs, and walls for evidence of deterioration. Assess security risks for employees and third parties. From the inside, check the fire extinguishers and the general condition windows, doors, and locks.
• Electrical System – Check all internal and external electrical systems and lights. Create a schedule for changing light bulbs by estimating average duration and change entire groups instead of individually.
• Water and Plumbing – Inspect pipelines on a regular schedule to prevent leaks before they become serious. Don’t let dripping taps turn into difficult situations.
• Air Conditioning – Clean air vents whenever necessary and maintain a strict schedule for changing air filters (at least every three months). Check AC motors at the first sign of vibrations or noise.

2. Calculate Costs

Reviewing repair costs frequently can lead to money-saving decision-making. To understand how maintenance costs, compare each piece of equipment’s values from the beginning, the current year, and each month.

Input all data into a spreadsheet to quickly spot opportunities for cost reductions and improving efficiencies. Here are some tips for detecting costs that can be reevaluated:

Review equipment expense accounts first in monetary terms, then in units, and finally in costs per unit.

Sometimes you will need to review the values for a specific piece of equipment to identify overspending.

Using maintenance scheduling software, analyze overall costs by repair code to understand which assets are costing the company the most.

Review the amounts of maintenance costs per job.

3. Go Digital

Facility managers are increasingly using online and digital platforms to track repairs and implement servicing operations. Digital solutions ensure a more organized work environment.

There are many options, but good maintenance scheduling software will allow you to:

• Plan and Schedule Preventive Maintenance – The system can automatically handle maintenance scheduling, avoiding errors or incorrect scheduling.
• Organize Work Orders – With a digital system, it’s easier to schedule, assign and close work orders. As orders are filled, the same software can track them for the history of each piece of equipment in the future.
• Manage the Stock – A disorganized maintenance department never has spare parts (new lamps, for example). With efficient software, you can track quantities in stock and even where each item is stored.
• Reduce Costs – With more organization and a system that monitors company assets, you can invest in preventive maintenance and avoid major failures later on.
• Increase Productivity – Some apps can be used on smartphones, allowing technicians to access information without running around looking for reports or paper forms.

Learn more about maintenance scheduling software and how it can help your company.

4. Delegate Tasks

Assigning team members with overseeing specific utility and equipment maintenance relieves facility managers of the burden of supervising every company element. Delegating functions is essential and also serves to foster trust with staff members.

A team ideally should comprise talented and prepared people. It is crucial to choose the right person for each job, instead of merely distributing assignments. With online software, you can integrate these responsibilities to issue automatic alerts to appropriate team members.

Maintenance scheduling software helps with this process. However, don’t forget to provide your team with the necessary information, clearly explaining your goals rather than just asking for results.

Explicitly articulating expectations can be the difference between a job well done and one done only out of obligation.

Organizing Saves Time and Money

Like all facilities, medical distribution centers require all kinds of maintenance and repairs. With these facilities working around the clock during the COVID-19 crisis, it becomes even more important that operations run smoothly.

Being prepared for equipment and facility maintenance servicing can bring your operations from reactionary to preventative. Everyone benefits from the practice: defects in equipment or assets will be less frequent, will cause less risk to other workers, and you will certainly be valued for a job well done.

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