The challenge that comes from expanding a facility is that you will, normally, experience all sorts of disruptions. Naturally, those come at the extent of the production not being worked on the way you want, and dealing with a plethora of problems. The great thing about expanding a facility is that you can find ways to deal with that and not have any disruptions. It might not seem like much, but simple, small solutions can indeed make a huge difference.
What challenges arise from planning a facility expansion?
There’s always a tricky thing when it comes to expanding the facility without disruptions. That’s the main downside, but you also have safety risks, coordination difficulties, regulatory hurdles, budget overruns and many others. Dealing with those will never be an issue, and that’s why you have to address the problems firsthand.
Identify your current, but also future needs
When you do any machinery moving, your focus has to be on evaluating the current operations, but also planning for growth. Knowing the issues that can arise is crucial, and it’s also one of those things that you have to address early on. Another idea is to engage with the shareholders early, talk with them and figure out their requirements and needs. That will bring you in a position where you know your future needs, but also current problems that could arise. Bottlenecks in production can be an issue, so handling those things fast will usually help more than expected.
Create an expansion plan
Now that you know your current, but also future needs, it does make sense to create an expansion plan. The main idea with this stuff is to always focus on not damaging your current production. You can have an all-at-once expansion, but that requires a shutdown of your production process.
The alternative for something like this is to have a phased construction. You shut down only some of the areas, switch the location for production so that side is not affected, and then slowly reopen those areas, while closing new ones. Phased planning is the way to go, it helps immensely and it will provide you with a much better result and experience, overall. The advantage with that is you can set realistic timelines, and you also have the opportunity to not shut down the entire facility/production, which is always crucial to consider.
Keep the budget and costs under control
The problem with machinery moving and expanding is that it can get costly. People want to have an inexpensive facility expansion, but that will come with certain issues. The most important thing in these cases is to keep the budget under control. Think about hidden costs, which can be anything from temporary storage and office space to equipment rentals, additional labor, permits and so on. If you think about those beforehand, it will increase the experience and provide better value.
Plus, you want to have contingency budgets, just in case you need to pay more for extra labor, shifting production and so on. Sometimes, doing those things is crucial if you want no disruption to the production schedule. All these things are important to consider and they could play a major role in the entire process. If you can balance continuity and cost, that could net you a great way of handling the facility expansion. You should also contract machinery movers that help move your machines to a new, temporary place, just in case.
Plan for machinery and equipment relocation
As mentioned earlier, you may need to relocate some of the machines temporary. Machinery movers are the best option here because they help maintain the right process and deliver great results, without having to worry about any downsides. That being said, the main focus should always be on consistency and quality, and doing so can help quite a lot.
Think about the necessary rigging as well as moving considerations, and ensure that everything gets dismantled and reinstalled safely. During these processes, it’s crucial to train your team properly, and once you do that, it will be a much easier thing to handle. Do that, focus on the best results, and it’s going to bring you an excellent outcome, that’s for sure.
With machinery movers, it helps to coordinate downtime and reinstall/calibration time. It’s always a time-sensitive procedure. But if you handle it properly, not only can you get an excellent advantage, but it also helps provide an excellent return on value, without being too problematic in the first place.
Protect the continuity of your production
If you want to expand the facility, you need to always focus on continuity, and sometimes that means taking decisions that might not be easy. One of them is to work around the production hours for the facility expansion. It’s definitely a challenge, but it will provide you with a faster and better way of handling the situation, which is a thing to keep in mind here.
Additionally, you also want to think about using some temporary workarounds. Using modular offices or trailers might be necessary, so the displaced staff can be there and still work at their best. You also have to reroute the workflows so you can bypass construction zones. These things, just like renting temporary equipment, could become a necessity. It’s important to understand those situations and figure out how to address everything in a way that works extremely well.
Generally, a good amount of communication, in combination with facility improvements, that could help more than you expect. It’s always tricky, because every facility expansion can deliver a much more consistent result than you would expect. And in the end, that’s definitely something to consider, especially if you want to grow your business.
Prioritize things like compliance and safety
As a business, your focus is always on value and on ensuring safety. Complying with regulations and industry requirements is just as important when you expand your company, so you have to keep that in mind. What you can do is create separate construction areas for active production zones, with signage and barriers. It also helps if you train employees on the new traffic flows, but also the restricted areas and how to deal with those.
Additionally, it does come in handy to do some safety audits and ensure that everything is safe and sound. It helps immensely if you comply with the building codes, industry regulations and zoning laws. If you don’t comply, that could lead to fines and delays, which are definitely a huge issue. But if you partner with professionals that understand the regulations, it becomes a much easier thing to manage.
The same thing is valid if you want to move your equipment. Use the best machinery movers, and you can rest assured they handle the permits and everything else. It’s a great solution to think about, and the advantage is that you can better implement everything without any problems. At the end of the day, planning the facility expansion is the right approach, and if you phase it out, while also focusing on safety, that’s what will help differentiate everything properly.
Work with the right partners
Yes, it always comes down to this. When you do any type of project, the people who you work with can make or break everything. That’s why you really have to be careful and work with industry experts. Whether we talk about machinery movers, expansion experts, all of these can be a solid option, if they are experienced, have the right equipment and so on. The more you focus on that, the better it will be, especially since it helps enhance the process in a very cohesive and professional manner.
Generally, you want people that are great collaborators, which value consistency and quality, but which are also looking to improve the way they work and push things to the next level. Being able to implement those things wisely is incredible, it can help a lot more than expected, while still delivering the assistance you need.
If you hire experts, always ensure that they know how to deal with high-risk situations. That can make the difference between something simple and more complicated. It’s not a walk in the park to do that, but in the end, knowing how to manage things will help quite a lot. It does matter if you avoid any rush and check the background and expertise, but also reviews of the potential partners.
As always, it’s imperative to plan the facility expansion down to every single detail. Not only will it make it easier to manage stuff, but you will find yourself enjoying the experience a whole lot more. The advantage with these approaches is that you can enhance your facility, know how to deal with problems, while also figuring out how to hire the right professionals. It’s always a bit tricky to handle these things. And in the end, it’s exactly what you need to pursue, especially if you want a seamless facility expansion process!
