Capital Equipment News August 2018

TCO & UPTIME

Volvo CE has developed some innovative tools aimed at helping customers reduce their TCO and maximise machine uptime.

Addressing crucial operational parameters

At this year’s Volvo Days, Volvo Construction Equipment cast the spotlight on total cost of ownership and uptime, two principal parameters of sheer significance to every earthmoving equipment owner, writes Munesu Shoko .

I nvestments in capital equipment, such as earthmoving equipment, are such big-ticket purchases. It’s important to note that the ongoing costs once you have signed on the dotted line are as important as the upfront capital price. This brings to the fore a very important subject matter – total cost of ownership (TCO) – which is a key consideration for today’s machine owners when making those buying decisions. In today’s operating environment, there is need to look at the bigger picture, not just the upfront equipment cost. When buying a machine, purchasers consider how much that equipment will cost over time. There are many definitions of TCO, but to put it in simple terms, it is a performance measure meant to uncover the lifetime costs associated with the piece of equipment, both before and after it’s purchase. Apart from TCO, another important parameter is uptime. Equipment owners pay big bucks for their mission critical assets they need to keep their businesses running. No matter how good the product is, any unplanned downtime leads to the end users’ loss of productivity, increased costs and ultimately no income. Therefore, it’s important that these pieces of equipment must be kept running at maximum capacity, 24/7/365. Uptime is now the buzzword of the industry. Unexpected downtime can be extremely costly

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