MaintenX, Author at Maintenx

Troubleshooting AC Issues After the Winter

In Florida, it is not uncommon to forgo running the air conditioning system in a home or facility or run it minimally during the winter months. Since it is cool enough most of the time to not require air conditioning, it can be a major cost saver in both electricity and wear on the system. Even if the AC system is being run less frequently or at higher temperatures, the difference in energy consumption is apparent immediately. When winter is over, however, there is often a spike in issues regarding AC systems due to their inactivity. What is the best way to mitigate these issues?

Troubleshooting Common AC Issues

Some issues with the air conditioning system can be resolved by remembering a few basic things. Firstly, some issues aren’t truly a problem and are just the result of the system having not been run in a while. For example, a mild burning smell is sometimes present when the system is turned on after a while due to the dust that was built up being blown around and flushed out. This should quickly go away and isn’t a cause for concern. Air filters are also an efficiency issue that is easily fixed. Many people forget to change their filters when the system is not in use, but doing so will increase air flow and generate less energy consumption when the system is back working again.

Setting Up Maintenance for the Summer

Some air conditioning issues are a problem and can be prevented with the right kind of maintenance plans. Even during the winter months, it is a good idea to schedule preventive maintenance to catch any issues that might be festering while the system isn’t being used as much so that major repairs aren’t needed later on. Individual parts that may have gotten rusty or worn down by the elements can be swapped out before they cause a breakdown. If you don’t have a maintenance plan set up now, it is certainly a good idea to prepare one for the summer when you will need your AC system the most.

We at MaintenX excel in setting up and executing preventative maintenance plans for facilities of all sizes. To learn more about how we can help you with yours and ensure that your AC system is running properly all year, please call us at (855) 751-0075.

Spring Landscaping Ideas For Outdoor Showrooms

As spring approaches, the aesthetics of the season shift with it from darker, cooler colors to brighter, happier ones. At this time, many companies shift their showrooms to reflect springtime and make modifications to their outdoor showrooms. If you are considering making changes to your showroom’s landscaping, here are a few ideas for getting started and into the spirit of the season.

Add flowers and floral arrangements.

Springtime is a time for flowers and this can easily be reflected in your showroom’s landscaping. Tulips and flowerpots are common fixtures in spring landscaping because of their vibrant nature. Affixing flowers in whimsical settings such as rustic wheelbarrows, lawn ornaments, terrace towers, and other items can also enhance the flowery appeal. Gardens are also common in spring with these kinds of patterns and would be a welcome addition to any outdoor showroom.

Consider the colors of the season.

Spring is all about bright, vibrant colors, so a fresh coat of paint may be exactly what the exterior of your showroom building needs. If it would suit the facility for later parts of the year as well, now might be a good time to repaint the area, especially while the weather is cool. If that doesn’t interest you, other enhancements can be made through colorful accessories. Flags, signs, and other fixtures can find a welcome home in springtime landscaping, so long as they are designed to fit the theme. Bringing in an outside perspective may help point you in the right direction on how you design your landscaping aesthetic.

Whether you know exactly what you want in your outdoor showroom or need some extra guidance, we at MaintenX are here to help. Among our many other facility maintenance services, we offer landscaping and painting services that are sure to help your outdoor showroom stand out this coming spring and for a long time to come. To learn more about the services we offer, please call us any time at (855) 751-0075.

Defining Sustainable Business in 2021

In today’s world, more and more businesses are putting an emphasis on being environmentally friendly, or “green.” This is a major paradigm shift from the early days of big business, where profits and efficiency were the first and only concern. Here in 2021, being environmentally friendly is almost a necessity for a business to be truly successful, and sustainability is a goal for even smaller businesses. How is sustainability measured in practice, and what can the world expect from businesses as the year goes on?

What exactly is sustainability?

Sustainability involves how a business uses energy and resources, from paper to water. In order for a facility to be truly sustainable, it must generate at least as much energy as it consumes. While this is a lofty goal, the pursuit of sustainability leads many facilities to approach perfection and minimize the amount of energy that they consume. Because energy consumption is heavily tied to pollution, sustainability is considered a major step towards a company being truly green.

What are the trends for the rest of 2021?

Many large companies have striven to create sustainable facilities over the past few years, and this is expected to continue in 2021. The primary avenue for companies to achieve this is to limit the amount of energy they consume by either installing products that are engineered to use less electricity or equipment that generates electricity, such as solar panels. Depending on your facility’s location, either of these are excellent routes to pursue and would be a big boon to the environment.

Whether you decide to install green equipment or generate energy of your own, we at MaintenX can assist. We’ve helped many facilities across the country in their pursuit of sustainability and can offer both advice and expert services to help install new equipment, modify existing ones, and maintain both for a long time to come. To learn more about our facility maintenance services, please call us any time at (855) 751-0075.

How to Make Socially-Distanced Workplaces More Employee-Friendly

In the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for socially-distanced workplaces in a way that was never needed before. As companies mandated that many employees work from home, the reality is that many employees across the country were unable to work remotely. In industrial facilities, an employee’s presence is necessary, and many companies scrambled to adhere to social distancing guidelines. If your facility falls into this category, here are some helpful tips for how to make socially-distanced workplaces more employee-friendly.

Position equipment in a distanced, but effective way.

While social distancing is an important concern for the health of your employees, it needn’t be at the expense of productivity. If the equipment in the facility is already positioned in a way that puts employees close together, now is the time to rearrange the furniture and separate out production-necessary machinery. So long as everyone is kept apart, it shouldn’t impact performance and you likely have the space in your facility to accommodate a move.

Give all employees plenty of room.

While the nature of social distancing requires employees to be six feet apart, they can be spread out farther. Employees will work better if they are comfortable, so if you have the space for it, give them even more room. Being apart doesn’t mean crammed in another room and ensuring that each employee has plenty of room to breathe is key to making it comfortable in these circumstances.

Work outside if possible.

Finally, although it may not be possible for all facilities, employees should be able to work outside if group meetings or activities are absolutely necessary. This should not be done if outdoor working is not feasible, but if it is possible, it is certainly a worthy option to consider.

As many companies still struggle to meet socially-distanced guidelines, many still have found comfortable balances to help both productivity and employee health and happiness. At MaintenX, we support all endeavors to make this possible and will help in any way we can through our facility maintenance and equipment management services. To learn more, please call us any time at (855) 751-0075.

Will We Meet These Sustainability Goals By 2030?

Sustainability is an important goal that both companies and individuals have been working toward for a long time. Businesses in particular have a higher responsibility to become more sustainable and thankfully it seems to be a trend that more and more businesses are implementing changes in pursuit of this goal. In the interest of setting tangible, clearly defined goals, the United Nations set up the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform to lay the roadmap for sustainability in the upcoming years and the result is powerful.

What are the 2030 sustainability goals?

The UN’s framework for sustainability laid out seventeen goals for all businesses to work for, with the expectation being that they should all be able to meet them within a decade. The list of goals is as follows:

To end poverty in all its forms everywhere.
To end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
To achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.
To ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
To ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
To promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
To build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
To reduce inequality within and among countries.
To make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
To ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
To take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
To conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.
To protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
To promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
To strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Will we reach these goals?

While these goals may seem lofty, they are completely attainable if we all do our part. If you are a business owner or facility manager, you have a social responsibility to work towards these goals as well, and you don’t have to do them alone. We at MaintenX are here to lend our support through our facility maintenance services and equal dedication to being as sustainable as possible. To learn more about our services and initiatives, please call us at (855) 751-0075.

The Importance of a Clean Office for Productivity

Having a clean office is not only important for the health and safety of employees, it also can be a major boon to productivity. When an office is kept clean, the effect on morale and employee perception of the company becomes apparent fairly quickly. Additionally, it allows for equipment to run more efficiently and thereby increases the productivity of normally running processes. If you are a facility manager, you should never forget the importance of maintaining a clean office and take measures to ensure it stays in proper condition.

The effect of cleanliness on morale

Firstly, the human factor of having a clean office should not be overlooked. When employees work in a clean environment, they not only tend to be healthier and happier, which is an important goal in and of itself, but also more productive. There has been shown to be a positive correlation between a clean working environment and employee morale. No one wants to work in an office they feel is unsafe and when people feel safe and clean, they work better, thus leading to better productivity.

Clean machines are effective machines

Additionally, equipment that is kept clean is much more likely to be in proper working order. When machines are kept clean, there is much less of a chance that rust and debris cause processes to slow down and cause issues with the equipment breaking down. Equipment shutdown is a majorly detriment to productivity and keeping the space around it clean will go a long way to reducing this risk. In addition, machines that are kept clean tend to have a longer life span, saving costs down the lines when replacement and repairs are not as frequently necessary.

Office space should always be kept clean and well maintained for the sake of both employees and equipment. If you don’t have the personnel to clean or perform long-term maintenance, it is always a good idea to outsource these services to experts that excel in the field of facility and office maintenance. We at MaintenX fit this description perfectly and would be happy to serve your company as we have for many before. To learn more, please call us any time at (855) 751-0075.

How to Perform in 2021 with a Reduced Maintenance Staff

Last year’s pandemic still lingers into this one and has brought with it many changes to how many companies conduct business. When times were tough, decisions had to be made to cut costs and ensure the longevity of many companies. Oftentimes, this was done through layoffs and positions and employees that were deemed non-essential to business processes were cut. Unfortunately, many companies still feel the effects of the pandemic and operate with a reduced staff, requiring creative planning to overcome facility challenges they may face in 2021.

Operating with a reduced maintenance staff

One area that many companies chose to cut is their facility maintenance staff. In theory, the logic behind this cut is sound: with fewer employees physically at a facility, there is less of a need to keep it maintained. The problems that might arise from this, however, are equally as apparent. As employees return to work, there is not only a greater need for maintenance, but the equipment and facility systems that have been idle or running at a minimal level now require greater maintenance in order to get back to proper working order. What is the best solution to this?

Outsourcing maintenance projects and tasks

There are a few ways to move into 2021 with a reduced maintenance staff. The simplest answer is to hire new maintenance employees, but this is not always feasible depending on budget and the candidates available. Another viable option is to outsource maintenance work to a third party company. By working with a maintenance company, you only need to pay for the projects and tasks that are being completed instead of keeping an employee on salary the whole time. Additionally, you can be assured that all work is being completed correctly and don’t need to worry about training and potential complications that could result from having new employees.

At MaintenX, we have a highly trained team of expert technicians that are always at the ready to assist in any maintenance task or project. There is no job that is too big or too small, from routine preventative maintenance to major facility renovations and repairs. To learn more about our services and to work with us today, please call (855) 751-0075.

Cutting 2021 Maintenance Costs

As a result of the pandemic that began last year, many companies are actively looking for ways to salvage profits by reducing costs. While there are many routes that a business can take, one area in which it is easy to cut costs is facility maintenance. That is not to say that maintenance should be forgone or minimized, but rather that more efficient ways should be found to reduce the amount spent on maintenance, working smarter rather than harder to bring down maintenance costs.

Always engage in preventative maintenance.

The single best and most effective way to reduce maintenance costs is to set up a preventative maintenance plan. While there is an initial cost to preventative maintenance, it is minimal compared to what would be spent in the major repair or full equipment replacement that would be necessary if it is not engaged in. By performing regular checks and small modifications over time, emergency situations can be avoided and therefore actual cost is prevented in the long term. Additionally, downtime due to mechanical failure is also avoided, saving major costs in the form of lost productivity.

Consider bringing in an outside maintenance team.

If you are running an unsustainable maintenance staff at your office or facility, it may be a good idea to consider switching to an outside maintenance team instead. Especially in smaller facilities and companies, it is cheaper to pay another company when maintenance projects and tasks are necessary than to keep a full time employee on salary for work that might not be necessary all the time. That being said, you want to always be sure you are hiring an expert company that knows what they’re doing and can complete maintenance tasks efficiently and correctly to also save long term costs.

At MaintenX, we strive to be this kind of maintenance team for your company and facility and have all of the skills and experience necessary to complete any maintenance task set before us. Whether you are looking for long-term preventative maintenance or a one time renovation project, we are at the ready to help where and when we are needed. To learn more, please call (855) 751-0075 any time.

Restaurant Maintenance Tips in the Kitchen

Restaurants are one of the most difficult kinds of businesses to run successfully, but they have major payoffs if done correctly. In order to keep a restaurant operating smoothly, the kitchen must be the focus of maintenance as it is the heart of the restaurant and the most important for its operations. In order to keep the kitchen well-maintained, follow these practices.

Keep the kitchen and its appliances clean.

Not only is it a necessary practice to maintain compliance with health codes, but it is also important for maintenance purposes to keep the kitchen and its appliances clean. Kitchen appliances that are cleaned regularly last longer and therefore require less frequent repairs and replacements. Cleaning is also important because the water and oils present in kitchens dirty appliances more frequently than in most business facilities. If deep cleaning is done every day, it is much easier to stay on top of and reduces the risks associated with cleaning less thoroughly over time.

Perform preventative maintenance on kitchen equipment.

Like other kinds of business facilities, kitchen equipment should be treated with preventative maintenance; that is, the frequent checking of performance and minor repairs in an effort to prevent breakdowns and serious issues. All kinds of kitchen equipment should be well-maintained in this way and setting up a schedule to do so will help in both the short and long term. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) may be a worthwhile investment, as it allows for a well-organized chart of preventative maintenance with reminders to schedule and perform tasks.

Restaurant maintenance is highly dependent on kitchen equipment and cleanliness, so these are factors you never want to overlook. If you don’t have the staff to maintain your kitchen appliances on your own, outsource them to an expert team of maintenance professionals, such as that of MaintenX. To learn about our preventative maintenance and repair services, please call us at (855) 751-0075 at any time.

Are You Spending Too Much on Maintenance?

Maintenance is an important aspect of managing a facility, as proper execution ensures that all business processes in the facility will run smoothly. The cost of not performing maintenance or performing it poorly greatly outweighs the cost of performing it, so it is always something worth investing in. That being said, there is such a thing as spending too much on maintenance. If you suspect that you might be spending too much on maintenance, now is a good time to assess where your maintenance money is going and what you can do to bring costs down.

Preventative maintenance versus reactive maintenance

One of the most prominent costs of facility maintenance is that of reactive maintenance, the kind of maintenance performed when equipment needs to be repaired or replaced. Waiting until equipment breaks down or gets to the point of breakdown is costly in and of itself, but becomes even more costly when you consider the downtime that is often a result of equipment being unavailable. To reduce this cost, set up a preventative maintenance that performs regular checks and small updates over time to prevent emergency situations from happening. There is a small cost to this in the short term, but it pays off greatly in the long run.

Employing a maintenance staff versus outsourcing tasks and projects

Another major cost to facility maintenance lies in the keeping of a high maintenance staff. Not all businesses and facilities can sustain having full time employees on salary and therefore it is sometimes the better option to outsource maintenance tasks and projects. By only paying for services as needed, you can reduce the overall cost of maintenance. Of course, this should never be done at the cost of not having maintenance completed, which is why prudence and planning is important when considering this option.

If you are looking to set up a preventative maintenance plan or hire a maintenance company to assist with tasks and projects, we at MaintenX are here to help. To learn more about our expert facility maintenance services, please call us any time at (855) 751-0075.

Author: MaintenX