Manufacturers are becoming aware of the importance of uptime and its impact on their success. Uptime is a key performance indicator for manufacturers to ensure their success. It considers all possible downtime caused by both scheduled and unscheduled events.
Unlike with other industries, representing uptime produces value-added goods for customers. This is because when uptime is high, the production line is making money for a manufacturing company. Downtime can create major damage to a manufacturing business. Every minute that a manufacturer’s operations aren’t up and running, there’s a chance that revenue is being lost.
Downtime can be caused by technology issues that interfere with production. It can also be caused by scheduled maintenance or unscheduled stoppages. Unplanned downtime can be debilitating to manufacturers who rely on their technology to stay competitive.
What’s needed is real data to see how your technology is running over time. It can provide true context into negative events that may be occurring. This way you can determine if downtime is increasing and have your IT provider quickly take action to resolve issues. Tracking downtime will give you the ability to move away from guesswork towards a more data-driven business.
With a comprehensive range of services, your IT provider can help you improve uptime with:
Manufacturers are improving uptime by moving to subscription-based IT models. You no longer need to maintain your own hardware and software, and uptime is guaranteed in the provider’s Service Level Agreement. You pay for services via a monthly subscription or a pay-as-you-go system. This performance-based business model keeps uptime at the center of your strategies and requirements.
Preventive solutions will keep your technology running and improve uptime. Your IT provider can remote in and detect when issues occur and usually resolve them right away. Or, they will come to your site within a few hours to get you back online and running. The ultimate best practice for reducing downtime in manufacturing is proactive and preventative maintenance.
Manufacturing businesses today are storing data that’s of interest to hackers. Intellectual property such as product proposals, digital prints, and trade secrets regarding proprietary manufacturing processes is valuable to cybercriminals both inside and outside our country.
If your operations are knocked offline due to a cyberattack, or bad actors get hold of your company secrets, your manufacturing business is at risk of failure. Work with your IT service provider to do as the National Institute of Standards and Technology advises in their “Cybersecurity Framework Manufacturing Profile.”
With both manmade and natural disasters, and to ensure uptime, manufacturing companies are having to adopt new backup and disaster-recovery solutions. You must store large volumes of business-critical data, from engineering drawings and product documentation, to supply chain and accounting information. Storing this safely in-house is untenable. An IT provider has the enterprise-based backup and disaster recovery solutions that will protect your data and restore it in an emergency. Your data must be backed up properly, protected and secure, and restorable after an emergency to ensure uptime.
When you work with the right IT service provider, you’ll quickly realize the benefits of uptime. Maximizing uptime isn’t a one-size fits all solution – it’s an “all-of-the-above” and customized endeavor. No one method is enough. IT providers have developed best practices through decades of experience and collaboration. The right IT provider can help you make the best use of your IT resources to improve efficiency and uptime.
The IT professionals at adNET Technology Management deliver the IT services and solutions that our clients in the manufacturing industry need to overcome obstacles and improve uptime. Contact the team at adNET Technology Management for a complimentary IT Assessment to learn more.
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