When you’re faced with a high repair bill or replacement cost, consider this an opportune time to go for an upgrade. Maybe the direct replacement doesn’t really match your present needs or maybe you wish you had functionality that a direct replacement won’t provide. But what usually happens when that opportunity presents itself?
You seldom, if ever, have the time to make the upgrade happen. Reasons include the need to:
- Research and specify the equipment.
- Obtain capital approval.
- Plan the job.
For example, an 800A breaker fails to open properly during breaker testing. You can get a direct replacement locally, but for this feeder you want remote monitoring and that unit would have to be ordered.
What’s the solution to the “no time to upgrade this” situation? It’s called planning. Major steps include:
- Identify the upgrade opportunities for specific assets.
- Prioritize these based on predictive maintenance data, tackling the most urgent ones first.
- Write the capital request or get the upgrade purchase preapproved based on some value of repair or replacement cost.
- Write a work plan for implementation
