Best Practices in Equipment Management
Part 5: Utilize Reservations to Manage Transportable Equipment
Typically equipment management is taken most seriously by those organizations who have a lot of equipment and the equipment is used in several locations. These organizations are the source of the best equipment management practices. Good example are the performing arts organizations and educational facilities. One critical element of equipment management for these organizations is managing reservations.
Equipment reservations mean that personnel create reservations for the equipment they need through a common system. This is extremely practical with short term equipment needs, such as events, projects, productions or temporary work sites. For long term usage, the more recommended method is to address the ownership of the equipment.
Due to efficient reseervations of equipment, problems related to equipment loss are easier to track. The history log of reservations also help to understand the asset usage rate and improve investment decisions for the future.
In addition to the mentioned benefits, the equipment reservations function as running inventory. When it's clear which devices have been reserved and accurately returned, it's easy to determine that those devices are still under the posession of the managing organization.
Active use of a reservations sytem requires committed personnel. For this reaason, it's highly important to create and maintain a good asset management culture.
NEXT:
Part 6: Effortless Maintenance Planning and Easy Defect Reports