Discover the Benefits of Preventative Maintenance

January 4, 2022

Here’s a kernel of wisdom we’ve come to appreciate over the years:
If you don’t schedule time for maintenance, your compressed air equipment will schedule it for you.

At Air Solutions Canada, we’re big proponents of preventative maintenance programs.

Even the best equipment will eventually break down if it’s not properly maintained. Too often, breakdowns from neglect tend to be the most costly to repair. That’s not even taking into account the costs associated with your plant being down or having to set up rental equipment during the repair period.

We encourage our clients to think of preventative maintenance the same way they think about maintaining a vehicle.

Do you replace your tires when the treads start to wear, or do you wait until you have a blowout on the highway? Do you replace your oil every 5,000 kilometres, or do you wait until your car is belching blue smoke?

But nobody likes paying for things we don’t think we need. We get that. Maintenance plans can often seem costly and unnecessary. After all, if your machine is running smoothly today, why spend money on it?

At Air Solutions Canada, we’ve provided turnkey industrial compressed air solutions since 1997. In that time, we’ve serviced thousands of compressed air systems in facilities across the GTA and throughout Southwestern Ontario. We see the benefits of regular preventative maintenance and the pitfalls of neglect on a daily basis. That’s why we offer preventative maintenance plans for our customers.

Preventative Maintenance FAQs

How can a preventative maintenance plan save my company money?

Saving money is a given when preventative maintenance is performed on time by qualified staff using quality parts and lubricants. Yes, you will need to spend money on parts and labour, but we encourage you to consider this a relatively small investment to reduce the risk of downtime, which is usually exponentially more costly.

Here are some of the specific results of an air compressor breakdown.

Lost production
Compressor rental fees (including hook up)
Inconvenience
Refuelling
Rush shipping
Emergency repair costs
Hasty decision making
Catastrophic failure, beyond economic repair
Unbudgeted/unplanned replacement costs
Panic & stress - It’s hard to put a dollar value on these, but you know the toll they take

How much does a preventative maintenance plan cost and how much do I stand to save?

What payment options do I have for a maintenance plan?

Option 1. “Pay-as-You-Go”
With our pay-as-you-go plans, prices are fixed for the duration of a one- or two-year plan. Whenever we install a part or perform labour, we bill accordingly, on a time and materials basis.

Option 2. Fixed Fee
Do you prefer the predictability of fitting a fixed fee plan into your annual budget? We’re happy to do that. We first assess the hours your compressors will be operating. Then, from the shift patterns, we estimate the required frequency of your service calls and the quantity of parts, oil, and labour required to perform those services.

Option 3. Payment Plans
Want to spread the preventative maintenance plan costs over semiannual, quarterly, or monthly payments? No problem. Almost 75% of our plans are formatted this way. You get one fixed invoice value two, four, or twelve times per year.

Can I purchase a preventative maintenance plan from Air Solutions Canada for non-Kaeser equipment?

If production times are reduced during the year, how does that impact our maintenance plan?

Are all of your maintenance plans the same?

No, every client’s preventative maintenance plans are tailored to our clients’ needs. They can be set up to suit any size and type of compressed air system. We can create plans for small or large piston, vane, rotary screw, and oil-free compressors, dryers, filters, drains, and condensate separators.

Because we have the largest compressed air service team in Southwestern Ontario and a fleet of rental compressors, maintenance can be scheduled any time you want, including nights and weekends. You’re the boss here. Tell us to jump and we will ask “how high?”

Is there technology that helps predict maintenance issues?

Yes, as a Kaeser dealer, we are licensed to sell and install Kaeser’s Sigma Air Manager 4.0 system (SAM). SAM integrates all of the components of your compressed air system, monitors, analyzes, and controls performance in real time, and provides warning, maintenance, alarm, and operational messages.

The combination of remote diagnostics and needs-based preventative maintenance help ensure maximum compressed air supply dependability. Through permanent availability of compressed air system process data and the resulting permanent analysis, it’s possible to identify the perfect point in the future when your compressed air system should be maintained and serviced.

Are there specific types of businesses for which preventative maintenance plans work best?

Any customer of any size can benefit from a preventative maintenance plan. Whether it’s a one-person operation with a 3-HP piston compressor, or a 1,000-person plant with a 5,000HP compressor.

Our customers include every facet of industry that uses compressed air: food and beverage, brewing, dairy, pharmaceuticals, automotive, municipal, hospitals, chemical plants, textiles, paper, electronics, aerospace, rubber, and steel (to name a few).

Do you outsource any of your maintenance work?

Remember, We’re in this Together.

We could certainly come in and recommend a replacement for every broken down, poorly maintained piece of equipment we come across with a shiny new model. When the efficiency savings outweigh the costs, we definitely do that. But ultimately, we’d rather sell you a new compressor because your business and not because your current compressor broke down.

Our aim is to partner with you to help you maximize the life and efficiency of your compressed air equipment, decreasing the cost of ownership. A proper preventative maintenance plan will reduce your total cost of ownership and keep your operation humming, without any nasty or expensive surprises along the way. That’s better for your company and for ours in the long run.

Get in touch if you'd like to set up a preventative maintenance plan for your compressed air system. You won't regret it.