As with any preventative maintenance program, an effective vehicle scale maintenance program will reduce service costs over the lifetime of a scale. Here are 5 key elements.

1. Calibration Frequency Assessment

There is no guarantee that after initial Certification and calibration that your scale will remain within calibration and operate accurately. Therefore, you must manage this aspect of the business or else it will cost you.

First and foremost you have to determine:

• average weighments
• commodity values
• average number of daily transactions
• number of days the scale is used per year
• what your typical as-found calibration errors are
• acceptable error levels

This information is required to determine calibration frequency, and determine financial impact of a scale being down unexpectedly.

2. Financial Assessment

There are three parts of the financial assessment. Typically a preventative maintenance program only includes the first part. This part includes of all are the costs associated with the preventative maintenance program such as labour. The second and third parts that are often overlooked are just as important.

The second part is an assessment of opportunity cost. This is the cost of having the scale down unexpectedly. In essence your scale is a cash register. The longer it is not in use, the more money you will lose.

The third part is an assessment of lost revenue due to inaccuracy. The more inaccurate the scale, the more money you can lose. Not to mention the potential fines by Measurement Canada.

3. Regular Housekeeping

One of the best ways to minimize service costs is regular housekeeping. Unfortunately, housekeeping is often viewed as menial work. As result it is put-off because nobody wants to do it, or due to the perception that a company’s money is better spent having high paid workers doing other work. Though this may be the case in the short term, the long term costs of having to have repairs be completed by a scale service technician exceed the cost of having employees conduct housekeeping.

4. Regular Inspections

Along with regular housekeeping, regular inspections should be conducted. The frequency will vary depending on the use of the scale, and the value of the commodity weighed. If you are not sure what types of things to be be looking for during inspections, your Precision Scale Client Advisor will be glad to assist in documenting what is required during an inspection.

5. Use Of Measurement Canada Certified ASPs

Many of the scale companies are only registered with Measurement Canada. Companies that are registered only cannot certify the scales without a Measurement Canada representative showing up on your site to certify the scale after the Registered parties have completed their work. Whereas an ASP that is Measurement Canada Certified can certify the scale themselves. This will save you time on your inspections, and repairs. The sooner your scale is operational again, the sooner you will continue making money.

Still have questions about setting up a vehicle scale maintenance program? Want to get started today? Contact one of our scale experts at sales@precisionscale.com, or call 1-800-831-5657 8:00 am to 4:30 pm MST.