When Change is Good: The Top Essentials for Moving Your Plant, Factory or Facility

When Change is Good: The Top Essentials for Moving Your Plant, Factory or Facility

The decision to move your business premises is not one you take lightly but if the business is on the up and you need to relocate, it is time to embrace change and think about how you are going to plan the move so it is a success.

Industrial relocation requires meticulous planning and your attention to detail has to be spot on.

Here is a guide to the essential elements of moving your business to a new factory or facility. There is a look at the basics that need to be on your checklist, such as how to eliminate mistakes and why appointing a project manager is essential.

No margin for error

Moving home is challenging enough but transferring your business to a new industrial location will take the task to a new level.

Despite the complexity of setting up and equipping the plant plus all the other things on your agenda, you will find that creating a comprehensive checklist will help you plan the move from start to finish.

Your first task is put together a workable plan. This involves detailing everything you need to do between now and starting life in your new location.

Draft layout

You will need to work out exactly where all your plant machinery and equipment are going to go in your new premises.

Work out the logistics of where certain machines need to go and talk about how materials are going to be stored.  You might also need some external help to create a layout of the assembly line unless you have the in-house expertise to put your layout together yourself.

Consider using industrial plant services to help you successfully relocate your machinery. They will be able to use the layout plan created find a way of ensuring everything goes to plan.

Good time for a review

Planning a move to new premises gives you a great opportunity to do an audit of all your equipment and materials.

If you have unused materials and parts that are taking up valuable warehouse space at the moment, there is little point transporting these items to your new premises.

Review what you need to take with you and arrange to sell or recycle the unwanted items before you go.

It could also be a good time to think about upgrading any equipment that is nearing the end of its life cycle. Reducing what you take with you will cut your moving costs and ensure that your new site is leaner and achieves better efficiency.

Limited downtime

Time is money, which is why you will want to do everything you can to limit the downtime in your facility.

The way to do this is to develop a workable relocation and installation schedule.

You have to accept that there will inevitably be a period of time when the machinery is switched off in your old facility before everything is up and running at your new location, but if you create a schedule, you can minimize the disruption by arranging to stagger the relocation.

You might decide to keep some systems up and running in your old facility to meet urgent orders and keep things ticking over. Then set a date for switching over in the new plant as soon as possible.

Review your core processes and production requirements and use this information to create a schedule that allows you to suffer only minimal disruption.

Cutting down on the mistakes

Even the best-laid plans can fall apart at the seams. There are no guarantees when it comes to relocating your business, but you can take steps to cut down on the mistakes and improve the odds of a successful move.

Think about all the reasons why you are moving in the first place.

It could be that your business is expanding and you need larger premises to cope with demand. Or, it might be that you are moving to a more convenient location where transport networks will improve your efficiency. Whatever the reason for your relocation, address these issues directly but don’t focus too narrowly on only a few aspects of the move. This will increase the chances of missing something else that could create a problem down the line.

The most common mistakes are hurrying the move and trying to achieve the relocation too cheaply. Give yourself enough time and work out a viable budget so that you can enjoy a smooth transition when the moving date arrives.

Appoint a project manager

The key to a successful move is appointing someone to take charge of the relocation.

If you decide to take control of the move yourself or hand the responsibility to someone else within the business, you or they respectively will need to become the go-to person for everything connected to the move.

This is a vital and varied role. Keeping everyone informed on progress and scheduling tasks are just some of the duties a project manager has to fulfill.

If you get the planning right and take your time to check every aspect of the move, there is every chance that a change of scenery could turn out to be good for your business.

Tony Cygan is the Business Manager for heavy industrial rigging contractor providing rigging, relocation and dismantlement services in Mid-Atlantic region and nationally. Value-added services include transport, warehousing & storage, crating and packaging. Machine and equipment sales and liquidation services provided through A&A Machinery Sales, Inc.