Plant Relocation Tips
If you are considering relocating one or multiple plants, then you have a pretty big task ahead of you. There are a lot of things that you will need to plan for and keep track of, which is made even more stressful by the fact that a small mistake could end up costing you a lot of money. Here are some tips that you should consider before seriously committing to plant relocation:
Evaluate the State of Your Equipment
When planning to relocate, you might want to make your destination facility as similar to the origin facility as possible. This could mean getting a facility has an identical layout or transporting all of your current equipment to the new facility. However, this might not always make the most economic sense.
Buying New vs Moving Old
Shipping your current equipment can be a pretty expensive proposition, so you will need to weigh that cost against the price of new equipment. Of course, you will probably also need to factor in the distance that you will need to transport the new equipment to reach your facility. In some cases, buying new equipment could be best, especially if your current equipment is particularly old. Some equipment is too fragile to be shipped normally, which might drive up the cost of shipping by a huge margin. If you are unable to secure a cost effective means of shipping such equipment, then buying new and starting over could be your best bet.
You'll also need to weigh those cost factors against the less quantitative attributes of your old equipment. In some cases, getting new equipment can improve morale and productivity. This boost could be substantial enough to tip the scales in favor of buying new equipment rather than shipping the old.
Evidence for Shipping Damage
Another big factor that you need to consider is the potential for damage during shipping. In many cases, you will hire an outside contractor to ship your equipment for you. If something is damaged, you will want to be able to prove that the damage happened during shipping, since that could allow you to pursue compensation (or even a lawsuit if all else fails) against the shipping company. Therefore, you want to make detailed documentation (including photos) of the status of every single piece of equipment before it is shipped. This also has the secondary benefit of improving organization and helping make the move easier, since you will have detailed records of absolutely everything that was transported. When you are moving a lot of stuff, it can be easy to lose track of certain pieces of equipment.
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