Your Factory Relocation Checklist
The process of any relocation project can be long, frustrating and costly. However, if it's suitable for your business objectives, planning, checking and rechecking is the best way to achieve a positive move. The planning aims to eliminate unnecessary complications that may lead to more expenses or delay getting your new manufacturing facility up and running with all machinery needed. Planning a time schedule helps start the plant relocation and ensures efficiency throughout, from moving machinery to changes in the employee team.
You need a consistent moving process, careful scheduling of machinery quantities, proper documentation of unique asset tags and identification numbers, risk assessments and best practices to ensure a smooth relocation for your factory.
Below is a simple checklist that can help you get ready and achieve your objectives:
Step 1: Review Your Relocation Decision
Step 2: Communicate Your Intent to Move
Step 3: Create a Layout for Your New Facility
Step 4: Prepare Company's Quality Management System Documents and Records for Transfer
Step 5: Consider Your Identification and Traceability Requirements
Step 6: Preserve Products during Transit
Step 7: Re-calibrate any Precision Equipment
Step 8: Test Your Machinery after the Move
Step 9: Perform an Internal Audit
Step 10: Start Final Review
Step 1: Review Your Decision to Relocate
It may seem unlikely, but according to studies, many businesses decide to move on a whim with minimal planning, and it's often not necessary, practical or warranted. However, if you review your relocation decision and it still stands, it's time to move forward and create a plant relocation schedule.
You should nominate a dedicated person from your team to scrutinise resource demands, risks, legal issues and all other requirements involved in your move to a new facility. Senior management or staff need to be engaged to help you determine a clear picture of what will be required in the plant move.
You should also check the new location of your production facility and utility locations to ensure it has access to sufficient resources to run machinery and enable a successful continuation of your business. The need for sufficient water, Internet access, gas, electrical power, roadway access, and others have all been the cause of businesses floundering around and having to pay out for expensive options.
Step 2: Communicate Your Intent to Move
It would help if you made your assembly line, investment team and authorities aware of your intention for a factory relocation to a new site as soon as possible. Even moving a relatively short distance can mean tough decisions for some employees. If it's going to be a move to a different region entirely, there's more to consider for your teams' sake.
It's essential to be clear whether you will choose or offer to relocate your key employees from your team to the new facility. If so, you should plan and perhaps incentivise your key people, pivotal specialists and talented employees to retain them after the relocation.
In your communication to customers, you should indicate any effects you anticipate your relocation would have on production schedules. Planning for the time during relocation minimises disruption to customers and employees.
Step 3: Create a Layout for Your New Facility
Your transition experience will be far better when you have precise machinery, overhead equipment and a workstation placement plan or checklist ahead.
While planning the layout with accurate drawings, you should adhere to lean manufacturing principles. For instance, minimise the time products spend moving from one plant to another.
You should also provide extra protection for your products and equipment with special foundations so that you do not face unique challenges while travelling.
Relocation offers you a chance to rearrange your workflow, perfect your work layout and maximise the effectiveness of operations.
Step 4: Prepare Company's QMS Documents and Records for Transfer
You should ensure all your vital Quality Management System documents (QMS) and programming data are prepared for reissue at your new facility before partial production goes ahead. Be prepared for any personnel changes by checking the accuracy of your distribution list before relocation.
It would be best if you planned to transfer all your other records and on-site data storage to your new facility and ensure they are secure according to GDPR. Your relocating checklist should cover the risk of documents and work instructions being lost during transit. Secure and updated data backups protect you in the event of unforeseen issues.
Step 5: Consider Your Identification and Traceability Requirements
A clearly defined process should be in place if you store or hold client property on your site or new shop floor layout. Any unfinished work should be paid particular attention to, as essential elements could become separated during relocation.
Making sure everything is in an accessible location should be a priority, a clean layout will help an effective relocation. Creating an inventory and tracking each entry during your move will reduce the possibility of customer tooling, materials, parts and maintenance records being lost. It would be best if you recorded the safe arrival of and the condition of client property following transit and any changes or issues noted.
Step 6: Preservation of Products during Transit
You must ensure products maintain their prevailing condition whilst it's moving to your new facility. If you utilise any products with a short shelf life, they should be processed first. All pieces and spare parts should remain intact for reinstalling once you arrive at the new site or column locations.
Step 7: Re-calibrate Precision Equipment
Using equipment that requires precise calibration, professionals should carefully consider packing and transportation to keep it in line with the required tolerance. The equipment should be inspected and tested before use, when it arrives at your new facility, to ensure it's still accurate within its stated parameters. You should re-calibrate any adversely affected equipment in steps before use to ensure it will perform adequately at its connection points.
Step 8: Test Your Equipment after the Move
All factory machinery, equipment and plant moved from your old facility to your new facility must be passed as fit for purpose. Doing so means it all needs to be tested before being reinstalled or reinstated.
It's tempting to assume that everything will arrive on your new site, but you need to be positive it all works. A defective plant can mean expensive delays and perhaps worse for you and your contractors. Having a layout for the machinery will help re connect it all quicker and get the business on the go.
Step 9: Perform an Performance Internal Audit
Once your new facility is operating, internal audits across each part of the process will ensure it remains operationally smooth. It includes every piece of plant and machinery.
Step 10: Final Review
The final review is the last step. You must take a retrospective view of your move from the first steps to signing off as a company. By analysing each step, you and your staff can learn valuable lessons, and you can prevent any problems from happening again in your building or the next.
There is a great deal of common sense involved in moving your factory. However, even the most experienced people can miss the obvious when it's staring us in the face. Hopefully, your move will be well planned and mapped out, and you will identify and document any issues so that they will all go smoothly in the future. A relocation checklist or various planning can ensure moving your factory and machinery is efficient.
Why Is Factory Relocation The Answer?
We understand that it's challenging to navigate the many fields and business industries right now. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, it has been a great struggle for businesses to remain open and relevant to customers and tradespeople.
Over this time, there have been many operational changes after sufficient health and safety protocols were introduced to benefit new suppliers, customers and employees.
However, this has meant that many industries and factories have experienced disruptions with supply chains. With many encouraged to stay at home and shield during the lockdown, staff numbers wildly decreased, and products were often lacking in numbers.
Ultimately, such happenstances affect your company's bottom line. The industrial fields are currently experiencing substantial financial troubles, as the need for purchasing essentials like toilet paper, hand sanitiser and various others, instead of extraneous spending on clothing, home decor, gifts, etc. Manufacturing firms at this stage are either shifting their production to provide more essential items or medical equipment.
So, you're probably wondering how your business can bounce back after these events and how you, an industrial manufacturer, can stay relevant to the market post-pandemic? If you are lucky and your business is frequently booming, you must figure out how to accommodate the demand increase. We find that one of the best ways to do so is through factory relocation. There are two reasons we come to this conclusion:
Fiscal Stability
Many manufacturing firms are being forced to slow their production down. Downsizing your factory allows bringing fiscal stability. There have been numerous industrial factories that have had to halt their entire production process.
However, there is an excellent opportunity to sell; it will allow you to pocket fiscal differences between your existing and new property. If your factory remains dormant, your fiscal earnings from its sale will allow you enough money to get through these difficult times.
Returning On Investment
Manufacturing spaces have managed to remain viable and relevant through accommodating customers and employees with essential medical equipment. It's what has allowed many businesses to expand and stay open. It may help move to a much larger factory to better meet your company's production demand.
This guide was created to help you to plan for successful business relocation. Projector Lifting Service Ltd have more than 189 years of experience in heavy machinery lifting and relocation and can help you plan a safe and efficient move. Our wide range of lifting equipment and experience means that we can move anything from generators, transformers and injection moulding machinery to crematoria and Euro shuttle locos.
Please feel free to call if you need any advice, guidance, or help cleaning and moving heavy or awkward plants in your inventory, machines or equipment. The staff on board our services are capable of helping you with installation. Our talented team is always happy to help; contact us for further information or a free quotation using our phone number or email address. We'll help you develop a well-laid plan and factory relocation checklists.
Follow the link below to find out more about our factory relocation heavy lifting services or for a quotation for a bespoke contract lifting service or heavy lifting up to 453 tonnes.