We’re already well into the New Year, which means that if you’ve not yet had a chance to take stock of your process, procedures and equipment, now is still a great time to do it! Naturally, the most pressing areas that need attention will likely vary from business to business, but if you’re stuck on places to start, here at LED Controls, we’ve collated a couple of our top suggestions for what to look at first! 

Safety

This is an obvious one, but still worth starting with anyway. The start of a New Year is always an excellent opportunity to re-examine your existing assets and processes, and if there are any current or impending safety risks that it’s worth addressing. Maybe some ageing machinery could do with being replaced for example, or your RCDs could benefit from an expert examination. Perhaps some of your team could benefit from additional Personal Protective Equipment for certain jobs, or more sophisticated replacements. 

And if everything seems fine to you, it’s still worth asking some of your team have any suggestions, as they may have spotted things you may have missed. (We’ll come onto more about that in just a moment!)

Efficiency

In today’s increasingly uncertain economy, with rising energy costs making life steadily more difficult for business owners, operational efficiency has never been more important. It’s therefore a good idea to take a look to see if there are any proactive measures you can implement to improve the efficiency of your operations – both in terms of procedures for your staff, and in actual mechanical efficiency for your equipment. This is where assets like Programmable Logic Controllers and Variable Speed Drives can particularly come in handy, as they can help to optimise the energy usage of some of your most energy-intensive pieces of equipment – which can ultimately help you make significant savings in the long run. 

AI and emerging technologies

In the world of industrial engineering and factory automation, it’s always crucial to make sure you’re looking forward to what’s next on the technological horizon, so that you stay on the cutting-edge. Even if (for whatever reason) you’re not quite ready to implement the latest advancements, it’s still worth keeping yourself abreast of what’s going on in the industry, so you can stay competitive. The biggest one, of course, is artificial intelligence – something we’ve written about at length recently here on the blog!

Employee feedback

This is an equally important area to focus on, but it can sometimes be easy to overlook. Once you’ve tackled any obvious areas for improvement in your operations, it’s always worth asking your team to see if they have any feedback. Since they’re on the ‘frontlines’, as it were, you may find that they’re able to tell you about current or emerging issues that may not otherwise have been obvious. Not only can this pay dividends for your business, but as an extra bonus, it can help your employees feel even more valued, strengthening your team even further and allowing your business to benefit further as a result. 

With more than two decades of experience here at LED Controls, we supply a wide range of components including Programmable Logic Controllers, variable speed drives, and Motor Control Gear equipment – many sourced from globally-renowned manufacturers, including IMO and ABB. Feel free to look at what we’ve got available, and if you have any questions or need any advice, you can always give us a call on 01706 242050. We’re here to help!