United Utilities has moved away from its previous reliance on a single supplier with the award of the AMP7 maintenance contract to seven separate suppliers. United Utilities believe it will improve customer service and offer flexibility. But what are the other benefits? As one of the awarded suppliers, Sapphire, say: “the new contracts aim to bring efficiencies through innovative ways of working”. Yet, could it be that maintaining a mega contract is easier to manage if broken down into smaller parts and therefore the planning is more proactive and less likely ‘run-to-failure’?
There’s been an increasing trend of reactive maintenance where businesses operate reactively rather than proactively, and this is the case in water and wastewater as much as anywhere else. Taking the system and arranging it into smaller manageable sites is one approach that could make all the difference to successful maintenance and servicing.
This is encouraging and heartening to WES. As a company that’s worked with water and wastewater companies for decades providing chemical dosing solutions, we pride ourselves on being both flexible and innovative in our approach to each of our customers. We also pride ourselves on taking a proactive methodical approach to service and maintenance.
We have always been on hand to respond to a client emergency with WES’ Hire Service and units ready to be deployed with immediate effect. But it’s the maintenance and servicing of assets where we are able to add so much more value to the supply chain. It’s fair to say, that repairing is often trickier than manufacture or creation which is why regular servicing is vital. We have been involved in site-based mechanical installations for almost 30 years and remains a firm advocate of effective planning and site management as the key to the success of any site installation.
Whilst we are advocates of fully works built and tested systems, our service doesn’t stop at the workshop gates; Our fully trained engineers deliver, install, commission and service dosing systems in accordance with the requirements, as well as offering an emergency callout service.
When you’re managing a mega contract, having the service and maintenance planned from the outset means less likelihood of mains bursting, leaks and risk to customers and environment.