Idle plant and replacement projects
A replacement project can leave useful equipment without a future role. It can also reveal work that the old process still needs to finish. These guides help owners decide what the new operation must support before giving instructions about the surplus.
Start with the product range if the project is still being defined. For equipment already in use, look at operator coverage, support and the evidence behind expected output. Technical assessments stay with the competent people responsible for the actual equipment and site.
The work the business intends to keep
- Agree the product range a replacement machine must cover
- Find the rare jobs still tied to the old machine
- Where will prototype and development work go after the upgrade?
- Can an outside supplier take the process you no longer need in-house?
- Revisit an equipment replacement when the expected work disappears
- Does the customer need to accept the new production method?
Checking the operating assumptions
- Will the replacement process suit your small batches?
- A faster machine can leave the next operation behind
- Compare energy use against useful output after an equipment change
- Test the labour assumptions behind an equipment upgrade
- The new machine is running but the promised output is missing
People, information and technical responsibility
- Who can run the replacement equipment when the trainer leaves?
- What should the replacement supplier hand over to your business?
- Give inspection decisions an owner in the replacement project
- An old machine needs a repair while its replacement is planned
- How many equipment changes can the business manage at once?
- Keep maintenance responsibility clear while old and new plant overlap
- Which production files are still trapped on the retiring machine?
- Plan for rework that arrives after the old process has ended
- Who handles the first problem after the commissioning team leaves?
Changes that affect the surplus scope
- Check fixtures and gauges before declaring a process replaced
- Stop new work being routed to a machine you are retiring
- Stop buying consumables for a process that is ending
- Who can approve spending on equipment already marked for sale?
- Keep the replacement project’s surplus list in step with the actual change
- Close the equipment project with its surplus decisions still visible
If the change also involves premises, see relocation decisions. If several operations are being combined, the downsizing and consolidation guides address the wider business arrangement.
Discuss equipment the business has released with UK Auction Group, giving the current scope and any confirmed timing conditions.
Return to all business closure topics.