If you’re in the food and beverage industry, you’ll know better than anyone just how critical timing can be. Freshness is everything. And so, when harvest time comes around, it’s all hands-on deck and – quite literally – full steam ahead.
But what about the rest of the year when the steam boilers, feed and blowdown tanks, etc. you use for sterilization and/or blanching are just sitting around quietly depreciating? Chances are, when your usage is seasonal, you’re better off renting than owning.
Calculating the tipping point to rent or own
Every setup is different, and every operation has its own specific constraints. In our experience, if you’re only using your equipment 40% to 50% of the time, renting will often have clear financial benefits over owning. But even in those cut-off cases when the monthly rental may work out slightly more expensive, the additional flexibility, efficiency, agility and control you get with renting are often well worth the difference.
Beyond the financials
Naturally, everyone is looking to lower their operational costs and optimize their capital expenditure. But operational costs are just the tip of the iceberg. When you consider the very tangible and quantifiable value of flexibility, cash flow, speed, and efficiency, you end up with a very different picture:
- Flexibility: harvests are not just seasonal but also prone to annual fluctuation. Thanks to the flexibility of renting, you can precisely dimension your utilities to take those fluctuations into account. For greater efficiency and control.
- Speed: rental solutions offer rapid response times not just in setting up but also shutting down. Ensuring a solution fully tailored to the specific needs of the moment. Rental contracts are also typically faster to validate internally, compared with purchasing decisions that require capital expenditure. For even bigger time savings!
- Cash flow: while it’s impossible to spread the harvest workload out over an extended period, renting your equipment does let you spread out the cost. Freeing up more of your working capital.
Not sure if renting is the way to go?
Let’s look together! Whether you are experiencing demand fluctuations due to seasonal harvesting or due to another cause, we can go over the specifics of your operation and quantify the impact of various scenarios. So, you can base your decision on the most complete picture.
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Rental.australia@atlascopco.com