By the SPM Sales Team
When you work in sales in this industry, you get a front-row seat to the quiet issues that eventually turn into big problems. We speak to people across operations, maintenance, procurement, and engineering every week, and the stories repeat themselves. Most electrical failures don’t arrive out of nowhere. They build slowly, quietly, and almost invisibly while everyone is busy keeping the business moving.
We’re sharing the things we see going wrong long before a failure ever happens. This is not about blame. It is about helping teams spot what we know is easy to miss.
- Treating maintenance like a date on the calendar
Many organisations still see maintenance as something they do once a year to tick a box. We often hear, “We did our annual service, so we should be fine.”
Equipment does not operate on calendar reminders. It responds to heat, dust, load, age, and how often it is pushed. When maintenance becomes a once-off event rather than continuous, problems slip through unnoticed.
- Believing the equipment is healthy because it has not tripped
One of the most common things we hear is, “It must be fine because nothing has tripped.”
Unfortunately, equipment can keep running while deteriorating inside. By the time it finally trips, the problem is usually much worse than anyone realised. Working does not always mean healthy or safe.
- Ignoring small warning signs because everyone is used to them
Clients sometimes mention early symptoms almost by accident.
Comments like, “It is running hotter than usual,” or “There is a humming sound but we have learned to live with it,” or “It trips now and then but comes right.”
These are not small signs. They are early indicators that something is changing. Most major failures start with these little clues.
- Delaying maintenance because the budget is tight
We understand how financial pressure affects every department. Many teams try to push maintenance into the next quarter or the next financial year.
The problem is that delaying maintenance rarely saves money. It usually means higher repair costs, more downtime, and more stress later. Emergencies cost far more than routine care.
- Letting procurement price overshadow operational reality
In many meetings, procurement focuses on price while operations focuses on performance. It is normal for these priorities to clash.
Choosing the cheapest option upfront might look like a win, but in electrical infrastructure, it often becomes the most expensive decision over time. The real cost is the cost of ownership, not the initial quote.
- Not keeping proper records of past issues
This is something we see almost everywhere. Teams change, people move on, and the history of a piece of equipment gets lost. Then we hear, “Something happened to this unit a few years ago, but no one remembers what.”
Good recordkeeping might feel unexciting, but when something goes wrong, it becomes one of the most valuable tools on site.
- Underestimating how hard the environment can be on equipment
Heat, dust, moisture, rodents, vibration, and salty air can speed up deterioration much faster than expected. We often hear, “This equipment should last decades.”
It should, but only in ideal conditions. Real sites are rarely ideal, and the environment can shorten equipment life far more than teams anticipate.
- Overloading equipment because production demands it
Many operations run equipment harder than planned because production targets leave no room for pauses. We often hear, “We know we are pushing it, but we do not have another option.”
We understand the pressure. But constant overloading is like driving a car with the rev needle in the red. It will keep going until it doesn’t.
- Treating protection settings as something permanent
Some teams assume protection settings do not need to be reviewed once they are done. In reality, loads change, networks expand, and equipment gets replaced.
Old protection settings that no longer match the environment can cause nuisance trips or, even worse, fail to trip when they should.
- Calling for help only when visible trouble appears
It is very common for teams to reach out when something burns, trips, overheats, or sparks. The truth is that failures rarely start at that moment. They usually begin months earlier.
Early conversations are simple and inexpensive. Crisis conversations are not.
We hear these issues every week during first calls, site visits, and problem-solving discussions. If this list helps one team catch something early, prevent downtime, or save money, then it is worth sharing.
