Engineering Shift Cover Without the Recruitment Headache

Sep 23

6 min read

When an engineer is off sick, takes annual leave, leaves unexpectedly or a site simply does not have enough engineering resource, the impact can quickly spread beyond the maintenance department.

Planned maintenance gets pushed back. Breakdowns take longer to respond to. Maintenance backlogs grow. Production teams start working around problems rather than resolving them properly.

But recruiting another permanent engineer is not always the right answer.

At MechElecPro Solutions, we provide flexible engineering support to manufacturing and industrial businesses that need additional engineering resource without necessarily committing to permanent recruitment.

Whether you need an engineer for a single shift, several weeks of cover or longer-term technical support, our aim is to make accessing experienced engineering resource straightforward.

How Our Engineering Cover Works

Our process starts by understanding exactly what your site needs.

You tell us the location, shift pattern, type of engineer required, skills and experience needed and how long you expect the support to be required.

We then look to provide an engineer suited to that requirement.

This could be:

Emergency sickness cover
Planned holiday cover
Temporary vacancy cover
Additional weekend or night-shift support
Maintenance backlog support
Shutdown support
Increased production periods
Longer-term engineering support
Reliability engineering
Engineering project support

The engineer works alongside your existing engineering, maintenance and production teams while being supplied and managed through MechElecPro Solutions.

This gives businesses another way to increase engineering capacity without immediately increasing permanent headcount.

Simple Digital Timesheets With Customer Approval

We believe managing external engineering support should be straightforward and transparent.

That is why engineers supplied through MechElecPro Solutions use our digital timesheet system.

Instead of relying on paper timesheets, spreadsheets or trying to confirm working hours several weeks later, engineers record their hours against the correct customer and working week.

Their timesheet provides a clear record of the hours worked before being submitted for approval.

The process is simple:

Engineer completes the shift → Hours are recorded → Timesheet is submitted → Customer reviews and signs → Approved timesheet is retained

This gives customers clear visibility over the engineering resource they are using.

It also provides a straightforward record supporting the hours being invoiced, helping reduce queries and making it easier for engineering, procurement and accounts teams to keep track of external engineering support.

Whether you use one engineer for a single shift or several engineers over an extended period, the same process applies.

More Than Engineering Shift Cover

Engineering requirements are rarely the same from one month to the next.

Today, you might need an engineer because somebody has called in sick.

Next month, you might need additional resource to tackle a growing maintenance backlog.

Six months later, you might need a reliability engineer to investigate recurring failures or a project engineer to manage a new installation.

That is why MechElecPro Solutions is developing a flexible engineering resource service covering different levels of technical support.

Maintenance & Multi-Skilled Engineers

Our engineering cover can support businesses requiring mechanical, electrical and multi-skilled engineers.

They can support areas including:

Planned preventative maintenance
Reactive maintenance
Breakdown response
Mechanical repairs
Electrical fault finding
Production support
Planned maintenance activities
Maintenance backlog recovery
Holiday and sickness cover
Shutdowns
Weekend and night-shift cover

Support can range from an individual shift through to ongoing weekly requirements.

Reliability Engineers

Sometimes adding another maintenance engineer to the shift is not enough.

If the same machines repeatedly fail, preventative maintenance is not reducing breakdowns or the engineering department spends most of its time reacting to problems, a different type of support may be required.

MechElecPro Solutions can provide reliability engineering resource to work alongside existing engineering teams.

Depending on the requirement, this can include supporting:

Root cause analysis
Recurring breakdown investigations
Equipment reliability improvements
Preventative maintenance reviews
Maintenance strategy development
Failure analysis
Maintenance data analysis
Asset performance improvement
Maintenance backlog reduction
Continuous improvement activities

The objective is not simply to repair today's breakdown.

It is to understand why equipment is failing and help reduce the likelihood of the same problem returning.

Project Engineers

Engineering departments are often expected to deliver projects while simultaneously keeping production running.

That can put considerable pressure on existing engineering teams.

MechElecPro Solutions can provide additional project engineering resource for requirements such as:

Machinery installations
Production line modifications
Equipment upgrades
Factory improvement projects
Electrical installations
Mechanical installations
Equipment relocation
Contractor coordination
Commissioning
Continuous improvement projects
Site infrastructure projects

Instead of pulling maintenance engineers away from production equipment, additional project resource can be brought in for the duration of the work.

Engineering Supervisors & Engineering Managers

Sometimes the resource gap is not on the tools.

Engineering departments can also require temporary leadership because of holidays, sickness, vacancies, restructuring, shutdowns or increased workloads.

MechElecPro Solutions can support requirements for experienced engineering supervisors and engineering managers who can work alongside existing site teams for an agreed period.

Depending on the requirement, this can include supporting engineering teams, maintenance priorities, contractors, planning, compliance, shutdown activities and day-to-day engineering operations.

This gives businesses another option while recruiting permanently or dealing with a temporary management resource gap.

Why Use Flexible Engineering Support?

Permanent recruitment remains important, but not every engineering resource problem requires another permanent employee.

A manufacturer might need an additional engineer for six weeks.

Another site may need regular weekend support.

A business preparing for a shutdown may require several engineers for a defined period.

Another engineering department may simply need additional resource for three months to bring its maintenance backlog under control.

Flexible engineering support allows businesses to increase or reduce engineering resource around their actual operational requirements.

Build Your Engineering Contingency Plan Before You Need It

The worst time to start searching for engineering support is when production is already under pressure.

Imagine receiving a call early in the morning to say the engineer covering tonight's shift will not be available.

You now need to find somebody competent, check availability, explain the site requirements, arrange access and agree how the cover will work.

Our aim at MechElecPro Solutions is to build relationships with manufacturing and industrial businesses before that situation occurs.

We can understand your operation, shift patterns, engineering requirements and the type of engineers you are likely to need.

Then, when additional engineering resource is required, you already have another route for requesting support.

New Customer Engineering Cover Trial

If you have never used MechElecPro Solutions for engineering cover before, we want to make it straightforward to try our service.

Try Us for One Shift – No Long-Term Commitment

New customers can arrange an initial engineering cover shift without immediately committing to an ongoing contract.

Tell us:

Where you need support
The date and shift times
The type of engineer required
Mechanical, electrical or multi-skilled
Skills or industry experience required
Any specific site requirements

We will discuss the requirement with you and look to provide an appropriate engineer.

The engineer completes the agreed shift, records their hours through our digital timesheet system and the customer reviews and signs the timesheet.

If the service works for your business, we can then discuss future requirements including emergency cover, planned holiday cover, regular shift support or longer-term engineering resource.

From One Missing Engineer to a Complete Engineering Resource Solution

Our aim is not simply to send somebody because there is an empty space on a shift.

We want to understand the engineering problem behind the request.

Sometimes you need a maintenance engineer tomorrow.

Sometimes you need additional engineers to get a maintenance backlog under control.

Sometimes you need a reliability engineer to investigate why a production line keeps failing.

Sometimes you need a project engineer to take ownership of an installation.

And sometimes you need temporary engineering leadership while recruiting an Engineering Manager.

Whatever the requirement, our aim is to provide flexible engineering resource that works around the needs of your operation.

Need Engineering Support?

If you are responsible for engineering, maintenance, production or operations and regularly struggle with engineering resource, speak to MechElecPro Solutions.

You don't need to wait until you have an empty shift.

We can discuss your engineering requirements now and look at becoming part of your engineering contingency plan, giving you another option when sickness, holidays, vacancies, projects, shutdowns or unexpected workloads put pressure on your existing team.