# Decide whether to repair or replace aging equipment

A side-by-side comparison of repairing, overhauling, or replacing equipment, using total cost, downtime, and risk.

- Topic: Thinking & Decisions
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Finance, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/decide-whether-to-repair-or-replace-aging-equipment

## Prompt

```text
Help me decide whether to repair or replace a piece of equipment.

**Equipment:** [WHAT IT IS, AGE, EXPECTED LIFE]
**Recent history:** [breakdowns, downtime hours, repair costs over the last 1-3 years]
**Repair option:** [quoted cost, expected extra life, parts availability]
**Replacement option(s):** [cost, installation, lead time, efficiency or capacity gains]
**Cost of downtime:** [e.g. lost output per hour, overtime, customer penalties]
**Other factors:** [safety, compliance, energy use, operator skills, financing]

Analyze:
1. Total cost of each option over the same period (e.g. 5 years): purchase/repair, maintenance, energy, expected downtime cost, disposal or resale. Show assumptions in a table.
2. Trend: is the failure rate or repair cost rising? What does that suggest about the next 12-24 months?
3. Risk: what happens if we repair and it fails again at a bad time? Is there a safety or compliance risk in keeping it?
4. Non-cost factors: lead time, disruption during installation, capacity, spare parts becoming obsolete.
5. A recommendation with the main reason, and the conditions under which the other option would win (break-even points).
6. A short summary I can put in a capital request.

Use only my figures; mark gaps [ADD] and show where the decision is sensitive to an assumption. For financing or tax treatment, check with finance.
```

## What to fill in

- WHAT IT IS, AGE, EXPECTED LIFE
- quoted cost, expected extra life, parts availability
- cost, installation, lead time, efficiency or capacity gains
- e.g. lost output per hour, overtime, customer penalties
- safety, compliance, energy use, operator skills, financing
- ADD

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