Sweating the Assets

Formal

Preferring marginal investments that deliver greater utilisation and profits from existing infrastructure, skills and resources. Sweating the assets means the better utilisation of structures that are already in place and spending low extra or marginal costs in order to exploit better what’s been built and spent already.

Real-world Example

A manufacturer keeps running an older production line at full capacity rather than replacing it, squeezing as much output and value from the existing equipment as possible before investing in something new - sweating the assets.