Proper maintenance of packaging equipment is essential to reducing downtime and keeping prices low. The benefits of pairing preventative and autonomous maintenance plans are increased planned maintenance over unplanned, maximized tool availability, and the ability to predict production capacities and maintenance budgets with increased precision.
This guide will talk about tips for how to best maintain your packing line machines. With the right maintenance plan, an appropriate stock of spare parts, and timely updates as well as support from a specialist vendor, it is possible to dramatically reduce unplanned downtime, keeps prices low, lengthens the service life of your machines, and maximize profits. When best practices are followed, even firms with minimal dedicated maintenance staff can reap these benefits and maximize packaging line operation.
1. Utilize Preventative Care Strategies
The most basic maintenance advice is to make and adhere to a preventative maintenance program. Preventive maintenance tasks are conducted by qualified care personnel, like those with mechanical or electrical abilities, on a preset schedule. Some tasks might have to be scheduled monthly, quarterly, or even yearly, but the most significant component of a preventative maintenance program is adherence to this program.
These timed maintenance activities, like checking and replacing wear parts, lubricating machines, and much more, are intended to prevent issues before they occur. The value of preventative care lies in planning downtime and essential materials instead of being caught off guard when a part fails.
These tasks often require a broader set of abilities (and often more technical tools) than owned by the average machine operator, and thus dedicated maintenance personnel should perform them. But when paired with autonomous care strategies — that I will say more about in a minute — a small, dedicated maintenance team can handle a relatively large packaging operation since the demand for emergency care is reduced and less-skilled, regular tasks are done by machine operators.
2. Combining Preventative and Autonomous Care Strategies
The best maintenance plan combines preventative maintenance schedules, as explained above, with autonomous maintenance. Autonomous maintenance tasks are Ourcklist-based and concentrate on necessary cleaning and inspection routines being performed by machine operators. In world-class manufacturing environments that use both independent and preventative care strategies, machine operators aren’t only expected to operate their equipment. Operators are the experts about their machines and are the first defense line for maintenance.
In these environments, operators are trained to understand the machine they are running to conduct necessary cleaning and inspection tasks to keep the equipment. In doing this, they can assist the business, especially the maintenance team, in diagnosing performance difficulties. An operator is at their own machine consistently. Thus if something changes — like sound, speed, unwanted movement, etc. — they can detect issues long before a scheduled maintenance visit could.
Operators have checklists of tasks they’re responsible for; typically, these tasks should be carried out after a shift, day, or week. They’re trained to perform many tasks with simple visual ideas. These training visuals illustrate what operators are expected to perform, often showing the essential tools and desired outcome. By way of instance, operators who are expected to clean a machine part once a day gets training pictures with what cleaning supplies to use and what a clean component resembles.
Some lines have autonomous and preventative care programs in place and are specifically designed to allow access to critical cleaning and inspection points with no need for resources or specialized skills.
Through preventative and autonomous maintenance, jobs are often simple. They can prevent the need for bigger, more time-consuming upkeep. Furthermore, operators can often catch issues before they get out of control, resulting in shorter, less involved, and more affordable maintenance or repair.
The best manufacturing and packaging companies worldwide take advantage of care employees’ knowledge and techniques in scheduled, preventative care, and the specialists running each machine in autonomous maintenance to prevent unplanned, expensive repairs. The advantages of pairing independent and preventive maintenance plans are increased planned maintenance over arbitrary, maximized equipment availability, and the ability to predict production capacities and maintenance budgets with increased precision.
3. Lubricate Machinery Regularly
Lubricants reduce friction around any moving part. A schedule of significant lubrication maintenance extends the life span of large machinery equipment and components.
Lubrication is among the first and most important maintenance checks. Start looking for signs of excess grease or oil build-up on pistons. Check for leaks around oil seals.
Make sure to use the perfect lubricant. There are specific sorts of oil and dirt for each and every component. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Getting the lubricants checked is a fantastic way to diagnose issues with big machinery experts analyze particles from the used oil. The makeup of any contaminants will indicate that part might be experiencing wear or breakdown.
4. Schedule To Replace Worn Parts And Critical Spare Parts
It is essential to have a strategy to substitute wear parts, which can be supposed to wear out from repeated use of their equipment, and critical spare parts, which cause notable downtime when they crash. Ideally, companies have these spare parts in stock to replace them immediately if they fail. In several manufacturing facilities, the downtime from waiting even a single day for a part can be costly. So manufacturers must aim to have the ability to replace highly critical components at any time.
Naturally, manufacturers and packagers are also concerned with space and funds tied up in extensive parts stock. You should consult the manufacturer of your equipment about a list of essential elements to keep available. The level of inventory required depends on the strain at stake, and thus each producer’s needs are different. Industry-leading manufacturers will always analyze their clients’ requirements for these elements and refine the essential level of parts stock for each client to optimize it for their precise needs. These producers will also manage strategic inventories of required spare parts to support both emergency and planned component replacement requirements.
Leading equipment manufacturers also provide tailored support agreements that synchronize with clients’ preventative maintenance programs to guarantee optimized line uptime. These service agreements involve pre-planned visits from licensed field service technicians, inspecting the equipment, replacing any essential wear parts, and training operators and maintenance teams. Using producers’ tailored service contracts can help optimize spare parts stock and ensure reliable, consistent equipment operation.
5. Schedule For Updates
The final key consideration for efficiently maintaining a packing line is to update equipment software and upgrade hardware occasionally to avoid obsolescence. Typically in digital management and computer systems, both hardware and software become unsupported at any stage.
When you plan ahead, you won’t be surprised in case of component obsolescence or software updates. This planning can be incorporated into your yearly maintenance planning. Leading producers that continually improve and upgrade their machinery to proactively address the obsolescence difficulties may be supported.
6. Select A Manufacturer As A Back-up Plan
This recommendation applies to three of the prior recommendations also but is obviously important in its own right. When you get packaging line equipment from industry-leading makers, you’re likely to get the sort of support and service you want to keep your line working smoothly.
Start looking for providers that run robust phone service (ideally 24/7) and field service operations. Some companies have field support technicians strategically located worldwide to support the client base and are prepared to visit manufacturing facilities to deal with any needs customers may have on an emergency or planned basis.
This is the service most often requested by clients, particularly those with less effective maintenance plans or minimal maintenance employees, irrespective of company size. Support provided includes mechanical and electrical support, emergency support when equipment is down, emergency spare parts provisions when clients do not have the appropriate stock, and training. In providing this support, manufacturers help ensure that customers can optimize production uptime, even in an emergency.
It’s also essential to select a manufacturer who can offer installation and training to ensure the manufacturing line’s a vertical startup with the new gear. Field service technicians are ideally integration experts trained to rapidly solve any issue on-site during installation, including fulfilling the training needs of both production and maintenance employees. Qualified manufacturers also participate in clients’ Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Commissioning, Qualification and Verification (CQV) procedures to ensure they’re delivering equipment that leads to a high quality and reliable procedure.
7. Keep Up Machinery Operator Cross-Training
Many types of large machines have multiple operators. Among the continuing inspections on any checklist should be overseeing the proper functioning of the equipment.
Large machinery to be inspected as soon as it is bought. Operator training is typically done at that stage, but training has to be kept up. Employees come and go, skills become rusty and bad operation contributes to breakdowns.
Operator manuals could be revised for a particular work situation. They can be rewritten in simpler language. A brief manual could be provided to each operator for simple reference. If you work in a paperless environment, you can rest assured operators utilize each guide’s latest version.
One other note identifies best practices, which could then be applied to other facilities or geographic locations. Knowing how to keep your equipment can become very valuable — make sure you best leverage this essential knowledge and use it at every applicable site.
Summary
Utilizing a mix of pre-planned preventative maintenance and operator-level independent maintenance plans will put your packaging and manufacturing lines at the head of the pack where equipment performance is concerned. Also, planning a strategic parts list, upgrading components when necessary, and relying on a world-class equipment manufacturer for support and service are crucial elements of a maintenance plan.
Highly effective maintenance strategies can enable you to avoid planned, expensive repairs, increase planned over unplanned maintenance, optimize equipment availability, and increase your ability to precisely forecast production capabilities and maintenance budgets.