“Why I would want to spend money on planned maintenance if my packaging machines are working and trouble free?” This is a question that many warehouse and operations managers have when presented with a planned maintenance program. Often it is determined that there are other expenses within the company that are more important. Normally the packaging equipment is at the end of the line and costs you money. Once your product is ready, it will go through the various case tapers, formers and stretch wrappers. Consider, for a moment, the ramifications of one of these failing: it would mean that many of those processes would have to be done by hand, or worse still, cannot be done at all.
However, a majority of failures can be identified and remedied well before the point that the machine would become inoperable. This is where having a trained Service tech on site, at the manufacturers recommended service points, can save you not only time and money, but ensure your customer satisfaction remains high and keep your reputation glistening. There are also more indirect operational benefits associated with having a trained tech on site when the machine is still functioning, such as the opportunity for machine operators to ask questions and learn more about the machine you’ve invested in, as well as knowledge and training on troubleshooting techniques and minor repairs you can conduct in-house
When a tech comes out on site they will inspect and test all of the functions on the machine to ensure that they are performing to the manufacturers recommended specifications. Some machines, such as stretch wrappers, which stretch film prior to it being applied to the product, will lose the original pre-stretch value over time due to worn our rollers, motors, bearings, etc. This wear and tear can lead to less-than-optimal stretch film usage. For instance: if a stretch wrapper was designed to stretch at 250% and it’s only pulling 140%, you’re spending more than you need to be on stretch film. Further, if the purchase of the machine was justified under the assumption it would stretch at 250%, you will not see the return on investment that you were expecting. Similarly, if your strapping machine is only strapping every other time, you’re effectively wasting 50% of your strapping material, doubling your costs. Under a planned maintenance program, service technicians will check for these common problems in regular intervals to ensure your machinery and equipment is functioning at peak efficiency.
Service visits are a cost that occur up to 4 times per year. Consumables, however, are a monthly expense. The monthly savings on the consumables far outweigh the expense of a planned maintenance visit, or worse, an unplanned service call for a machine that has gone down. Oftentimes, maintenance visits help companies to plan ahead and budget for repairs on parts nearing the end of their life expectancy, making what could have been an operational nightmare nothing more than a brief inconvenience. Having an unexpected expense vs. a planned one is much easier to account for.
When a visit is planned it, allows other areas of the facility to plan on halting operations while the routine maintenance is done. If every area is shut down at once, then starts back up at the same time, the loss of productivity can be planned for and mitigated ahead of time so that product can be stocked for orders. While most plants have maintenance personnel on staff who maintain the machines on an as-needed basis, they don’t typically have the time to perform the routine maintenance that it required to keep the machine running at 100%. Most Maintenance personnel are great at fixing the machines all over the plant, but they have not necessarily received specified training for each and every unit. A factory-trained service technician will know the intricacies of each machine and its’ known problem areas.
Let’s face it… things fail over time, it’s what we do to prevent them from failing at the worst time that counts. Things were not built to last forever, the better you maintain something the longer it will last.
If you’re interested on how PackSmart can help you keep your machine running to their fullest potential, check out our Service Department, or give us a call at 630-262-6600!