When was the last time that you scheduled service for your packaging equipment? If you cannot recall, then it is well past time to revisit your packaging machinery preventative maintenance practices.
By creating, and more importantly, adhering to, a regular preventative maintenance schedule, you can keep your packaging equipment working in tip-top shape. However, if you neglect this critical aspect of packaging equipment ownership, you are setting the stage for major malfunctions, exorbitant upkeep costs, and expensive business delays.
The Basics of PM
Preventative maintenance, more commonly referred to as simply “PM,” is a proactive approach to packaging equipment upkeep.
During a PM session, a trained technician will conduct a thorough inspection of the specified piece of equipment. This visual and physical inspection is designed to detect both small deficiencies and larger issues.
If any deficiencies are noted, the technician can either make repairs on the spot or order the parts necessary to get the machine operating at peak levels. PM offers a multitude of benefits for your business, which we will explore a bit later.
In order to ensure that PM is performed at appropriate intervals, your business should create a preventative maintenance schedule. This schedule should be based on manufacturer recommendations.
Creating a schedule helps you perform your PM on time. Additionally, it can save your technicians time, as they can arrange to PM similar pieces of equipment on the same day.
For instance, let’s say that your shrink wrapper machine needs to be serviced once per month. To keep things simple, your technicians could schedule all shrink wrapper service on the 1st of each month or the workday immediately following this date should it fall on a day your business is closed.
Why Preventative Maintenance Is Essential
Even the most well-designed pieces of packaging machinery will experience wear and tear as they accumulate service hours. If packaging machinery services are not performed, your equipment will eventually break down and fail.
However, most equipment begins to experience performance declines long before it actually fails completely.
Korpack has found that even a 1% decline in equipment performance can translate into nearly a 3% decrease in profits. Imagine if your equipment’s performance drops by 5% or even 10%. For profit protection alone, PM is critical to the success of your business.
5 Benefits of Regular PM
Sticking to a preventative maintenance schedule provides many different benefits. By creating a PM program, you can:
Reduce the Frequency of Packaging Machinery Repairs
The most obvious perk to a PM program is that it decreases the frequency and severity of packaging machinery repairs. When your staff is proactively looking for minor issues, such as worn gears, damaged belts, and the like, they can often prevent more major problems before they occur.
On the other hand, if these minor problems are left unresolved, they could easily become significant. For example, if a belt breaks while a machine is in operation, other damage could occur. That relatively inexpensive repair could now cost you thousands in parts and labor.
Optimize Efficiency
In the world of product packaging, efficiency is king. Your organization has undoubtedly invested in employee training, equipment, and technologies to help optimize efficiency. While these are all worthy investments, their efficacy depends entirely on machine performance.
Preventative maintenance gives technicians an opportunity to verify that your equipment is operating at peak levels.
If a piece of machinery is underperforming, the technician can perform diagnostics, troubleshoot the issue, and make needed repairs. This approach ensures that you do not experience any of the aforementioned productivity-related profit losses.
Decrease Operating and Maintenance Costs
Machines that are not functioning properly often consume excessive amounts of electricity. While subpar performance in a single machine may not make a huge difference in your operating expenses, imagine a situation where all of your equipment is malfunctioning. In this scenario, your added utility costs could be astronomical.
Preventative maintenance ensures that your machinery is operating efficiently and consuming the appropriate amount of electricity. PM also helps to drive down operating expenses by reducing your maintenance costs.
It is far more cost-effective to replace minor items like gears, belts, and pulleys than it is to do a full-scale equipment rebuild or replacement.
Prevent Costly Downtime
When you neglect packaging equipment service, you are setting the stage for a major machinery malfunction. Unless you have a piece of backup equipment readily available, such a malfunction will crater productivity and may stop your packaging line altogether.
According to Forbes, the costs of downtime can be substantial. The magazine found that the average automotive production line loses approximately $22,000 per minute during a stoppage. While your costs may not be quite that high, can you really afford to hemorrhage money, regardless of the rate?
The good news is that you can insulate your business from this danger by simply implementing a PM schedule.
Protect Staff
As an employer, you are legally obligated to provide your staff with a safe working environment. If you fail to do so, injuries could occur, and your workers’ compensation policy will foot the bill.
Injuries to staff are serious enough on their own, but you could also be facing civil action if your business was negligent about maintaining its equipment. During preventative maintenance, technicians will have the opportunity to identify and resolve any safety hazards.
A PM schedule also leaves a paper trail that demonstrates that your business made efforts to create a safe working environment. This documentation can protect your business from liability in the event of a workplace incident.
Korpack: Your Preventative Maintenance Partner
As a premier provider of packaging machinery services, Korpack is the ideal partner to help you create or optimize your preventative maintenance program. We offer shrink wrapper service, general packaging machinery service, and consulting support to guide you as you create an effective PM schedule for your equipment.
In addition, Korpack provides clients with custom packaging, recycled supplies, and other essential packing materials. Contact us today to obtain a free quote on shrink film machine service, PM support, and materials.
