Barry-Wehmiller Network

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The latest news about the flexo and bag converting industries

Preventative Maintenance

Why We Love Preventative Maintenance (And You Should Too!)

Jun 05, 2018

Normal operation of your equipment causes continuous wear of parts even under the best of conditions.  A preventative maintenance program will help keep your equipment operating at top performance for the life of the machine.

When your equipment is well-maintained, you can rely on it's efficiency and the parts running in top-performance. Gather a list of spare and replacement parts to keep on hand to reduce the length of time you would be down if these parts were to wear unexpectedly. The more prepared you are with spare and replacement parts on hand, the less your overhead cost will be and the less your production schedule will be impacted.

Unexpected and unplanned downtime brings unexpected and unpleasant costs. These costs are often comprised of productivity loss to additional costs of damaged parts that could have been avoided if proper preventative maintenance was performed. In some cases, additional costs may include missed shipments and unhappy retailers and customers.

A machine that is down when it should be running gets very expensive. Consider the cost of your labor force that now is sitting around on the clock because they are not able to perform their job duties. Also take into consideration the small part that became worn that would have been caught during a planned preventative maintenance. That small part will often cause a larger repair bill, damaging other parts as it breaks.

Properly maintained machinery doesn't just benefit your business internally with reliability, but your customers will be confident in their reliance on you to meet their needs for product and replenishment. Don't forget that proper preventative maintenance keeps your customers happy as well!

Read about how PCMC’s machine audit program can assist you with your preventative maintenance program, and return your equipment to like-new condition.