Modern nutrient processing and production equipment is more advanced than ever before—but while that means increased production capacity and yield, it also means more complications when something breaks downward or goes incorrect.

Instituting a proper preventive maintenance strategy tin can help y'all ensure that your equipment keeps working effectively, mitigating the risk of a premature breakdown.

The role of preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance is important for the post-obit areas:

  • Operational efficiency. A well-maintained machine is a height-performing machine. With fresh lubricant, better calibration, and cleaner systems, your equipment will be able to continue your plant running smoothly.
  • Functional functioning. In addition to operating faster and with fewer interruptions, the quality and consistency of the food yous produce will likewise better, such as more consequent cooking times and temperatures.
  • Nutrient safety. Amend-maintained equipment besides ways higher condom standards for the food it processes. Poorly maintained equipment is more likely to pause down during manufacturing, compromising the integrity of the food or leading to false readings of temperature or other important factors.
  • Documentation and tracability. Adhering to a maintenance schedule helps you keep better tabs on the performance of your facility, aiding in root cause assay should something go incorrect, and giving you proof of maintenance in the event of a tertiary-political party audit.
  • Repair costs. Just as changing the oil in your car regularly can relieve you coin on more costly repairs downwards the line, maintaining your equipment on a fixed schedule tin aid yous make the near of your equipment investments.

Preventive maintenance best practices

So what should y'all do to ensure more consistent preventive maintenance?

  1. Take inventory and assess gamble. Ane of your first jobs is to take inventory of all the equipment you currently apply in food production, and simultaneously assess the risk each piece of equipment poses. Different types of equipment will pose unlike hazards, based on how they are maintained. You lot'll demand to prioritize the more important equipment, which includes machines that have a higher potential impact on food safe and ones that are more crucial to your food production in general.
  2. Set a schedule and optimize timing. Most equipment will come with a manufacturer's guide on how to maintain it. This will often be broken down into daily, monthly, and annual categories. Collect this information the best y'all can and organize a "principal" schedule that allows you to keep track of all these important maintenance dates at once. At the same time, consider how this maintenance will fit best into your operational schedule; tin you close downward product early ane day to take care of all the maintenance at one time? Or is it improve to piece of work on them on a rotation?
  3. Document proper procedures. However you decide to arroyo the regular maintenance of your machinery, yous'll need to formally document those procedures. There should exist a unmarried location, accessible to all staff, which holds detailed descriptions of how each auto should be serviced. This is of import in case the process is e'er questioned, or in example someone needs to take over the job.
  4. Designate authority. There should be i person (or potentially more than) who are directly responsible for overseeing your maintenance programs. Otherwise, your staff may forget whose responsibility information technology is, or they may skip over the maintenance procedure to get things washed faster in the brusque term. Choose someone responsible and dedicated to food safety.
  5. Continue necessary items and equipment on-hand. Different machines require specific items and tools to exist properly maintained, such equally special types of lubricants, or spare parts you can only become through ane manufacturer. Information technology's a good idea to keep at to the lowest degree some of these supplies readily on hand, specially if they're hard to find. Of course, doing and then invokes a toll and a space issue, so prioritize the well-nigh necessary or hardest-to-find materials.
  6. Be prepared for temporary fixes. Preventive maintenance won't prevent everything from going wrong. Occasionally, you'll need to address minor issues with your equipment with temporary or brusk-term fixes. You should have the equipment and personnel on staff to handle this smoothly, even with a maintenance schedule in place.
  7. Keep detailed maintenance records. As with most responsibilities in the food industry, your equipment maintenance should exist documented. If your facility is inspected for rubber standards, you lot'll need this evidence on standby, and if something goes wrong with i of your machines, your maintenance records may be able to help y'all pinpoint what went wrong (and when). Trackability is e'er a priority in the food manufacture.

With these standards in place, you lot'll take better-maintained equipment, and y'all'll rest easy knowing your facility remains in top condition. But be certain to make adjustments whenever y'all larn new equipment or replace old ones, and go on your staff upwardly-to-engagement on the latest procedures.