6 Expert’s Tips for Packaging Machine Maintenance and Troubleshooting
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Longevity, lasting efficient service, stability, and reliability throughout the lifespan, all packaging machines are implemented with the expectation for streamlining and cost-saving, rather than causing troubles and unexpected expenses resulting from downtime.
After all, in no circumstances will it be a funny joke when the stack light on your cartoner machine or overwrapping machines turns red with a warning. Then if it were a serious technical issue, nobody would like to keep the packaging machine in downtime waiting for the OEM to dispatch their own people or a field service technician from their regional partner.
And here we must note the importance of troubleshooting your packaging machines to prevent the problems from scaling.
In this article, we will provide expert tips for packaging machine troubleshooting and maintenance, which will help you with your preventive and scheduled maintenance.
1. Implement Spare Parts Management Strategy
Inconsistent and inefficient machine performance prevents facilities from working at a high level of output. Diagnosing the problem can take a while, which costs companies time and money even with a reliable supply of functional spare parts. When we face these problems, we realize that the most important element of plant capacity and operational reliability are appropriate maintenance and efficient spare parts management.
Unfortunately many organizations operate without implementing fundamental aspects of spare parts management at their site as the importance of spare parts and timely maintenance is still mostly overlooked. If you want to make a difference in the operational reliability, make sure to pay special attention to effective spare parts management and planned maintenance.
We know that making a shift from reactive to predictive operating strategy isn’t always easy. Setting up new set of rules, procedures and standards in order to prevent problems before they arise is quite an endeavor. Sadly, not all companies have the infrastructure for this kind of change, so they keep fixing problems when they happen.
2. Get Familiar with the Mechanism
Having a clear idea of how each mechanism and section of your packaging machines work. Refer to the component lists and drawings the OEM will provide for your packaging equipment.
A packaging machine, regardless of its application like flow wrap, cartoning, sleeving, case packing, etc, is always developed with various functional sections integrated into it.
Such as on an automatic cartoning machine there would be a bucket conveyor, carton blank feeder, insertion section, tuck folders, etc.,
or with a VFFS (vertical flow wrapping machine / vertical form-fill-seal machine) which would come with a Dosing system, Forming area, Film feeding and alignment, Sealing and cutting, etc.
Getting familiar with each section and its mechanism is ideal for an operator or technician to have an overall idea of the machine’s working principle, and once upon an error occurs, they can find out the root cause in an immediate manner. Speed is the key!
3. Read Carefully the Service Manual
A service manual is a document that the OEM would provide as a guide to the safe installation, maintenance, operation, adjustment, and repair of the packaging machine they manufactured. As a practice, it is suggested all operators at the facility read and understand the instructions in the service manual before and during working on or around the machine.
The OEM, taking avail of its abundant past experience in installing the machine, would have listed in the service manual probably circumstances, situations, and cases where the machine could find itself with errors, technical issues, worn out, fault, and will correspondingly provide advice and their solutions.
4. Train one of your People with the Packaging Machine
Having among your payroll a trained person with the packaging machine offers tremendous benefits.
End users can expect to save technical costs with such a person now that Hiring an outside expert to operate and maintain a packaging machine can be expensive. By training one of your current employees, you can save money on labor costs and avoid incurring additional expenses like recruitment fees.
With an in-house employee trained to operate the equipment, you can minimize downtime and quickly resolve any issues that arise. Your employee can immediately identify problems and work to solve them without having to wait for a third-party technician to arrive. Note that usually, a company may purchase a packaging machine from another country. Asking for dispatching technicians will be expensive taking into consideration the travel, accommodation, and the technical rate each OEM would define.
Why it is important to have a trained person for your packaging machines?
With a member of your team trained with the packaging machines that operate at your facility, inter-department communication can be facilitated with regard to production, schedule and timelines, and potential issues, and thus lead to improved overall teamwork. Especially when it comes to the downtime caused by unexpected fault and when urgent support and fix is needed, it is more reliable and swift to solve the problem on your own instead of waiting for support from the manufacturer either remotely with video, remote control, or with documents sent or wiating for several days for their technicians to arrie.
5. Counting on Field Technical Service
Field technical service with packaging machine refers to a type of support and assistance provided by a technical expert on packaging machinery equipment. This type of service involves sending trained technicians or engineers to the site where the packaging machine is installed to troubleshoot problems, conduct repairs, provide maintenance, and perform other tasks.
The field technical service may also offer training sessions for the personnel responsible for operating the packaging machine, as well as consultation services to recommend improvements for the equipment’s performance and longevity.
The field technical service in the area of packaging machinery provides an essential resource for organizations that rely on such equipment for their daily operations. By providing on-site expertise, quick repairs, and necessary maintenance, it ensures a smooth and seamless process to meet production goals.
This is the reason that packaging machine manufacturers usually have to count on partners in their regional technical service network to offer fast support to local clients.
6. Enhance IoT Technology to Support Remotely
The Internet of Things is an Industry 4.0 trend that allows OEMs to support their clients in packaging machine troubleshooting regardless of the distance.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network backed by interconnected devices joined by sensors, software and remote access hardware that allow the connectivity, collection and exchange of data and enable the communication of machine’s status, information, performance actions beyond the obstacle of distance.
Remote support for packaging machine troubleshooting is a specific application of IoT and Industry 4.0 in the packaging industry. With the implementation of IoT technologies in packaging machines, these machines can collect data, monitor their performance, and identify potential issues or faults in real-time. This data can be transmitted remotely to technicians or support teams for troubleshooting and maintenance purposes. OEMs can install within the packaging machines devices such as Teltonika and eWon Box to allow connectivity to the equipment from anywhere and anytime.
By enabling remote access to packaging machines, technicians can provide immediate assistance and support from a different location. They can remotely diagnose the problem, guide on-the-ground operators to perform necessary steps, or directly take control of the machine for troubleshooting. This reduces the need for on-site visits, minimizes downtime, and increases the overall efficiency of the troubleshooting process.
The Benefits From Constant Maintenance Plan
Less Downtime
Downtime costs your company money. If you know how much money it is, you can factor in lead times and determine the cost of an unexpected shutdown. Then, if you compare that to the cost of machine maintenance, you can see for yourself what’s more economic. Don’t forget that if you wait for the part to wear out, even if the supplier has the part in stock, delivering it to the site will typically cost you a minimum of 24 hours of unplanned downtime.
Top Performance
Maintaining a machine on a regular basis ensures that the machine runs at its top performance. Running the machine with warn out parts results in inefficiencies and inconsistencies in performance and production becomes unreliable and unpredictable.
No maintenance overhead
When a machine starts to show signs of poor performance, it means more work for your maintenance staff. Time is wasted while the maintenance team is diagnosing and searching for the parts that have worn out and need to be replaced. Looking up part numbers in the manual in order to get quotes also takes time and during that time, revenue opportunities are lost for your company. So if you are tired of trying to chase down problems on your machines, you might want to consider a machine maintenance kit.
Customer Value-Driven Aftersales Service & Support
Our effort in offering technical support set us apart from other Chinese companies in the field.
Choosing an ELITER Packaging Machinery’s equipment means that you will enjoy our global technical service network and fast local support to minimize your downtime. Contact us to find out our solutions in terms of technical services.
