It has been well documented that preventive maintenance leads to a reduction in plant downtime and an increase in equipment service life. See figs 1 & 2. However, full preventive maintenance programmes can be costly and complex and this has deterred many food producers from making the switch from a maintenance regime based on dealing with breakdowns (reactive maintenance) into one based on preventing them. See fig 3

Service Contracts
The basis of a service contract is regular inspection and servicing of the equipment by an Baker Perkins engineer. However, the benefits of a Service Contract are much more significant than simply replacing parts on a regular basis.

• Service contracts guarantee consistent performance of the equipment for a fixed annual fee that covers labour and replacement of all wear parts.

• Servicing is carried out by a factory trained expert with wide ranging and specialist knowledge of the equipment.

• Only genuine OEM parts to the latest specification are used.

• Root causes of poor performance are identified and eliminated (Proactive Maintenance)

• The maintenance regime is continuously improved by tracking the performance of the machine and the condition of the parts.

• The machine specification is continuously improved by providing feedback to the designers. Subsequent design enhancements may be made to the equipment as part of the service contract.

• Experience from service contracts on other sites is incorporated into the maintenance regime and equipment design.

• Regular reports detail the performance and condition of the equipment including the effect on the performance of upstream equipment and any weaknesses in downstream equipment.

Condition Monitoring
Sensors and data logging equipment that monitor and report on the condition of key components can be added to pieces of equipment either as part of a service contract or as a stand-alone upgrade.

• Condition monitoring is used on bearings, gearboxes and other rotating parts to indicate when lubrication is required and to warn of impending failure.

• Typical applications include components that are process critical, prone to sudden failure or fitted to remote or inaccessible machinery.

• Data can be used to optimise the time between maintenance interventions such as lubrication or refurbishment.

• Data can be logged automatically or manually (via hand held terminal) as part of the service contract. Whichever method is used, the time required to inspect equipment is significantly reduced.

• Trending and other data analysis techniques can be used to anticipate and avoid failures (Predictive maintenance)

Performance Benchmarking
Equipment performance and maintenance regimes can be benchmarked against industry standards so that manufacturers know which areas of their operation would benefit the most from improvement. This can answer questions such as:

• Is the equipment performing in line with industry standards?

• Is the current maintenance regime too much or too little?

• What should the cost of ownership be?

For more information
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Email on bpltd@bakerperkinsgroup.com