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Maintenance is often viewed as a cost rather than an investment in many industries, including the agri-food sector. However, adopting a preventive or predictive maintenance approach can bring significant strategic advantages and change this perception.

By implementing a well-planned preventive maintenance program, agri-food companies can maximize operational efficiency, minimize downtime, reduce costs, and ensure the longevity of their machinery and equipment.

This article explores the different types of maintenance practices and highlights the benefits of preventive or predictive maintenance in the agri-food production industry.

The Three Types of Maintenance Practices:

• Predictive Maintenance: This approach involves using data and analytics to anticipate when maintenance will be required. By monitoring key indicators, such as equipment usage and wear, agri-food companies can proactively schedule maintenance activities, minimizing unplanned downtime and avoiding costly breakdowns.
• Preventive Maintenance: This is basically an inspection. Preventive maintenance focuses on regularly scheduled inspections, servicing, and repairs to prevent equipment failures. The data that is collected on this inspection is then used to preform Predicative maintenance activities.
• Emergency Maintenance: Emergency maintenance is a reactive approach where repairs are performed only after equipment failure or breakdowns occur. This type of maintenance is often the most expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive, leading to significant production losses and increased costs.

Benefits of Preventive or Predictive Maintenance in the Agri-Food Industry:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: By conducting regular inspections and addressing minor issues promptly, preventive maintenance helps maintain equipment in optimal condition, minimizing unexpected breakdowns. This ensures smoother operations, reduces downtime, and increases productivity in the agri-food industry.
• Cost Savings: Preventive maintenance can result in substantial cost savings compared to emergency maintenance. By addressing maintenance needs proactively, companies can avoid expensive repairs, minimize production losses, and reduce overtime expenses incurred during emergency breakdowns.
• Extended Equipment Lifespan: Regular maintenance and timely repairs help prevent equipment deterioration and extend its overall lifespan. This reduces the need for premature replacements, saving capital expenditure for agri-food companies.
• Improved Safety and Compliance: Preventive maintenance ensures that equipment meets safety standards and regulatory requirements. Regular inspections and servicing help identify potential hazards or non-compliant components, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring a safe working environment.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: By tracking maintenance activities and equipment performance, preventive maintenance generates valuable data insights. This data can be analyzed to identify patterns, predict future maintenance needs, optimize resource allocation, and inform strategic decision-making within the agri-food industry.

From an emergency maintenance mentality to the implementation of Preventive then Predicative Maintenance Program:

Some plants that are not time stricken in terms of production work just fine on the emergency maintenance program as they have the time to wait. Most plants, however, do not have the time to wait, so when there is a break down, they are paying extra for parts, part emergency shipping, overtime for the trades personal and could be waiting for the availability of the trade personal.

To move forward in the process, the questions your company needs to answer are:

• What is the main reason your company is talking about maintenance? An efficiency issue, excessive break downs, manpower problems, etc.
• What type of maintenance practice does the plant preform right now? What type of maintenance practice does the plant want to go to?
• Does the plant have records of down time, machinery life and manuals?
• Does the plant have a maintenance staff?
• Does the plant store replacement parts?
• Does the plant have regular scheduled down time per production line or machines?
• Have there been any evaluations completed in terms of break down costs?
• What is the overall goal for the plant and the plants maintenance department?

At Storcan, the best way to succeed is to begin with the preventive maintenance and schedule a production line audit: on site visit, visual mechanical inspection, data collection and equipment, review parts inventory, interviews with operator’s team and analyse of failures history. Once the initial inspection is completed, we planned future interventions and optimize the spare parts stock according to the production line needs. And naturally, from these different visits, we could then develop a predicative maintenance program because we track all the interventions, repairs, inspection per machine.

In the agri-food industry, preventive and predicative maintenance offers strategic advantages over reactive emergency maintenance practices. At Storcan, we believe these are the keys for long-term success.

Do you want to know more? Please send us an email via info@storcan.com, our customer success manager will support you in the building of your future maintenance program.