The old saying goes that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, and the second-best time is today.
In dairy manufacturing, Preventive Maintenance (PM) is the best way to avoid the realization that you needed a plan yesterday for today’s problem. Complex dairy processing and packaging equipment must be meticulously maintained to ensure efficient operations and product safety. A well-written PM is essential to avoid costly and disruptive equipment failures.
A PM plan (as you probably know) is a schedule of routine tasks, materials, and resources to prevent equipment and assets from failing. It is essential for any industry, but especially in the dairy industry, where equipment failures can significantly reduce product quality, safety, and profitability.
Common Dairy Preventive Maintenance Tasks:
- Milk silos: Clean, sanitize, and inspect for wear and damage.
- Pasteurizers: Clean, sanitize, and calibrate temperature sensors.
- Homogenizers: Clean, sanitize, and inspect valves and seals.
- Separators: Clean, sanitize, and inspect bowl and discs.
- Evaporators: Clean, sanitize, and inspect heating elements and coils.
- Fillers: Clean, sanitize, and inspect filling nozzles and seals.
- Cappers: Clean, sanitize, and inspect capping heads and seals.
- CIP systems: Clean, sanitize, and inspect tubing, valves, and fittings.
- Boilers: Clean, sanitize, and inspect heating elements, valves, and pressure gauges.
- Refrigeration units: Clean, sanitize, and inspect coils, compressor, and fans.
How ERP Automated can help with PM optimization
ERP Automated is a leading provider of ERP and Maintenance Reliability solutions for the dairy industry. We help dairy businesses optimize their PM programs in a number of ways, including:
Improving PM plans: We help dairy customers develop new or enhance existing PM plans that are tailored to their specific needs. Firstly, we consider asset criticality, the type of assets, the operating environment, the desired level of reliability, and the data you wish to incorporate.
Spare parts optimization: We work with dairy customers to improve their spare parts inventory re-order points and Bill of Materials to ensure that they have the right parts on hand when they need them for PM tasks. This can help to reduce downtime and improve the overall efficiency of the PM program.
Asset data optimization: We work with dairy customers to identify and document all assets in the dairy processing plant, collecting and analyzing historical data, and using this information to develop targeted PM tasks for their unique equipment.
Work management process design and optimization: We design and optimize work management processes to ensure that PM or reactive tasks are completed efficiently and effectively. This can include tasks such as scheduling work orders, assigning resources, tracking progress, and metrics and reporting (KPIs).
Training and support: We offer a number of training and support resources to help businesses get the most out of our asset management/CMMS software and optimize their PM programs.
Click below to learn how ERP Automated can prepare for your future maintenance and reliability needs today—plant that tree!
