End of the Year Maintenance and Re-Stocking for Packaging Machinery

Between special products, must-get-done projects and preparing for the Holidays at home, the last month of the year can quickly become hectic. Preparing for the next year can sometimes get lost in the chaos of finishing up the current year. At Liquid Packaging Solutions, our Parts & Support representatives are ready to help make the transition to 2023 as smooth as possible.

Whether running a single semi-automatic piece of equipment such as a filling machine or a tabletop capper, or producing product using a complete automated packaging system, occasional inspections and maintenance can ensure a long and useful life for the equipment. From a thorough cleaning to close inspection and a re-stocking of necessary wear parts, December is a good time for a general review and assessment of packaging machinery and lines in general.

Cleaning of equipment should be a part of every general maintenance program when working with packaging equipment. Machines like power conveyors can build up dust and debris in corners, pinch points and other areas. Such buildup can ultimately affect the performance of the equipment if left unattended for too long. Even if cleaning is done on a regular basis, an end of the year, thorough cleaning of equipment can help keep performance at its peak.

In addition to cleaning, December is a good time to schedule an inspection of the equipment by the maintenance team. Almost every packaging machine will include wear parts. Wear parts are typically those parts that come in contact with product, bottles, caps or some other component during the packaging process. For instance, fill heads on an overflow filler have seals which dive to cover the bottle opening. Over time, these seals can wear down and require replacement. An inspection of all equipment can identify which wear parts may need to be replaced to begin the new year with equipment running at full strength.

Once wear parts have been replaced, if necessary, an analysis of the parts keep in-house should also be performed to ensure that downtime will be limited to the simple switch of the part. While LPS keeps a large variety of spare and wear parts in stock, keeping wear parts and other spare parts in stock at the production facility ensures that full production will not have to wait for the shipping, fabrication or ordering of a part.

Of course, each packaging machine and line may differ in necessary maintenance and wea parts. For assistance in preparing your equipment for another year of production or in identifying those wear parts which would be best kept on hand to avoid extended downtime, contact LPS today to speak with a Packaging Specialist.