CMMS at the service of the packaging industry

CMMS is an increasingly used tool for maintenance management in the packaging and packaging industry, a sector in constant search for innovation.

Operating for many economic sectors including cosmetics or food, companies inpackaging industry use numerous industrial machines: blowing machines, fillers, wrappers, wrappers, conveyors, cartoners, etc. This equipment must be maintained regularly. The more efficient it is, the more productive these machines will be.

To optimize the management of their maintenance, packaging and packaging companies have every interest in adopting the most efficient and profitable solutions, and therefore in choosing a next-generation CMMS solution, mobile and powerful.

Why improve maintenance management?

Improving the maintenance management of a factory benefits it on several levels.

Reliability

In general, the better packaging machines are maintained, the more reliable they are. This reliability is crucial in order to be able to respond to your customers' orders at any time and on time. It is therefore an important element of your customers' confidence in your ability to meet their needs on time.

Cost reduction

Poorly-maintained packaging machines are more likely to break down or malfunction than well-maintained machines. However, a machine that breaks down when it should be working is very expensive, because it causes an unplanned stop in production. On the one hand, some production operators who are supposed to use it are present but are not in a position to work, on the other hand, the company's productivity is negatively impacted, and finally, damaged spare parts that need to be changed have a cost.

By carrying out effective maintenance, a packaging company reduces the probability of its machines breaking down and thus saves money.

security

Good maintenance is also a way to guarantee the safety of your employees and customers. By ensuring the proper functioning of the machines and by avoiding faulty behaviors, it allows you to offer a safer working environment to your employees, and more reliable products to your customers.

How can maintenance be improved in the packaging industry?

Preventive maintenance is one of the best ways to optimize maintenance management in the packaging industry, but it is not the only one.

Adopt a preventive maintenance plan

La preventive maintenance consists of carrying out regular maintenance interventions on machines before they break down rather than simply repairing them when they are no longer in working order.

A preventive maintenance plan can take various forms:

• regular inspection of machines;
• monitoring and replacing the most fragile parts;
• an inventory of spare parts available, in particular the most fragile ones;
• the lubrication of the machines.

The implementation of preventive maintenance actions has several major advantages.

Reduce the frequency of breakdowns and production stoppages

The first advantage of a preventive maintenance plan is to reduce the risk of breakdowns and therefore of unplanned production shutdowns. If a machine needs to be stopped for maintenance, this shutdown can be anticipated and planned at a time when it will not disrupt production. In addition, the duration of a maintenance intervention, and therefore of the induced production stoppage, is generally shorter when it is planned than when it is carried out urgently: spare parts are available, maintenance technicians have prepared the intervention, etc.

Improving the longevity and reliability of machines

In addition, preventive maintenance makes it possible to increase the lifespan of machines and their reliability. Indeed, some minor malfunctions may escape the attention of production teams and may not lead to immediate breakdowns. But these types of malfunctions, for example a slightly damaged spare part, tend to lead to others, for example by damaging other parts or even the entire machine.

By carrying out regular preventive inspections, maintenance technicians can detect these malfunctions and intervene before they have major consequences, which would take longer and more expensive to repair, and which would have a negative impact on the longevity of the machine.

Scheduling regular preventive maintenance allows you to control your production and significantly reduce your maintenance and repair expenses in the long term.

Integrate autonomous maintenance tasks

Some preventive maintenance can be carried out by production operators themselves in the form of maintenance tasks. autonomous maintenance. To do this, it is necessary to set up for each machine, according to its characteristics, the manufacturer's recommendations and regulations, a list of tasks to be carried out by the people who use it on a daily basis.

Maintain smooth communication with machine manufacturers

Manufacturers of packaging machines are generally the best experts in this field. By maintaining smooth communication with the manufacturers of the machines you use, you benefit from their expertise and recommendations. Some even provide maintenance or repair services when needed.

Manage spare parts well

One good spare parts management is essential to be able to ensure effective maintenance. It is therefore important to always have a precise knowledge of your spare parts stocks, and to set up a classification system to manage them in a manner adapted to their characteristics. For example, they can be classified according to their importance for the production chain, or according to their lifespan:

• fragile parts, which must always be available in company stocks;
• resistant parts, which are preferable to have in stock or that can be purchased quickly from a reliable supplier;
• extremely resistant parts that do not need to be kept in stock.

How CMMS can improve the maintenance of a packaging factory

The adoption of efficient CMMS software makes it possible to improve machine maintenance while making it easier to manage, thanks to some essential features.

Implement a preventive maintenance plan using CMMS

The establishment of a preventive maintenance plan is very complex, if not impossible, with old maintenance management solutions on paper or in Excel. With a modern CMMS solution, on the other hand, it is much simpler thanks to a dedicated function.

Create and manage your maintenance plans in your CMMS

It is thus possible, for each machine and each piece of equipment, to plan the maintenance tasks to be carried out, based on the manufacturer's recommendations, the experience of technicians or other criteria. This calendar can be viewed at any time, and maintenance teams, or production operators, receive notifications as soon as a task needs to be completed. Once the intervention or task is completed, the operator notes it in the CMMS software and can, if necessary, write a report.

In addition, it is possible to link the necessary documents to the maintenance plan for each piece of equipment, in order to facilitate interventions.

Choosing a mobile CMMS to save time

Today there are solutions for Mobile CMMS which take the form of an application that can be used on a computer, tablet or smartphone. They allow you to have access at any time to the information necessary to carry out effective maintenance, to be notified of the tasks to be carried out, but also to write intervention reports as soon as they are completed.

Optimizing maintenance thanks to CMMS

Finally, a new generation of maintenance software provides powerful and very useful analysis tools to optimize its maintenance. This makes it possible, for example, to know if all the interventions carried out are essential, or conversely if a machine should be inspected or maintained more frequently.

Use the analytical tools of your CMMS to optimize your maintenance

Manage spare parts stocks more easily

By using CMMS software, technicians and maintenance managers can consult the status of spare parts stocks at any time. They can also report when they have taken a part out of stock.

In addition, the pieces can be classified according to the criteria chosen thanks to the labels, which allows more accurate and easier monitoring of stocks.

Communicate easily with suppliers thanks to a community CMMS

With a community CMMS application, you can easily find a supplier or service provider you need, in the supplier catalog, as well as easily contact those you already work with, directly from the application. This allows you to easily exchange to find a machine, or ask for information or advice.

If your business belongs to the packaging industry, CMMS is an excellent maintenance management tool. It will be all the more useful if you choose an innovative solution that is easy to use and allows you, through its functionalities, to optimize your maintenance to increase productivity.