by Chris Bova
Our preventive maintenance inspection (PMI) is a yearly program that services our customers and their Bollegraaf, Lubo, and TITECH machinery. It is designed to detect and prevent potential problems before they occur to keep our customers’ downtime to a minimum. The idea is that twice a year we will perform “checkups” on our customers’ machines to diagnose any unforeseen problems that may be arising. Our expert service technicians visit the site and conduct a thorough inspection on all parts of the designated equipment, while causing minimal interruption in production (though some is inevitable). If any issues are detected, our technician will schedule a repair or make the repair on the spot. These small tweaks can greatly improve the performance of a machine and an entire plant.
With regular visits and the proper adjustments, a machine will remain reliable and at the peak of productivity. The program is proven to lower overall maintenance costs and prolong the lifetime of equipment. Our experience shows that customers who schedule preventive maintenance inspections have less emergency repairs, lower overall service costs, and increased production time.
Our general program provides two visits a year, eight hours each. The price includes any small repairs that can be made within the allotted time and a detailed report of the technician’s findings (a copy of which we keep on file at our headquarter office). It also includes quotes for the spare parts needed and the scheduling of any necessary follow up repairs.If the mechanic cannot make the repair on the spot, he will order the necessary parts immediately. Our Connecticut warehouse is stocked with $16.7 million in spare parts, encompassing over 13,000 SKUs—an extensive inventory of every part to every one of our machines. We even maintain an inventory of obsolete parts for our customers with older models of equipment.We can overnight any part, any size, getting it on a truck within 30 minutes or on a plane within an hour.
Some of our customers schedule their preventive maintenance inspections in conjunction with a service visit. This means, for example, that a mechanic shows up at their plant on a Monday, performs the PMI, orders any spare parts needed, receives the parts by Tuesday, makes the repairs, and is out that very day or before the week is up. This saves the customer money by consolidating the travel time of the technician.
One of the biggest benefits of the PMI program (aside from the money saved on reduced emergency repairs) is having our technicians evaluate the performance of a machine against its known abilities.While conducting PMIs, our technicians often discover overlooked errors that, in fact, drastically and negatively impact the performance of a machine. For example, if a plant installs the wrong light bulb on their TITECH, it will not sort properly. If the channel pressure on a baler is not adjusted correctly, its bales may be underweight. These are small mistakes that ultimately pose high costs.
Often, our customers don’t even realize that their equipment is not processing at its capacity. They run the equipment and assume it is performing to the best of its ability, when it is actually producing less than optimal results. We come in and discover the machine is not doing all that it can. Often all it takes is a tweak to bring the machine up to peak performance. No-cost repairs performed during a PMI may seem unnecessary, but can mean dramatic improvements.
We also encourage our customers to use the PMIs as opportunities to learn more about their equipment. Their mechanics can shadow our technicians, picking up tips on how to better maintain their machines. When performing a PMI, our technicians adhere to a comprehensive checklist of machine parts to review. On a standard PMI for a baler, the technician will check over 370 separate items to make sure the machine is in peak condition. It’s a great opportunity for on-site mechanics to become more familiar with their baler.
Our technicians also make sure proper safety protocol is being followed. They sometimes find that the customer is not following lock-out/tag-out procedure or has a damaged or defective safety feature on a machine. Our technicians discuss all safety related concerns immediately with the employees and their management, and record those concerns in the follow up report.
Our standard PMI covers balers and TITECHs, but
we can design a custom package to include any additional equipment that a customer wishes to have serviced. This is often the case for our customers with sort systems. Typically, inspecting one baler takes a full 8-hour visit and inspecting one TITECH takes 4 hours. So, even our customers who have multiple balers or TITECHs will need a certain degree of customization. Ultimately, anything can be customized by calling our service department and discussing your options.
Another option we offer is what we call a “Cluster PMI.” If a customer has a group of plants in the same state or region, we will service the grouping on the same trip. This saves the customer in the form of reduced overall travel time of the VAN DYK technician.
To request a quote on preventive maintenance, discuss your options, or find out more information, please contact our service department at 203-967-1100, or ask directly for me, Chris Bova.
500 word column
Our preventive maintenance inspection (PMI) is a yearly program that services our customers and their Bollegraaf, Lubo, and TITECH machinery. It is designed to detect and prevent potential problems before they occur to keep our customers’ downtime to a minimum. The idea is that twice a year we will perform “checkups” on our customers’ machines to diagnose any unforeseen problems that may be arising. Our expert service technicians visit the site and conduct a thorough inspection on all parts of the designated equipment, while causing minimal interruption in production (though some is inevitable). If any issues are detected, our technician will schedule a repair or make the repair on the spot. These small tweaks can greatly improve the performance of a machine and an entire plant.
With regular visits and the proper adjustments, a machine will remain reliable and at the peak of productivity. The program is proven to lower overall maintenance costs and prolong the lifetime of equipment. Our experience shows that customers who schedule preventive maintenance inspections have less emergency repairs, lower overall service costs, and increased production time. We also encourage our customers to use the PMIs as opportunities to learn more about their equipment. Their mechanics can shadow our technicians, picking up tips on how to better maintain their machines.
The program is backed by our Connecticut warehouse’s stock of $16.7 million in spare parts, encompassing over 13,000 SKUs—an extensive inventory of every part to every one of our machines. We even maintain an inventory of obsolete parts for our customers with older models of equipment. If the technician performing the PMI cannot make the repair on the spot, he will order the necessary parts immediately. Our warehouse can overnight any part, any size, getting it on a truck within 30 minutes or on a plane within an hour.
Our standard PMI covers balers and TITECHs, but we can design a custom package to include any additional equipment that a customer wishes to have serviced. This is often the case for our customers with sort systems. Typically, inspecting one baler takes a full 8-hour visit and inspecting one TITECH takes 4 hours. So, even our customers who have multiple balers or TITECHs will need a certain degree of customization. Ultimately, anything can be customized by calling our service department and discussing your options.
To request a quote on preventive maintenance, discuss your options, or find out more information, please contact our service department at 203-967-1100, or ask directly for me, Chris Bova.
