Aug 29, 2024 by Mark Dingley
Failures and downtime happen in every manufacturing environment – it’s a harsh reality when equipment is running for hours every day.
But when your equipment fails, every minute of downtime is another dollar wasted. So, how can you minimise downtime and get your production line up and running quickly?
In this article, we reveal six tips and tools for achieving quick recovery and reducing the impact of equipment failures.
Equipment failure in a manufacturing environment can be incredibly costly, mainly because of downtime and lost productivity. When a machine breaks down, everything comes to a halt, disrupting the whole production schedule.
The actual cost of a machine breakdown has been estimated as between four to 15 times the maintenance costs.
The downtime not only means emergency repairs and possibly paying workers overtime to catch up, but it also disrupts the supply chain and delays deliveries, leading to unhappy customers. These issues can result in lost sales and damage the company's reputation. Plus, emergency repairs are usually more expensive, adding to the financial strain.
The impact of equipment failure goes beyond the repair costs, affecting the operation's overall efficiency and profitability.
When equipment breaks down, who do you call? You need to know you have a dedicated team you can call when things go wrong to ensure that lengthy downtime doesn't cost your business.
A good recovery plan will ensure that expert technicians are on hand to diagnose and fix the problem and help reduce the time it is out of service.
When selecting your equipment, choose your vendor on the merit of their support. Service and support are critical in ensuring the ongoing efficiency of your coding, labelling and inspection equipment and that you can get up and running quickly in the event of a failure.
Pro Tip: Make sure your provider has a dedicated team to provide regular maintenance and servicing and emergency support when needed. Matthews provides unrivalled support online, onsite and over the phone. Our Care 24/7 programs provide unlimited 24/7 remote access support and diagnostics.
You can’t be expected to have a duplicate of every machine on site, just in case it fails – but for some processes, it’s a real option.
Take the coding process.
If your coding equipment fails, you can keep your line moving with the Edding Portable and Handheld Printer. The mobile printer can code 15 different barcodes, including QR, Data Matrix, GS1 and EAN, wherever your items are located. There’s a simple on-screen editor to create, edit and manage messages. The printer uses Edding’s extensive range of performance inks and is capable of high-resolution printing (up to 600 dpi) on almost any product and surface including paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal and glass. It can also use specialist inks for use in food production and UV-readable inks.
The Edding Portable has the functionalities of an inline printer, but with an industrial battery lasting up to 12 hours (4aH) or 30 hours (10aH) making it the ideal backup option.
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Establishing a thorough preventative maintenance schedule is crucial for maximising equipment effectiveness, reducing downtime, cutting costs, and guaranteeing smooth operations. Routine maintenance keeps equipment running safely for as long as possible without the risk of unplanned and expensive failures, giving you a sense of financial security and control.
Planned maintenance can help protect your product quality and save your energy costs. If your equipment starts to deteriorate without detection, your business could be distributing products of lower quality without realising it. Inspection equipment could let contaminants slip through undetected, and coders and labellers may create unscannable barcodes. Equipment running at sub-optimum levels can also use more energy, resulting in higher bills.
Regular inspections and scheduled maintenance help identify and mitigate potential issues before they escalate into major problems. For example, Matthews offers a Printernet service, which enables our technical support team to access a device remotely to check and monitor its condition and vital signs when powered and connected. The team can interact with a customer’s machine remotely to optimise printer performance, help operators remotely with troubleshooting, and view historical logged data for further analytics and support.
Pro Tip: Think of preventative maintenance as giving your car a service. Most people book their vehicle in for a service every 10,000 kilometres rather than waiting for it to break down. Our Care preventative maintenance programs mitigate the top five causes of machine failure to ensure your equipment performs at its best. We schedule and complete a range of equipment inspections to identify potential problems and failures, and then plan the rectification before the failure occurs, preventing downtime for the customer. We can also plan any major maintenance required, such as refurbs, module changes and filter changes to extend the life of the equipment. This improves your OEE by preventing unplanned stops or reduced speed.
Ensure that operators are well-trained in how to maintain equipment and diagnose faults. Focus on giving operators the skills to detect and resolve common faults swiftly, minimising downtime due to human error. Continuous skill development also ensures that your team stays updated with the latest maintenance practices and technologies, empowering them to maximise equipment performance.
Pro Tip: Matthews provides training sessions designed to give supervisors, managers, operators and maintenance teams all the knowledge they need to reduce costly downtime, improve safety, enhance operator productivity, and more. Our course can teach you the basic techniques to maintain equipment better and diagnose common faults. It also covers the most common processes that, if performed incorrectly, can cause major operating problems, from replacing consumables and threading labels to moving equipment safely from line to line.
Keep a spare parts kit on site to deal with emergency repairs fast. If your team is trained to fix certain issues, ensure they have access to the spare parts they need. This will minimise downtime.
You don’t need an inventory of all spare parts on site, but you need quick and ready access to critical spare parts. This can significantly reduce the time required to repair equipment, minimising downtime following equipment failures.
Pro Tip: When researching potential vendors, ask about spare parts availability. Do they have quick access to spare parts? Are there reduced prices for customers? Matthews provides preferential pricing for spare parts through our Care programs and can also provide a recommended spare parts kit.
Don't underestimate the value of local support. When vendors rely on third parties or overseas suppliers to provide remote support and repair services, it can lead to delays in responsiveness to manufacturers, resulting in prolonged downtime from equipment failures.
Providing local and in-house support 24x7 to our customers is something Matthews will not compromise on, providing the peace of mind that you have support when you need it most.
Pro Tip: Choosing a local Australian equipment provider such as Matthews will provide the support you need to maximise uptime. Our local 24/7 support ensures quick response times, reduced downtime, and a better understanding of your unique manufacturing environment, all of which contribute to minimising downtime and maximising productivity.
Matthews has designed a range of care and support, backed by experienced technicians, to ensure that downtime is a problem of the past:
1. Expertise and Experience: With a team of skilled technicians on hand online and onsite, Matthews has the expertise to diagnose issues accurately, perform repairs, and get your line up and running rapidly. Our technicians are experienced in working with Matthews equipment in a wide range of environments and integrations, and are dedicated to providing the highest quality service, ensuring that your equipment is back in operation as quickly as possible.
2. Preventive Maintenance: Matthews’ preventative maintenance services help you get the most from your coding, labelling and inspection equipment for as long as you own it. Our skilled technicians will conduct the routine service procedures, inspect your equipment, replace consumable parts where required, clean equipment and advise you of any areas of concern.
3. 24/7 Care Programs: We have designed three Care 24/7 programs to match our customers’ varied needs and keep equipment running smoothly, preventing unexpected breakdowns. Because we know that not every business needs the same level of support, you can choose from the right level of care for your business, whether that’s Essential Care for smaller sites or less critical production lines or Advanced Care for the very highest levels of production support optimisation in the industry.
4. Swift Remote Response: In the event of equipment failure, Matthews provides a remote diagnostic service to quickly identify the cause of the failure and ensure that repairs are conducted promptly, minimising downtime. Matthews’ field and install technical teams use HINDSITE technology, which comprises IOT smart glasses and cloud-based technology. The smart glasses send live video and audio from the technician to the Matthews’ central technical support team, allowing the technician to be hands-free to focus on the job while accessing Matthews’ technical knowledge database and live support from the Mathews in-house and local support team if required.
5. Real-time Support: Beyond maintenance and repair, Matthews also provides easy access to real-time online help, such as a support manual, booking a service, or ordering a spare part – without having to wait on the phone or for an email reply.
Talk to us to find out more about our Care programs and support services.