The Importance of Warehouse Machine Maintenance

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Ben Franklin

And while Mr. Franklin may not have had pallet inverters, tippers, upenders, or lift tables in mind when he offered that advice several centuries ago, there is still a lesson to be taken from his words. As an operations or service manager, your warehouse equipment is the lifeblood of your operation. We all know there is never a convenient time for your equipment to break down and unexpectedly halt operations.

Your equipment, whether a pallet washer to a complete automation system, represents a serious investment, and it makes sense that you should do everything possible to ensure it runs smoothly and efficiently. After all, your livelihood depends on it.

The so-called “ounce of prevention” can be best achieved through a Preventative Maintenance program.

Preventative Maintenance Programs

• Six Week Maintenance: greasing all points, confirming all buttons and gauges are operating properly, and checking fluid levels and filters.
• Six Month Maintenance includes the services in the 6 week maintenance plus the technician will change the return oil filter, check and tighten all bolts.
• Twelve Month Maintenance includes everything in the six week and six month maintenance, plus a full machine overview, checking all hoses and fittings for signs of wear or abrasions, and changing out the filters and the hydraulic fluids.

The ways in which plant/warehouse managers care for their equipment vary from facility to facility. Some businesses rely on the “break-fix” method and may have a mechanic internally who fixes the equipment when it’s down. The downside is that now the mechanic is being sourced on another machine, along with the machine/s he was operating on, adding to an already full workload. Others have an outside mechanic they can call when needed. The challenges with these approaches include the availability of the mechanic plus his/her ability to get the necessary parts in a timely way to perform the repair, not to mention the unwanted additional cost of the hired mechanic, parts, and the machine’s downtime, all because of no preventative maintenance.

Other plant owners and managers prefer a more proactive Preventative Maintenance program with a trusted partner who prioritizes their needs and provides ongoing maintenance, helping prevent minor problems of their pallet tippers, straighteners, or pallet inverters from becoming more significant.

Operations/service managers want zero (or minimal) “downtime” and the most significant practical possible lifespan from their equipment. ?An ongoing scheduled maintenance program for warehouse equipment will help achieve those goals. When you decide to upgrade a piece of warehouse equipment, it should be because you want to, not because you feel that you need to due to a severe and unexpected mechanical breakdown of something on the floor.

Well-maintained warehouse machines will yield dividends to the company by potentially extending the life of the equipment and avoiding excessive “downtime” in the plant from a breakdown that an ongoing maintenance program might have prevented.

Additional benefits from an ongoing Preventative Maintenance program can include the following:

• Allowing the manager to achieve extended equipment life and be better able to plan for future financial investments in new equipment
• Greater safety in the workplace, reducing the need for extra human interaction with machinery that is broken
• Detecting wear and tear and potential mechanical issues before they result in downtime
• Realizing greater cost efficiencies because planned maintenance intervals are more cost-effective than dealing with random repair work
• Prevent common hydraulic and electrical issues with regular inspection and by regular fluid replacement and filter changes.
• A better experience for customers, with a reduced chance of parts failure

In selecting a Preventative Maintenance program, you should select a partner who understands your industry and your needs – someone who can do overall system condition inspections, identify parts needed for replacement, have access to this inventory in a timely way, and who can provide a program that meets your equipment’s service and maintenance needs. In short, you should choose a partner invested in your success – someone who is there when you need them and knows how to solve your challenges.

At Cherry’s Industrial Equipment, we have provided Preventative Maintenance programs for our customers for many years. We are experts on Pallet Inverters, Dispensers, Tippers and Upenders, Dumpers, Spacers, and Pallet Retrievers, not forgetting Stretch Wrappers, Pallet Washing, Drying Equipment, Lift Tables, and more. Information can be found here for onsite services.

As a new year begins, give your plant the added security of a Preventative Maintenance program. That “ounce of prevention” will stand you in good stead now and in the future. Please contact Cherry’s Industrial Service Department at?877-350-2748?or email?[email protected]?to discuss the maintenance of your system.