Keep Your Automation Equipment Running with These 4 Tips

Use these tips to keep your automated equipment up and running at optimum performance.  

Being proactive with equipment can help you avoid costly repairs and down time. Planning out and outlining regular equipment checkups, instead of waiting until an issue arises, helps your staff monitor machinery so issues can be identified and corrected as early as possible.  

Having a plan in place could save you from a lot of headaches, or in this case unexpected expenses, that could have been avoided simply by making your equipment's health a priority.  

Don’t wait for something to go wrong. Establish and stick to a schedule of routine maintenance. While something may need to be inspected once every six months, something else may need to be checked biweekly, monthly or quarterly. Outline a very detailed plan that breaks down when and what will be accomplished during each inspection.   

Keeping the schedule accessible allows all team members to be on the same page. They will know when to expect the equipment to be down for maintenance and can help plan production around scheduled repairs or equipment updates.  

It may seem tedious, but documenting all maintenance and services performed on each piece of equipment is not only helpful for your employees to know what has been done, but it provides a record of services completed for future staff members or service technicians. While you may remember what was completed or changed on each piece of machinery on your production floor, other people will not.  

Having a log will also allow your team to recognize patterns of issues so they can keep an eye out for potential threats to your systems. Additionally, a log will provide insights on when to order replacement parts or who completed the work in case a question comes up.  

It is a great idea to have regularly needed parts available at your facility. Keeping regularly used parts available 24/7 helps reduce equipment downtime in case an issue arises. It will also be important to have parts available for when routine maintenance is performed, and something needs to be replaced.  

Our Lifecycle Management experts know how important it is to keep your equipment running at tip-top shape. We know it can be hard to decide what parts to have on an inventory parts list or how to develop routine maintenance schedules. We can help you! Learn about Lifecycle Management and how our aftermarket services can be catered to fit your unique needs.