Unplanned downtime in the food and beverage manufacturing industry is a costly and disruptive issue for manufacturers. It can halt production, lead to financial losses and damage business reputation. It is currently estimated that unplanned downtime costs food and beverage manufacturers around £180 billion each year, making it a critical concern for any food processing application.

There are a number of causes of unanticipated downtime, with the most common being equipment (42%), user error (19%), and poor scheduling of necessary maintenance (13%). It is therefore important that food and beverage manufacturers take a proactive approach to maintenance.

Here, Jason Tweedy, General Manager – Reliability & Compcare for Rubix, gives insight into the practical proven solutions that manufacturers can implement to maintain asset reliability, reduce planned downtime, and stay compliant, without compromising productivity or food safety.

Condition monitoring techniques

The food and beverage industry relies on physical assets and equipment at every stage of the supply chain. However, the industry faces several challenges when it comes to asset management. Some of these include ageing equipment, complex supply chains, compliance with strict food safety regulations, cost pressures and data management.

To overcome some of these challenges, a proven predictive maintenance strategy is required. Condition Monitoring (CM) identifies impending equipment degradation or failure so that corrective action may be taken before a catastrophic failure. Essentially, it involves continuously monitoring equipment and systems to identify potential faults before they lead to failure.

Preventative maintenance is a proactive strategy that involves performing maintenance tasks on a scheduled basis to prevent failures. CM, on the other hand, focuses on real-time data collection and analysis to determine the health of assets, unlike preventative maintenance, which relies on fixed schedules or guidelines.

CM technologies are many and varied, but there are three that are most commonly used in food processing applications due to their ability to keep production lines running efficiently. These are: vibration analysis, thermography and oil and grease sampling.

The technique of vibration analysis uses sensors to measure the vibration levels of rotating machinery, such as motors and pumps. Changes in vibration patterns can indicate issues like misalignment, bearing damage or motor failure.

Vibration analysis offers the clearest and most concise data relating to potential and arising issues on rotational assets on a food production line. This can be conducted in one of two ways. Firstly, through monthly visits from a Rubix expert with a data logger, who is then able to notify his site contact of any imminent issues, or secondly; an installed system which sends data to an accessible cloud program, where the user can access continuous data. Both options are detailed, and give the customer plenty of information, with time to react before a potential breakdown.

Next is thermography, also known as thermal imaging, this is a particularly useful technique due to the non-contact nature of the routine. It allows for monitoring at a distance, ideal for maintaining food standards by avoiding contamination. With the right equipment and an experienced thermographer, detailed images alongside an in-depth report can be generated, highlighting the issues and advice from Rubix on how to rectify said issues.

Thermal imaging cameras can monitor the temperature variations in food processing, packaging and storage, identifying potential issues before they lead to spoilage or equipment failures. This helps to ensure perishable goods remain suitable for consumption and that equipment operates optimally.

Thermography is especially suited to identifying overheating issues, electrical faults or bearing failures. By identifying overheating in equipment like motors, bearings, and refrigeration systems allows for timely maintenance, preventing breakdowns and reducing downtime.

Lastly, and arguably one of the most underestimated techniques, as lubrication is to an extent in every rotational asset, is the technique of oil and grease sampling.

It involves examining lubricant samples to assess the health of equipment and detect signs of wear, contamination, and corrosion. Which can help to identify problems with bearings, gears, and other components before they cause significant damage. The process of intermittent sample taking and testing allows for a true picture of three important categories: wear, chemical composition and contamination.

Oil analysis assesses the oil’s physical and chemical properties, including viscosity, oxidation, and contamination, to determine if it is still performing as intended. Meanwhile, grease analysis identifies wear particles, moisture, and contaminants that can degrade the grease’s lubricating properties and potentially cause bearing damage.

If done alongside a good site lubrication strategy, then the technique of oil and grease sampling, in fact, reduces the potential of issues arising, rather than early detection.

Monitoring important assets

One of the two most important assets in a food factory that should be monitored are motors and gearboxes. Without them, manufacturers lose the ability to move products given that they are located at every step of the manufacturing process from conveyors to mixing vessels, grinders, and cutters to packaging products in shrink wrappers and storage systems, as well as in ancillaries to the main product such as compressors, heating systems, refrigeration. These assets are needed every step of the way.

As a result, a significant percentage of any production site heavily relies on rotating equipment to function, yet due to its common nature its cruciality is sometimes overlooked. This is even though the failure of these two assets potentially leads to significant downtime, reduced productivity and potential contamination risks, resulting in financial losses and reputational damage.

Regular monitoring of motors and gearboxes through vibration analysis, thermal imaging, and other methods can help identify potential issues before they escalate into catastrophic failures, minimizing downtime and costs. Further to this, the selection and maintenance of these assets are crucial for industry standards compliance and consumer protection.

With a good asset management strategy, such as condition monitoring, maintenance can be checked and monitored, improvement projects and upgrades are easier to identify, and stores/spare holdings can be reviewed and made more efficient. Breakdowns are reduced due to holding the correct critical spares and replacements.

Trusting the experts

The benefit of having your asset management strategy facilitated via Rubix, is that every aspect can be taken care of by us, and we pride ourselves in finding out what is right for each customer, not what we believe to be right. With the correct advice, followed by the correct actions, true savings with improved production efficiencies can be achieved.

The Rubix CMP – a 24/7 AI-driven condition monitoring platform is the first of its kind to help identify issues before they cause costly failures. This works by continually monitoring machinery critical identified assets, evaluating historical data trends and spotting anomalies that would overwise go undetected.

By implementing the Rubix CMP, engineers can shift away from reactive maintenance procedures and towards predictive and proactive models, reducing the possibility of catastrophic failures, lowering maintenance costs and ensuring continuous, efficient functioning.

To learn more, visit: www.rubix.com.