Empower Your Operators To Identify Small Issues BY MARK PEYTON, SUN AUTOMATION GROUP
Board Converting NEWS INTERNET DIRECTORY
It’s something I hear often. “I told my supervisor, but the machine is running production so we’re not stopping.” I don’t blame the supervisor, the machine is running
THE HAIRE GROUP www.hairegroup.com
Haire Group is the premier provider of new machinery for the corrugated industry. As the exclusive US & Canadian agent for one of the largest machinery manufacturers in the world, Haire Group is able to pair clients with the best machinery solutions for the best value to meet their spe- cific needs. As an operating partner of the US-based DFA Technical Support Center (a joint venture of Haire Group and Dong Fang), Haire Group delivers top-notch 24/7 pro- fessional, reliable service and support, maximizing quality and uptime. Additionally, Haire Group has been the indus- try’s #1 pre-owned machinery broker and plant equipment appraiser since 1976. HarperLove is the leading provider of specialty adhesives, performance additives, and wet-strength resins to corru- gated packaging manufacturers. With the largest and most experienced field service and technical support team posi- tioned throughout the U.S. and Latin America, HarperLove has a long-standing reputation for providing outstanding service and delivering demonstrable performance improve- ments. HarperLove’s renowned services include not only innovative product development and custom product for- mulation, but also machine and process assessments, ad- hesive formula adjustments, machine tuning, detailed ser- vice reporting, and more. HARPERLOVE www.HarperLove.com
well, exceeding expectations and you’ve got orders to run. But identi- fying and fixing small, seemingly in- significant issues early can and will improve your machine health and longevity, not to mention eliminate significant potential for downtime. When and if an operator raises alarm bells over a seemingly minor issue or change, there needs to be a process to keep sight of the
Mark Peyton
issue and address it as soon as possible. If an operator reports an issue and it isn’t taken seriously, what are the chances they will continue to report issues in the future? The culture in some plants is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Just because you can run production, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t investigate an issue. We recently had a customer who noticed a small issue that they didn’t address for many weeks. Again, the ma- chine ran fine. Now the small issue has turned into a large one. The machine is down and the customer is waiting for parts. A simple fix quickly becomes an emergency and more importantly, loss of production for the plant. An operator often knows something is going on with his or her machine. They may not know what exactly, but there are always signs. The signs are not always overt. Sometimes it is as sim- ple as an operator continuing to put more pressure on the impression roll nip. The machine is telling you that something is wrong. As the bearings are wearing, the roll could be getting damaged or start wearing out the ec- centric or bearing housing. The additional pressure is the first clue. The operator may know about that issue way before the roll would need to be replaced. But because the operator could simply just put more pressure on the roll and the machine runs fine, he or she may not bring it up, and if they do, does it get logged and inspected? This misstep can cost thousands of dollars in parts, not to mention unplanned downtime, missed deliveries and potential loss of customers-- when a simple check in with a service tech would uncover the need for a bearing change that could have remedied the problem months earlier and kept the line running without incident. Another common example is the operator noticing in- termittently that the machine isn’t interrupting properly. Having a service technician in to check this simple issue or calling the OEM to investigate could result in a quick change of the interrupter lever, which is a very inexpen- CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
KIWIPLAN www.kiwiplan.com
Kiwiplan - premier worldwide software provider of enter- prise-wide, fully automatic solutions specifically for the cor- rugating and packaging industries. Kiwiplan’s Total Solution delivers comprehensive, seamless real-time flow of infor- mation from sales order management to dynamic total plant scheduling and inventory control through shipping.
MAROTECH INC. www.marotech.com
Manufacturer of Marotape®, Marotape®Plus, Marotape® FPT and MaroString™; hot melt coated tapes and strings used for reinforcement and easy-open features for pack- aging. Marotech Inc. also manufactures state-of-the-art dispensing and tape placement equipments to optimize the productivity of applying hot melt coated tapes in pack- aging.
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August 10, 2020
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