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The vital human factor

While maintenance software systems and actionable data collection continue to enhance reliability, a thoroughly trained technical staff is still a necessity.

When a factory signs on for services, ATS takes care of everything related to maintenance. ATS can staff a plant 24/7, if that’s what is needed. Photo courtesy of ATS.
When a factory signs on for services, ATS takes care of everything related to maintenance. ATS can staff a plant 24/7, if that’s what is needed. Photo courtesy of ATS.

Jeph Shipley, maintenance and packaging plant manager at Wixon, a manufacturer of seasonings, flavors and technologies for the food and beverage industry, thinks a lack of trained operators that fully understand how to maintain machinery is the biggest maintenance challenge facing food and beverage manufacturers today. Shipley is not alone in his thinking. The lack of qualified operators has been plaguing the food and beverage industry for decades, not just in the maintenance department, but throughout the plant floor. 

Shipley addresses the staffing problem with on-the-job training, but it’s been a struggle. “We utilize the what, how and why approach to standard work instructions, so that the operators can understand the reason why it is important to follow them,” he states. Providing maintenance training, both internally and externally, is difficult, especially when you have a small team and every hour of the workday is at full capacity, he adds. 

“I typically [take] the philosophy of CIL — clean, inspect, lubricate,” says Shipley. “Reactive calls for assistance reduce the effectiveness of maintenance due to taking maintenance technicians away from time that could be better spent on PMs (preventive maintenance) or improvements.”

When opportunity knocks

Meeting the changing demands of customers continue to be a challenge for food and beverage manufacturers. When addressing PM, smaller companies may not know how to best utilize their present systems to provide the required data and information for tasks. Unfortunately, there is no out-of-the-box solution. “There’s no cookie cutter. You have to tailor [your CMMS to do the] tracking of work for data analyzation,” states Shipley.

For example, maintenance planners should tailor their PM systems to be flexible so that any tasks generated during a set period can be available when changes to production schedules happen in real time. Shipley says instead of production and scheduling departments driving PM tasks, the maintenance planner should stay on top of opportunities: “Here are all the machines I need to get done in different departments. How can I get these completed? [Maintenance planners have] to work closely with department supervisors and operators, so that they’ll understand when that opportunity might happen. You really have to keep a hawk eye on it to be able to get results.”

Wixon uses a CMMS system for asset management and focuses on reliability-centered maintenance. The company tracks work order classes for trending and understanding failure modes; uses predictive maintenance tools; and targets 25 percent each week of monthly-generated PMs. 

“It’s the minor stoppages that can really eat your OEE,” says Shipley. “We look at in-work order class as adjustments, breakdown, repair, PAS, production assist, and then damage, and how they relate to the effectiveness of our PMs.”

The good old-fashioned techniques of taking care of your vital equipment often yields a return on investment. But the human factor remains one of Shipley’s biggest challenges. “You can have all the bells and whistles you want, but they’re not going to do anything but drive you crazy, if [your operators and technicians] can’t operate the machine the way it’s supposed to be,” he says.

Getting help

According to Mark Hungerford, director of customer services for Leading2Lean, a food manufacturer’s focus should be on improvement rather than maintenance. This mindset of continuous improvements drives down costs and improves quality, he states: “It’s time to eliminate the maintenance department and replace it with the improvement department.”

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to food packaging and processing challenges. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast