Ensuring your conveyors and associated process equipment are producing consistently is the goal of any plant. Maintenance is key to enabling ongoing equipment performance and production. If equipment is down sustainability and efficiency is compromised, ultimately leading to a loss of revenue.
More importantly considered is the safety of operators; if equipment is not inspected and maintained proactively, personnel are put in a potentially hazardous scenario. Below are five tips for safe and easy conveyor belt maintenance to keep you and your team safe and your plant producing.
1. Routine maintenance inspection
Make maintenance part of the daily routine. Create a checklist that covers areas such as belt and chain tension, pulley alignment, lubrication of bearings, contamination and excess wear or vibration of rollers, damaged belts, sensors or guards.
2. Preventative maintenance, not reactive
Schedule large-scale maintenance and shutdown when it suits you. Unplanned shutdowns due to a faulty conveyor system will cause costly downtime and may impact your operations schedule.
3. Carry a set of spares on-site
Always have spare maintenance equipment on-site to prevent costly downtime if unexpected conveyor damage occurs. This includes puller plates, clamps and belt lifters.
4. Don’t let your conveyor system seize
Conveyor systems are designed to run regularly, long periods of time out of operation can cause motors and bearings to seize, resulting in potential large maintenance costs.
5. Document all maintenance and repairs
This enables you to understand where your conveyor may be consistently failing, as well as providing all staff with the right information if an issue were to re-surface.
The above steps can be used as a baseline checklist when setting maintenance schedules and completing maintenance on your conveyor belts. Being proactive and regimented in your maintenance as well as the reporting and documentation of damage and remedy ensures you are across your equipment and can operate safely and efficiently.
Having the right equipment and tooling to enable this process is also really important. Our range of conveyor products aim to enable safe, efficient and easy maintenance. If there is a problem you are experiencing on your site that we can take off your hands, get in contact with one of the Bend-tech team today!