Maintenance Strategies

11th Annual Replacement Parts Survey

Replacement Parts Survey: Advancing inventory practices

While cutting costs drives innovation in product sourcing and inventory management, processors are demanding higher-quality spare parts.

Mikell Knights

July 3, 2013

Food and beverage plants spent less on replacement parts and components in 2013 and are focused on lower inventories and competitive pricing as key business drivers, based on replies from industry professionals in Food Engineering’s 11th Annual Replacement Parts and Components Trends Survey.

TECH FLASH

Tank coating: an underrated aspect of selection

Tank surface preparation methods diverge, and a tank’s coating is its only defense against corrosion.

May 28, 2013

Find out what method of tank coating will suit your operation best.

Tech Update - Pumps

Look before you leap into pump selection

While there may be more than one pump solution for a specific application, it pays to do some homework first to find the most efficient solution.

Wayne Labs

April 9, 2013

Increase efficiency. Improve product handling characteristics. Meter ingredients or cleaning chemicals more accurately. Cut maintenance time and downtime. Decrease energy usage.

Technology Sourcebook

Silicone antifoams

April 9, 2013

Dow Corning XIAMETER ACP-1500 silicone antifoams destabilize and collapse bubbles in foam to eliminate spillovers in food and beverage processing applications.

Food Safety: Color contributes to safe, efficient food production

Jaan Koel

December 5, 2012

Color coding of maintenance and sanitation equipment is becoming a certification requirement.

Tech Update: Power Transmission Equipment - Increasing uptime in demanding environments

Wayne Labs

November 7, 2012

The key to long life and less energy usage is proper maintenance.

Processor uses VFFS to meet changing customer demands

November 7, 2012

Low maintenance, flexible vertical form-fill-seal equipment delivers increased speed and uptime.

TECH FLASH

On the road with maintenance management

Older maintenance management systems chained technicians down, but mobile systems keep them moving

October 29, 2012

This cloud-based maintenance management software keeps maintenance people on the run, speeding up productivity.

TECH FLASH

When batching systems no longer keep up

Regulatory requirements demand that batch software provide electronic recordkeeping

October 29, 2012

Sometimes no amount of patching and custom coding can match the scheduling and recordkeeping capabilities of a new batch system.

New technologies boost plant safety

September 10, 2012

Plant explosions often grab the news headlines, but dust explosions in grain handling facilities and other plant mishaps don’t always make the national news.