Downtime is costly. This is not a revolutionary statement in the packaging industry. However, the evolution of ever more precise and powerful strategies to minimize or even eliminate downtime is in fact revolutionary. In many ways, scheduled preventative maintenance can keep your packaging line in top shape for decades to come. Yet when emergency repairs are required, you need a trusted professional who can quickly fix the issue and get you back into production as quickly as possible.
When we consider the critical role of breakdown repairs for today’s packaging machine operators, we can quickly understand the power of the ability to monitor these complex machines, and determine the likelihood of failure before it happens. Here are the five most common parts and services requests our customers face today, each of which can be improved upon through a scheduled machinery service call with Sonoco Alloyd.
- The risk of losing an entire batch:
Many manufacturers operate in batch production models with required lot and date codes. When a machine goes down unexpectedly for an extended amount of time, the entire batch of product is often compromised. The resulting cost of lost goods is an immense risk at every stage of packaging, from primary packagers with heightened safety concerns to tertiary packagers with exposure to hard costs of replacement product. Scheduled maintenance empowers the factory floor to dictate maintenance shutdowns around batches instead.
- Materials Not Sealing Correctly
The most common of all service requests, material sealing issues can easily shut an entire line down – in fact, the quicker material inconsistencies are discovered, the less costly quality issues you’ll have further down the road at the retail setting. When it comes to thermoformed blister sealing, the 4 key factors are: Blister Card, Thermoformed Plastic, Seal tooling and Sealing Machine. When ordering all components through Sonoco Alloyd, all components and materials are tested before shipping out the door so you may start your packaging line the day your shipment arrives knowing everything will seal correctly. When working with 4 different vendors, pre-production testing is impossible due to the competitive and logistical nature of the industry. Furthermore, different vendors are more inclined to blame someone else for sealing issues rather than work together at discovering the solution. With Sonoco Alloyd, there is no blame game, and we seek to find solutions to get you back into production – fast.
- Inconsistent Heating/Inconsistent Sealing:
Born To Run. Built To Last. That’s not just Alloyd’s equipment sealing slogan, it’s our way of life. When sealing machines run 24/7, some parts become worn, such is the case of heater platens. When customers begin receiving inconsistent seals along their packaging’s thermoformed blister flanges, one may think a replacement heat platen needs to be ordered and installed. Instead, a simple call to schedule a technical service representative to review your machine may turn out to be a faulty wire and require a simple wire replacement, vs the whole platen. This not only saves money, yet also gets you back into production quicker vs. waiting for parts to arrive.
- Material Feeding Issues:
Multi-loads, no pulls, falling cards, alignment issues – all of these issues can wreak havoc on your production line and create safety concerns with your workers. When multiple blisters or cards are fed into position, the source of the problem can be difficult to pinpoint: an under-engineered card chute could be to blame, or an overpowered feeder arm may be placing suction in the wrong location of the card, or even a feeder arm that was misaligned during the most recent wipe down could have caused skewed alignment. Whatever the issue be, a trained Alloyd Machinery technical support representative can diagnose the problem, order replacement parts, and/or calibrate your machine for optimal usage in usually just one visit.
- In-Person Training and New Production Installs:
You’ve selected your machine with the best options for your production line. All your materials have been tested and you are ready to start production on your newly installed Alloyd Sealing Machine. Just push the “start” button, right? Alloyd sealing equipment can be simple to operate, yet you may need a bit more instruction. That’s where our team of dedicated Alloyd Sealing Equipment Technicians come in to your facility to conduct in-person and hands-on training of your team. Whether you have a new machine with an old crew, or an old machine with a new crew, sealing equipment training is something we love conducting. Starting up a new production line on an existing machine and you don’t want any surprises? Call us to have a technician at the ready to help document the calibrations for the production run and answer any questions or concerns that come up during start-up. It’s always good to have an expert on hand when production needs to run flawlessly.
- PaperBlister™ Retrofits
Did you know most existing Alloyd Aergo sealing equipment can be retrofitted to seal 100% plastic-free, PaperBlister packaging designs for today’s sustainably focused brands? With a simple, one day scheduled technical visit, your machine can be updated to take on the tooling and design of PaperBlister package sealing requirements. Furthermore, once the retrofit is installed, you may easily go back to sealing traditional plastic-to-card blister packaging without any further requirements outside of your normal tooling changeover. Offering sustainability plus versatility, all while saving money by not needing to invest in new equipment – that’s our Sonoco Alloyd Technician promise!
Don’t let downtime or unneeded repairs drain your profits. Prevent it with a scheduled preventative maintenance program or technician visit. Our skilled group of techs will help you navigate from outdated infrastructure to 21st-century intelligent factory floor where downtime doesn’t even have to factor in.