Faulty machinery is a real pain in the back! That was certainly the case for a Chicago-area canned food manufacturer whose inline pallet strapper broke down. Material handlers had resorted to manually palletizing and banding layers upon layers of heavy cans. As a result of the broken strapper, production at this facility was reduced by 50%.
That was when the discomforted cannery called the toll-free number for Best Packaging and scheduled a diagnostic appointment for the same day. When the technician arrived, he received background information from the support engineer and immediately began troubleshooting. He noticed the feed module’s motor was spinning, but the module was not feeding.
Usually, the most obvious answer is the correct one, but this was the exception that proves the rule. Typically, when technicians receive a feed error, it indicates a faulty feed module. The support engineer certainly suspected so and was surprised when Best Packaging discovered the real issue. What couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, was that the motor was not fast enough and could not pick up enough torque to feed properly. The feed module itself worked fine, but the board supplying current to the feed module was at fault. The feed module was not receiving enough current.
New parts for their board were required to remedy the inline strapper and alleviate the employees. With Best Packaging’s expertise, the right part was quickly identified, and they coordinated the order directly from the equipment manufacturer. The strapper was transported to Best Packaging’s workshop at the request of the customer to streamline their production area in the interim. The support engineer, line supervisor, and all the laborers at the cannery grew eager for the new parts to arrive as their team began to experience ergonomic constraints from manually pushing pallets.
Finally, new parts for the board arrived at Best Packaging’s workshop. Because the machine was already there, technicians could complete the installation of new parts quickly, without having to schedule a service visit.
With Best Packaging’s help, this purveyor of canned goods regained 100% productivity and put an end to their sciatic saga. Malfunctioning equipment is not always what it appears to be, so next time faulty packaging equipment has you puzzled (or even pained) call the packaging equipment specialists at Best Packaging: 888-930-BEST
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