Do you consider plant maintenance to be a necessary evil?  You are not alone.  According to a poll by Plant Engineering, 44% of you feel that way.  And, 30% of you consider it the first place to cut money out of the budget. 

I get that.  Maintenance is not glamorous, not nearly as cool as getting shiny new equipment, sometimes kinda boring, and occasionally, expensive.   Rather stick a hot poker in your eye? 

We can help.  Send us your huddled masses of electronic equipment needing maintenance or repair. 

I am always interested in understanding where our customers are coming from.  Two things I hear a lot are “skilled workers shortage” and needing to “produce more with less money”.  Today’s tips are for helping you “do more with less”.  No matter what your role at the plant, you are expected to look for ways to squeeze more out of poor old Abe.  One way most plants can save is by reducing their energy costs:

1. Use variable-speed drives on motors serving variable loads.  (for more on this see this previous post on variable speed drives) When the motor is under a lighter load, they slow the motor down to reduce power consumption.

 Does it seem like your maintenance staff is constantly putting out “fires?” Or that your production equipment is always running to failure requiring industrial electronics repair and causing unplanned work stoppages? 

Lean manufacturing may be the answer.  Lean manufacturing concepts aren’t new but they are gaining momentum…and for good reason. 

By implementing some lean manufacturing strategies, you can track equipment breakdowns, schedule preventive maintenance, and anticipate needs for maintenance parts.   Benefits include:

• Waste elimination
• Defect reduction
• Productivity maximization
• Engaging  your work force as a team

Oh, the pain..the misery…the teeth gnashing and, oh yeah, the cursing!  Your drive just alarmed out, your equipment has stopped, production has ceased, and you are wasting time and money.  Can the drive be saved?  The good news is…probably! 

Before it comes to that scenario, consider this:  We all know HEAT is the root of all evil when it comes to electronic equipment.   Add some MOISTURE and DIRT and you have the electronic axis of evil and disaster!

So, practice prevention first by:

-  keeping your electrical cabinets CLOSED

-  keeping your FANS  in good REPAIR

-  making sure those cabinent FILTERS are always CLEAN

Not surprisingly, reliability ranked the most important criteria in purchasing industrial electronics according to a recent survey by Plant Engineering & Maintenance. 

Reliability was followed, in descending order, by quality, safety, maintenance, service, price, throughput, technology, noise, speed, and “green”.

Maintenance ranked 4th out of 11 so we know it’s pretty high on your list.  Nobody wants equipment that is difficult or excessively expensive to maintain.  Downtime is lost time and lost time is lost money.  

Save money in the long run by purchasing quality industrial electronic equipment with a good warranty.  And when that warranty runs out, or the OEM does not provide responsive service, send your repairs to a reliable expert. 

The ACS Industrial Services team has made some changes to our website because we want to make it even easier to work with us. 

 ”Bread-crumb trails” created near the top of the pages will let you easily keep track of where you’ve been on the site  and pages you may want to revisit.  Check out our upgraded website at http://www.acsindustrial.com. 

We provide services for almost all types of industrial electronics including servo drive repair, AC Drive/DC Drive/VFD drive repair, and stepper motor repair.

Visit the website and find out more about ACS Industrial Services and all we have to offer your company to save you time and money.  We are industry’s trusted repair resource!