Page 21 - MetalForming July/August 2009

Keep all conveyor components well lubricated and properly adjusted, including the belt chain, roller chain, bearings, take-up screw and reducer. Maintenance technicians also should make any needed adjustments to the conveyor-drive assembly, and should check and adjust (as needed) belt-chain tension. They also should inspect and repair all safety guarding.
Regularly scheduled PM sessions provide opportunities for the service provider to train the plant’s personnel in the essentials of system maintenance. This encourages the metalformer to take ownership of its conveying equip- ment, and will dramatically reduce the possibility of unplanned downtime. However, breakdowns do occur, and companies are therefore advised to establish PM agreements that include emergency repairs and parts.
Prepare for Downtime to Minimize the Damage
A service agreement allows the met- alformer to preplan and budget for a service technician and for the needed replacement parts. Preplanning for con- veyor service and parts saves time and money and shields critical maintenance items from budget-slashing routines. Write purchase orders for headshaft assemblies, drive assemblies and other critical components upfront.
Often, depending on life expectancy and delivery times, it makes sense to stock critical conveyor components. This practice can save hours—some- times days—and allow a timely restart of production, rather than having to watch production grind to a halt and workers and presses standing idle. By stocking critical replacement parts, the metalformer also can avoid paying over- time and other added fees that pile up when forced to expedite the needed parts.
Unlike the typical emergency-repair situation, where the meter is running and the focus is on getting the service technician off the clock and out of the plant as quickly as possible, a service agreement enables the provider to per- form some diagnostics on the malfunc-
tioning part. Thus, instead of merely putting a band-aid on the problem and hoping for the best, the metalformer can gain greater insights into the actual strains on the conveying system, and help avert future trouble. It’s likely that a failure in one area of a conveyor indicates other potential problems; additional parts may need to be inspected, repaired, or rAeplaced to keep from simply moving the problem to other, undiscovered
areas of the conveyor or operation. Ultimately that’s what preventive maintenance is all about—averting trouble and eliminating or minimizing the many costs that come in trouble’s wake. Stampers don’t neglect the main- tenance of their most valuable presses, why would they neglect the mainte- nance of their scrap conveyors? Without the scrap conveyor, the most valuable presses aren’t worth much at all. MF
www.metalformingmagazine.com
write no. 13
JULY/AUGUST 2009 19
$200 Rebate
$350 Rebate
$500 Rebate
$900 Rebate
$1000 Rebate
$1550 Rebate
$2500 Rebate
© The Lincoln Electric Co. All Rights Reserved. AR09-72
You Deserve a Stimulus Package of Your Own . . .
For a limited time only, purchase qualified Lincoln Electric equipment and receive a REBATE CHECK.
Qualified Products
• LN-25 PRO Wire Feeder
• Vantage® 300 (Kubota) • Vantage® 400 (Kubota)
www.lincolnelectric.com
• CV-305/LF-72 Ready-Pak®
• CV-400/LF-72 Ready-Pak®
• Invertec® V310-T AC/DC One-Pak®
•
Air Vantage® 500 (Kubota)
For more information go to: www.lincolnelectric.com/weldingstimulus