Challenge

Manufacturing big machinery involves a lot of grinding, welding and metal cutting which creates dust and particles in the air. These particles settle and create a layer of film and dust on everything in the room, including the barcode printers. Certain printers in this manufacturer’s shop are used in the company’s fabrication area, while others are used in the warehouse and manufacturing areas. With 32 printers in all, most are crucial and print time sensitive labels. Without these crucial printers at their highest performance, the manufacturing process slows down and employees have to walk away from their area to get a printed label off of another printer.

Solution

Preserving the efficiency of the printers involves preventative maintenance and having spare printers on hand. This manufacturing company has a semiannual preventative maintenance contract with Coridian. Coridian comes in twice a year to inspect and clean the printers to keep them from having downtime. They make sure that dust and metal shavings are not building up on the sensors, drive roller and printheads. They check the belts, all electrical components, sensor functionality and test the print quality. If Coridian does find something wrong, they will replace it at that time. Coridian also helps the company rotate the printers from the clean areas into the dirty areas to increase their lifetime functionality.

Results

Having the preventative maintenance contract with Coridian decreases the downtime of printers, allowing employees to be more productive. Preventative maintenance on any printers will extend the life of the printers, decrease the number of parts put into them and result in less replacement printers over time. Preventative maintenance is a great choice when you work in a dirty environment, in a high/fast production environment or your company is far away from your service provider. Scheduling preventative maintenance monthly, quarterly, or semiannually ensures you receive the best performance from your printers.

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