Recent economic conditions have created a number of challenges for the food supply chain, and financial pressures have led to many companies having to make difficult choices.
In times like these, every penny saved is important to the bottom line. Like most other operating costs, maintenance budgets have been pared back - in some cases to the bone. Of course, continuity of production is critical to keeping a company turning over, and the argument for avoiding production time is equally compelling. Downtime or complete loss of production for a lengthy period can cause two major issues, loss of turnover/profit for the period in question and potentially the loss of a contract/client should the lost production cause irrecoverable damage to the client relationship.
Any food packer and processor running automated integrated production lines knows full well that any single in-line component failing can stop all production. A lack of regular maintenance will inevitably lead to an increased risk of downtime as components wear out.
To prevent the nightmare scenario becoming a reality, access to a reputable after sales and service support team is essential. A good service team should have mechanical and electrical skills, combined with a deep of knowledge of products and applications in order to minimise any disruption to your Company's production schedule. A maintenance company with an in-depth fully qualified team offers the assurance that in any emergency breakdown service or planned maintenance can be carried out quickly and effectively.
Loma Systems, whose UK head quarter is in Farnborough, Hampshire has a service department in Bradford with a dedicated team focussing on supporting customer’s equipment and keeping their production lines running.
Simon Spencer, Managing Director of Loma Systems, comments: ‘We are committed to the long term reliability of our equipment, and good after sales service is a key component of this. The starting point is our telephone and diagnostic support service which can often help clients without the need for a service technician to visit. Often, new production personnel require hints and tips with machine set up that we can quickly resolve via the phone, saving our customers time and money. This telephone diagnostic support is the first level of our approach to maintenance and our customers love it.’
‘If the fault or breakdown is more serious and cannot be remotely fixed then our team of field technicians springs into action. If you need a technician to visit, you want him to get there quickly, arrive with the right parts, and have the necessary training to perform a quick and effective repair. We measure two key elements, Response Time and First Time Fix Rate. On average, across all service call outs in the UK over the past two years, Loma scores better than nine out of ten problems fixed, within one working day from the time the problem is first reported to us. If a machine has a very serious problem and specialist technical help is required, we can get this additional support person on site within a further day to sort things out’.
Loma’s customers are already benefitting from these new initiatives. Steve Norris, Maintenance Manager at Alresford Salads, comments: ‘Thank you for providing an engineer at such short notice. As a result of your attendance we had the line running to schedule having converted the checkweigher reject system. All in all, you assisted our business in bringing our seventh line, on line. I, along with our business were very happy with the response and going forward we will use you for all servicing requirements’
To find out more about Loma’s three tier service package, the company will be exhibiting at the forthcoming PPMA Show being held from September 29th – October 1st, where the Loma team will be on hand to explain their after sales service in greater detail.
For more information on Loma’s extensive range of checkweighers, metal detectors and X-ray inspection systems or their comprehensive service support, please contact Loma Systems on 01252 893300 or visit www.loma.com
