All manufacturing processes and plants require careful and thorough maintenance. But maintenance is especially important in food manufacturing because of the safety problems that can result if equipment breaks or fails to maintain the correct temperature while it’s storing or preparing food.
When it comes to food manufacturing maintenance, proper repairs are only the starting point. There are many aspects of maintenance that need to be performed correctly to keep a food manufacturing business efficient and compliant with regulations. Here are 8 crucial aspects of maintenance that food manufacturers need to get right.
It goes without saying that routine, timely maintenance and testing of equipment is essential. Food manufacturers should keep a schedule of necessary equipment checks and maintenance like lubrication of moving parts and the replacement of components like filters. Checks that need to be performed include the PAT testing of portable appliances, which is required for compliance and ensures that your equipment is safe and working at its best. And, of course, food safety and temperature testing is another element that can’t be neglected.
Almost any business relies heavily on its electrical systems. That’s just as true for food manufacturing, where an electrical fault can lead to food safety problems and spoilage as well as other dangers like worker injury. Plus, food manufacturing can pose challenges for electrical systems due to moisture in the air or liquids in the manufacturing process.
That’s why electrical systems testing and inspection is another key area of food manufacturing maintenance. In addition to PAT testing of movable appliances, you’ll want to test and check all wiring and electrical fixtures throughout your business properties. After all, this type of maintenance is mandatory for compliance with laws like the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974).
Plumbing and waste disposal systems are another core aspect of food safety, as they allow for good hygiene in food manufacturing. They’ll need maintenance and monitoring to ensure there’s no failures in elements like hot water systems, since both hot and cold water are required at sinks for hygiene processes like handwashing. And don’t forget proper maintenance of waste disposal systems, such as cleaning out traps for fat, oil and grease.
Proper lighting and correct temperatures are crucial for both food safety and worker safety. So, systems like HVAC or commercial coolers need to be properly maintained and checked to ensure everything’s compliant and right. Lighting maintenance and replacement of worn-out fixtures is necessary for safety too, of course - especially for businesses that are using incandescent lights rather than longer-lasting LED lighting.
Routine or commonly used systems aren’t the only ones that need maintenance. Although we hope that emergency systems never need to be used, it’s critical to keep them ready to respond if emergencies do happen.
What kinds of emergency systems need maintenance? Fire alarms are a must, of course. Your fire alarms and/or fire panel and all associated systems, such as sirens, need to be tested twice yearly by a qualified electrician. You’ll also need regular tests of your emergency lighting systems as well as lightning protection testing to check your systems designed to prevent a lightning strike from doing catastrophic damage.
Is record-keeping a part of maintenance? Yes, of course! Storing accurate data about when and where checks, tests and replacements were performed is a prerequisite for having a smoothly functioning and safe work site. It’s also foundational for compliance with various laws and regulations, too.
Proper record-keeping also ties into another part of maintenance, which is a regular schedule of checks and updates. You can’t know what needs to be done unless you know what’s already been done and when.
And record-keeping is also a core part of maintaining compliance with applicable laws and regulations. To this end, electronic records like ECaaS - Electrical Compliance can be a big help when it comes to managing all the certificates and routine checks that are needed for a food manufacturing business with numerous pieces of equipment.
That’s right - we haven’t forgotten to talk about repairs to equipment, fixtures or facilities. But ideally, food manufacturers will want to prepare for, prevent and predict problems ahead of time rather than responding to broken machinery after the fact.
Obviously, some repairs can’t be predicted - accidents will always happen! But keeping up to date with regular maintenance like the checks and parts replacements we’ve discussed will help to avert emergencies where manufacturing has to shut down because of broken parts.
And that brings us to our last key aspect of food production maintenance, which is …
It’s true that keeping to a proper schedule of checks and maintenance can help to keep food manufacturing facilities in good order. But it’s always possible for parts to fail nonetheless. That’s why food manufacturers need to be proactive in looking for problems when they first begin, before they’ve even caused damage or trouble to the manufacturing process.
For example, manufacturers can use electrical thermal imaging to identify hotspots in electrical systems before a flaw turns into a system failure. This kind of performance monitoring can save significant amounts of time and money by allowing manufacturers to respond to issues early.
If you want to keep your food manufacturing facility running safely and effectively and ensure you’re fully compliant with regulations, turn to Volta Compliance. Operating in Yorkshire and beyond, we’re specialists in industrial electrical maintenance for facilities like food manufacturers.
Whether you’re looking for electrical systems maintenance testing, help with managing compliance or even upgrades to future-ready renewables, our experts are here to help. With our forward-thinking approach to food manufacturing maintenance, you can protect the safety and success of your facility while preventing future problems, too.
If you’d like to request a quote or book a free consultation, give us a call at 0113 436 0402 or email us info@voltacompliance.com. With Volta Compliance, the maintenance of your electrical infrastructure is in professional hands, giving you total peace of mind.
