Daily to annual checks across every machine in the plant - scheduled, logged and costed, so breakdowns stay theoretical.
Every plant runs one of two maintenance systems. The first reacts: machines run until something breaks, then everyone scrambles for parts while orders wait. The second schedules: small services happen on a calendar, wear parts are replaced before they fail, and breakdowns become rare events the team barely remembers. The equipment is identical - the calendar is the difference.
This guide is that calendar, written out for every machine in a typical plant. It unifies the machine-specific routines from our blow and injection guides, the mould care schedule and the RO plant into one plan - with the staffing model from our shifts guide deciding who owns each list.
The MathCount a typical plant's PM load: 10-15 minutes daily per machine at shift start, 30-60 minutes weekly per system, a few hours quarterly, one focused annual day. Total: roughly two to four hours a week. Now count one unscheduled breakdown: the stopped production, the emergency freight on a part, the crew standing idle, the delivery promise broken. Most plants find that a single avoided breakdown pays for a full year of PM time. Maintenance is not a cost against production - it is production, insured.
Hydraulic oil level, air pressure at regulator, mould water flow and temperature, heater zones at setpoint, first-shot weight logged. 10-15 minutes per machine, per the shift discipline.
Five-unit weight check, last part vs golden sample, leaks walked and noted, log entry completed. No log, no handover.
Clean die lips and vents, check filter screens and hydraulic filters, inspect belts and chains, verify safety interlocks, blow dust from electrical cabinets.
Compressor oil level and belt tension, dryer condition, chiller temperature check, RO pre-filter pressure readings, drain traps tested - per the utility guide.
Full machine wipe-down and inspection, hydraulic oil sample if hours are high, cooling flow rates logged against baseline (a falling rate is scale announcing itself, per the mould guide), filler nozzle and gripper inspection, safety equipment tested.
Cooling channel descaling flush, gearbox oil top-up or change per hours, valve and seal inspection across the air system, mould strip-down deep clean per the mould schedule, QC instruments calibration check per the QC guide.
The full service day: complete machine inspection with worn-part replacement, screw and barrel condition check, hydraulic system service, RO membrane performance test, compressor overhaul assessment, and the preventive parts order for the year ahead - informed by twelve months of logged failures, per the spares checklist.
Every completed check goes in the production log - the warranty compliance record per the warranty guide, the defect-prevention history, and the data that writes next year's parts list.
The shift-start and shift-end lists - nobody knows the machine's normal better than the person running it.
The weekly machine and utility lists, verified and signed. The supervisor also guards the maintenance window between shifts.
Deeper services need tools and training - your technician, or the annual service visits arranged through our service desk.
Weekly log review is an owner habit - the trends in it are the earliest warnings, and they fund the spares order.
A PM plan nobody sees is a plan nobody runs. Print the lists, pin them at each machine, tick them in ink.
The busy week is when the pump was about to fail anyway. Protect the maintenance window - the calendar only works if it survives production pressure.
Opening a machine for service and finding no seal on the shelf turns scheduled hours into stopped days - the spares kit and the calendar are one system.
Completed PM checks are as valuable to log as breakdowns - they prove warranty compliance and show the wear patterns that plan next year.
Preventive maintenance (PM) is servicing equipment on a schedule before it fails, instead of after. Plants that run PM see fewer breakdowns, longer machine life, steadier quality and lower spare parts costs - because failures are caught as wear, not as stoppages.
The daily routine is 10-15 minutes per machine at shift start. Weekly and monthly tasks run 30-60 minutes each, scheduled between production runs. A full plant invests roughly 2-4 hours a week in PM - versus days of downtime when the same issues surface as breakdowns.
The lead operator handles daily checks; the supervisor owns the weekly list; a trained technician (or annual service visits arranged with us) covers quarterly and annual work. PM is a shared habit, not one person's job - per the cross-training rule in our staffing guide.
The failure chain is predictable: skipped oil checks become seized pumps, missed filter changes become contaminated product, ignored scale becomes 20 percent longer cycles, and a skipped annual service becomes a breakdown at peak season. PM skipped is breakdowns scheduled.
Yes - skipped scheduled maintenance is the most common warranty void, per our warranty guide. The PM calendar in this guide doubles as the compliance record that keeps your coverage intact.
Send your machine list - we consolidate every schedule into one plant-wide calendar with owners, checklists and the parts list, within 24 hours.