By Karen Hanna
Unscheduled downtime can rob a shop of a lot of time it might otherwise spend churning out parts. But proactive maintenance doesn’t have to knock you off your schedule.
According to Lyle Sharratt, a technical services manager for Absolute Haitian who has visited about 4,000 injection molding facilities over a 40-plus-year career, keeping ahead of the game takes mere hours. In an interview with Plastics Machinery Magazine for an upcoming story on maintenance, he suggested a few tasks that require just a shift or less.
He said operators or maintenance personnel should dedicate four or five hours every three months to perform machine checkups, giving the equipment a short break from the daily grind of constant operations. Once a year, Sharratt advised committing a full day to a machine’s maintenance.
Importantly, Sharratt said, people should develop a close familiarity with their machines, and take advantage of the expertise offered by their OEMs.
“The deeper the understanding of your machine’s operation and control system, the more productivity you will gain from the machine,” he said.
Watch for comprehensive stories on making your machinery last in the November issue and on plasticsmachinerymagazine.com.
Contact:
Absolute Haitian, Parma, Ohio, 216-452-1000, www.absolutehaitian.com
Karen Hanna, associate editor
Karen Hanna | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna covers injection molding, molds and tooling, processors, workforce and other topics, and writes features including In Other Words and Problem Solved for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. She has more than 15 years of experience in daily and magazine journalism.
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