Baking & Snack - March 2022 - 82

BELTING & CONVEYING
LIKE RACE CARS, CONVEYORS CAN
RUN FOR ONLY SO LONG BEFORE
THEY NEED A PIT STOP.
need to especially focus on planned maintenance to
avoid downtime. "
That's why high-volume bakeries focus on avoiding
trouble before it occurs. Pushing equipment to the limits
often backfires in the long run.
" The best way to avoid pit-stop repairs is to do the
preventative maintenance necessary for the conveyor
to optimally operate, " Mr. Morin said. " With proper
maintenance, conveyors should run as expected and not
break down. "
Living for another day
Specifically, a consistent maintenance schedule can reduce
excessive wear and tear on a conveyor belt.
" Often routine maintenance can be overlooked,
Many conveyors
come in a modular
design that makes
them simpler to
remove, clean
or replace.
Capway Automation
leading to critical conveyor dimensions being incorrect
or other maintenance-related items being unattended
to, " said Jeremy Shall, bakery/snack North
America team leader, Intralox. " Also, keeping conveyors
running only when needed will help reduce this
wear and tear. "
That's because belts are rated by the number of cycles
they can run on a conveyor.
" Ultimately, when they reach that number of cycles
they will fatigue, " Mr. Shall explained. " By continuing to
run a conveyor after production has finished for the day,
or for long shutdown periods, the belt is accumulating
unnecessary wear and tear, which can lead to a quicker
failure. "
Mr. Milner observed that another route to failure involves
speeding up a line to bolster capacity. It's not unheard
of for a company to ramp up the throughput on
a production line from 2,000 lbs to 3,000 lbs an hour.
Again, running faster just increases the number of cycles
on the belt and other conveyor parts.
" The added speeds will cause vibrations that will result
in screws and bolts loosening up, resulting in misaligned
components, " he explained. " The conveyor then
must be maintained at the end of each shift, and if not, it
could result in premature belt failures along with wearing
out the side frames of the conveyors. "
He added that the conveyor's frames can be made
more durable by increasing the thickness of the material,
but it doesn't replace a good maintenance crew with a
well-established maintenance program.
Mr. Adams suggested a good acronym for any maintenance
program might be CIL, which stands for cleaning,
inspection and lubrication.
" Routine preventive maintenance is the best way to
avoid improper wear, " he said. " Proper loading on conveyors
will also assist with not having unnecessary wear
on the conveyor. For example, if pans or products accumulate,
there is increased weight that will then increase
the friction on the belt, inducing wear. "
Mr. Perreault noted that AMF conveyors are designed
with no-lube bearings as a standard. No oiling is re82
Baking & Snack March 2022 / www.bakingbusiness.com
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Baking & Snack - March 2022

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