Week 20 Maintenance - We've Got SALSA Sussed

Week 20 Maintenance

Hi Everyone!

Maintenance of Equipment and the of Facility you work in, sometimes does not get the attention it deserves.

As your business grows and you introduce new equipment, vehicles, or move into a new facility, you need to make sure it all gets looked after!

Having a Maintenance Schedule of all of your equipment from the start is a good idea, then all you have to do is remember to add to it whenever you get anything new or additional.

We are going to go into detail about how to make sure you are complying, so let’s get started!

What’s coming next…

Week 21 Labelling Compliance

 

Maintenance – what do you need to show your SALSA auditor?

Maintenance Procedure

PPM Schedule (Planned Preventative Maintenance)

Service Reports

Maintenance Records

 

Maintaining the equipment, vehicles and the facility for your business is very important. When something is out of order or breaks down, it affects your efficiency, this, in turn, could in turn mean your orders do not get out on time! Remember, Prevention is better than the cure!

 

Maintenance Procedure

The Maintenance Procedure needs to outline how you handle maintenance on your site. Here are the top 10 things you should include:

 

1.       What needs maintaining? You can categorise this under headings such as Processing Equipment, Vehicles and Facility.

 

2.       Who is carrying out maintenance? Is it in-house or contractors, or a mixture of both?

 

3.       Where are you going to document all of the above? You need a documented Maintenance Schedule, This should be updated as soon as a new piece of kit gets introduced. Also, remember, getting a new piece of equipment should trigger your HACCP review!

 

4.       What about records of the maintenance being carried out? You must retain all external contractor service and breakdown reports. Or, additionally, you need maintenance records which are completed for all ‘inhouse’ maintenance which also need retaining on file.

 

5.       Ensure that you have a Hand Back to Production sign off. Ensure all maintenance debris is cleared and the area is cleaned and inspected, prior to being used for production again.

 

6.       Ensure you do not carry out maintenance works whilst production is in operation, which includes changing lights or high-level cleaning. Or, if it is absolutely essential, you need to have strict controls in place, such as the area is cordoned off to prevent contamination.

 

7.       If you have a maintenance person, they must control all of their tools in an organised manner, such as in a tool box and stored in a suitable place. High risk sites are to have dedicated tools in the HR area.

 

8.       Only food grade lubricants should be used on equipment by the maintenance team or the contractors, you need to have evidence of this!

 

9.       All Contractors must follow company personal hygiene and PPE rules – Essential!

 

10.   All temporary repairs are followed up by full repairs ASAP! Document the temporary and full repair on a Maintenance Record. If it can go wrong, it will!

 

For a lot of sites who have minimal equipment, it is possible have a system on a documented Maintenance Schedule, where equipment is checked on a set frequency, for damages or breakdowns. If found, they would either be repaired or replace the piece of equipment, or have a list of contractors ready to call for repairs or emergency breakdowns.

 

However, as your business grows, and purchase larger, more complex equipment, you need to have peace of mind that it is serviced and maintained to prevent breakdowns from occurring in the first place.

 

Either way, a list of equipment is required, with names of the responsible people and contact numbers for ease of reference. A frequency of servicing or maintaining the equipment should also be listed on the schedule, when it was last completed, and when it is next due.

 

This is called your PPM (Planned Preventative Maintenance) Schedule.

 

PPM Schedule

When setting up your Schedule, it is a really good idea to take a walk around your facility. Goods In, through the whole process, to Dispatch and list each and every piece of equipment you use. As your business grows, your Schedule may become a little more complex than the simplified version above.

 

Production & Processing Equipment, for example:

·         Fridges & Freezers

·         Ovens, Proofers, Sifters

·         Cookers & Hobs

·         Filters, Air & Water Rinsers

·         Probes, Scales, pH Meters, Refractometers

·         Metal Detectors & Xray Machines

·         Blenders

·         CIP

·         Packing, Sealing & Coding Machines

 

Vehicles

·         Forklift Trucks and other moving equipment

·         Delivery vehicles, chilled, frozen and ambient

 

Facility

·         Washing Facilities – dishwashers, tray-wash, washer, dryer

·         Air Filters

·         Floors, walls, ceilings, pipework, drains, lighting and windows

 

PPM Records / Service Reports

Having a record of the maintenance or repair which has been carried out on your equipment is important.

 

You need to know what repairs or maintenance has been carried out. You also need to know who has carried out the maintenance in case of problems, such as tools being left in the area, or no ‘Signing Back to Production’ record, which could mean there are training issues. It is also important, in case a trend seems to be occurring with a particular piece of equipment, which implies it could be a more serious problem.

 

If maintenance is carried out by contractors, then retaining their Service Reports on file is sufficient.

 

If maintenance is carried out in-house, then you need to record the maintenance on a record of your own. Here is a simple example below.

 

Maintenance Record Example

 

Once maintenance has been completed, then it is essential to make sure the area is fit for production to restart.

 

To evidence that this check has been completed use a form similar to the below.

 

Post Maintenance Release Record

 

Being the creative food producers that you all are, some of these things are not always at the forefront of your minds, so I really hope you find all of this useful!

 

That’s it for now folks!

 

Have a good week!

 

If you need assistance, please feel free to contact me! On that note, that is the end of this section. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions.

 

Be careful and stay safe!

Ruth

Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com

07732 966 836