Manufacturing maintenance is an expensive but necessary job. Depending on the industry and specific applications, according to the data of the US Department of Commerce, the maintenance cost is between 15% and 70% of the cost of the goods sold. At the high end, business success is actually winning or losing on the maintenance battlefield. Identifying opportunities for cost savings in maintenance operations is critical, but it is often not easy to achieve without cutting corners.

According to Buildings.com, the cost of running equipment to the point of failure can be 10 times that of performing a regular manufacturing maintenance plan. Therefore, the idea of ​​saving maintenance costs in order to save costs is usually not advisable.

Although performing regular preventive maintenance can provide significant cost savings, the cost of performing such work is still considerable and usually involves high-tech and often dirty work.

However, there is a modern manufacturing maintenance method that uses the latest technology to significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs. It is automatic parts cleaning.

When performing maintenance, multiple tasks need to be performed, but at some point after disassembly, the dirt and debris accumulated on the parts must be removed. Many companies don’t realize that when it comes to cleaning processes related to maintenance, it’s not just “this is a dirty job, and someone must do it”. There is also a dirty little secret to parts cleaning. It is usually expensive and inefficient.

This is because, when performed manually, such work requires a lot of time, effort, and often requires a lot of harmful and expensive chemicals. In addition, the correct disposal of the generated waste usually incurs additional costs.

A better option is automatic parts cleaning. Imagine a dishwasher for your machine parts. In addition to cleaning a small amount of food residue on tableware, these machines can batch clean and remove caked grease, contaminants and dust from large and small objects.

Knorr-Bremse is a manufacturer of brake systems for railways and commercial vehicles and has been in business for more than 100 years. The company provides overhaul/maintenance services to the railway industry. With its long-term expertise, the company is able to restore components and systems that have been used on trains for decades to the performance and safety levels of the original equipment.

Although the company has achieved high-quality results, feedback from its customers is that they want a much faster turnover of overhauled components.

The essential first step for every component received is that it must be thoroughly cleaned to prevent any accumulated dirt and oil from entering the system, thereby compromising performance or safety levels.

Therefore, Knorr-Bremse identified Safetykleen to help them improve their cleaning processes, and decided to cooperate with Safetykleen to optimize operational efficiency. Through this close working relationship, Safetykleen provides the latest specifications of the Aquakleen automatic parts washing machine, which contains a new chemical formula developed for the specific requirements of the application. The results speak for themselves.

 "Our new process is developed using the new automatic water-based cleaning machine solution provided by Safetykleen, which shortens the cleaning cycle from 30 minutes to 7 minutes!" A Knorr-Bremse spokesperson said that it is now more efficient and has an impact on the environment. decrease very much. "

Automatic parts cleaning machines provide other important direct opportunities to save manufacturing and maintenance costs.

The use of a parts cleaning machine can greatly reduce the personnel time required to maintain and clean the components, and allows maintenance workers to focus on the critical tasks of disassembly, reassembly, and testing. According to user feedback, a fully automatic parts cleaning machine can complete two days of manual cleaning in about 3 hours, reducing the need for maintenance personnel by 23%.

And this is only a small part of the equation. Safetykleen provides parts cleaning as a service and provides flexible solutions, including parts cleaning machines for customers to use as needed, supply of cleaning agents, regular maintenance of the cleaning machines at agreed time intervals, waste management and any related compliance documents. 

This usually proves to be the best choice for companies, because it means they can get:

Interested in? Safetykleen International is the world's leading supplier of parts cleaning machines, surface treatment and chemical application services. The company was founded in 1973 and has nearly 50 years of experience, providing a wide range of solutions to meet the needs of global manufacturers.

The company operates in 11 European countries, including the United Kingdom, has more than 2,500 employees, and provides parts cleaning services that can support a wide range of customer needs in many different manufacturing fields.

Manufacturing maintenance is a key part of keeping your machines and products running efficiently in the coming years. If you are looking for a customized solution on how to best maintain your equipment through customized parts cleaning, please contact an experienced Safetykleen parts cleaning expert immediately.

For more information, please visit safetykleeninternational.com or call 0330 912 7419.

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