Even with lockdowns and multiple Movement Restriction Order (MCO) to encourage social distancing to combat COVID-19, Malaysia still requires an enormous class of workers to keep essential businesses up and running. In fact, some of the essential businesses required to operate 24/7 during the pandemic such as rubber glove plants, sugar refineries, and food processing. The challenge comes when the demand for essential products is increasing while on the other hand, the manufacturing sector has to follow Malaysia government’s order to minimise the workforce in the factory. On top of minimised workforce, employers also have to ensure that safety is in check through sanitisation with the help of products such as Biosteam.
In times of stress, certain measures have to be extra vigilant to ensure production operates with minimal downtime. However, due to the pandemic, the increase of production activity has caused certain equipment to wear and tear much faster which could lead to unplanned downtime.
Unplanned downtime leads to lost revenues and shareholder value
The key to near-zero unplanned downtime is achieved by conducting maintenance. Without maintenance, unplanned downtime increases causing chaos among the employees attempting to produce what revenue is available. With missed shipments, this chaos extends to customers at a critical time in their recovery. As a result, the dissatisfaction of customers leading to decline in brand value, revenues, and shareholder value.
At UMS, we believe the key to effective solutions is through a structured maintenance strategy. To ensure the user benefit of our solutions, we supervise installation during startup – 0. Followup/Inspection/Advise (FIA) after 30days or (1) month later. Next FIA after another (3) months and subsequent FIA (6) months after that. We don’t sell and forget. With 0,1,3,6 service, we accompany the user journey through the life of the solution by at least 10 months. This is helping customers to get accustomed to our solution and realise the benefits.
In this article, we want to highlight 3 essential businesses from different industries that benefited from UMS’s support during this pandemic.
How UMS Have Helped Top Glove’s Equipment Achieved Better And Longer Lifespan
Top Glove is a leading manufacturer of disposable rubber gloves. The demand for gloves has significantly increased during the pandemic, and the company estimates that it will continue to increase post-pandemic.
One of the equipments that is responsible for glove production is the oven blower. Prior to UMS’s support, Top Glove has to frequently change their oven blower fan belt for a few reasons:
- Belt easily cracked
- Rapid elongation
- Only 2 weeks of lifespan
After identifying the above problems, we introduced the Mitsuboshi belt, RECMF 8570 Fan Belt. Three months after installation, we revisited the plant for inspection. Below are our observations:
- 6 times longer lifespan
- Less downtime
- Can withstand high temperatures. (Oven temperature: 140-175°C)
- Not easily crack
Improving Production Output For Food Processing Industry
Proper and good hygiene is extremely important when it comes to handling and preparation of food for obvious reasons because various illnesses (or even death) can be caused by bad food hygiene. However, this may result in low productivity due to frequent production downtime for housekeeping.
Common conveyor belt problems found in the food processing industry:
- Carry back materials can be seen caking across the entire surface of the conveyor belt
- Low productivity due to frequent production downtime for housekeeping
- Carry back is considered as wastage of production output
- Unhygienic
The above problems were found on a dough conveyor. We recommended Flexco Food Grade Precleaner to solve the carry back issues. More importantly, we have helped Aryzta Malaysia save up to RM30,600 worth of dough wastage yearly. This is due to up to 60% reduction in carry back.
In summary, we have successfully helped the manufacturer cut operational costs and increased productivity.
Below is an image of a dough conveyor before using our recommended solution:
After installation of Flexco Food Grade Precleaner:
More case studies of Flexco Food Grade Precleaner (FGP):
FGP Cuts Waste More Than 70% at Hot Dog Plant
FGP Generates a $9,000 ROI for Major Bakery in UK
FGP Increases Production by $22,000 for Industrial Bakery
FGP Reduces Carryback, Decreases Scrap by 60%
Sugar Crystallisation – A Nuisance for Sugar Refinery Industry
Crystals may be pretty to human eyes, but to a sugar refinery business, it is absolutely a painful problem to have.
Here’s what happened to one of our partners, Central Sugar Refinery Sdn Bhd:
- The sugar crystallised when the production stopped.
- Need to use a blow torch to heat up the pipe before starting the production to melt the sugar.
- 5 minutes to 4 hours are required to melt the sugar (Depends on how long the production was on break)
After some investigation, we found that it can be an easy fix by using Garlock Sterile Seal Butterfly Valve. The solution allows the steam to flow for 24 hours which will heat up the pipe automatically. As a result, that is 5 minutes to 4 hours of time saved.
Learn how you can also keep your processes at peak performance with UMS Holdings! Our professional team of engineers and specialists is ready to serve you with our expertise in industrial processes and system solutions.
If you would like to evaluate your belt conveyor system, our experts can help you find the right solutions for your industrial or manufacturing facility. UMS offers wide range of industrial cleaners such as MrMckenic and high powered steam cleaning from Biosteam to help maintaining a good hygiene and safety. Reach out to us and we’ll get back to you the soonest!
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UMS Holdings is one of Malaysia’s oldest and largest distributors of high quality genuine parts for hardware and engineering solutions. Our expertise to serve focuses on increasing efficiency and reducing downtime with quality equipment, automation, professional installation process and prompt after sales services.
