Countermeasures and methods for equipment management in beer/beverage enterprise

Equipment is the material and technical foundation for production activities in beer/beverage enterprises, and is also a necessary condition for ensuring and improving product quality. In recent years, the equipment of many beer/beverage manufacturers in China has become increasingly advanced, with higher levels of modernization and automation, which has played a positive role in improving product quality and labor productivity. However, at the same time, it should also be noted that in many beer/beverage enterprises, the equipment management network system is not well-established, the technical quality of equipment management professionals needs to be improved, and inspection, lubrication, and maintenance work on machinery and equipment is insufficient. This has led to serious corrosion and wear of equipment, and frequent equipment failures, which affects normal production, reduces the product qualification rate, and causes waste of beer/beverage bottles, labels, caps, and other packaging materials, resulting in significant economic losses for the enterprises. Therefore, beer/beverage manufacturers must attach great importance to equipment management, actively take measures to address the weak links in their equipment management, and comprehensively improve their equipment management level.

1 Establish equipment management systems
To improve equipment management, beer/beverage manufacturers must first establish standardized equipment management systems, stipulating regulations for pre-use management, equipment use and maintenance, lubrication management, equipment overhaul, and spare parts management. This ensures that equipment is carefully maintained, its technical condition is improved, sudden failures are prevented, normal operation is guaranteed, equipment utilization rate is increased, service life is extended, and production, process, and quality requirements are met. At the same time, in terms of equipment use and maintenance, the equipment management department and equipment user departments should establish corresponding economic responsibility systems, combining responsibility, authority, and benefits, and assign corresponding technical and economic responsibilities, such as equipment integrity rate, breakdown downtime rate, equipment accident rate, and maintenance and repair plan completion rate. Through regular or irregular assessments of equipment user departments, corresponding economic penalties or material rewards should be given. This can encourage employees to enhance their sense of ownership and make them care about the effective use of machinery and equipment from a material interest perspective.

2 Improve employees' professional level in using and maintaining equipment
In order to improve their technical equipment level and enhance market competitiveness, many beer/beverage manufacturers now use a large number of new equipment and technologies from different brands to improve product quality and production efficiency. However, advanced and good equipment must be used, maintained, and serviced by employees with certain professional qualities in order to achieve maximum efficiency. However, at present, in many beer/beverage enterprises, equipment cannot be used normally due to operators' inadequate awareness of equipment use, maintenance, and management, and maintenance personnel cannot repair and eliminate faults promptly and accurately, which often affects production. Therefore, beer/beverage manufacturers can provide different levels of training for employees based on their different roles and functions, and require employees to learn while working in practice, gradually mastering basic knowledge of the performance, structure, operation, and daily maintenance of different equipment. This enhances operators' equipment usage skills and reduces the incidence of human-caused failures. For more advanced technical equipment and instruments, high-quality equipment management technical personnel can be selected, and equipment manufacturers can be invited to send personnel for specialized training to improve their maintenance technical level.

3 Equip necessary inspection and maintenance tools
At present, the saccharification, fermentation, filling, and other equipment in China's beer/beverage enterprises are becoming increasingly advanced, and automation control is also very common and rapid. This requires that inspection and maintenance work cannot remain in the era of wrenches and hammers; advanced inspection and maintenance tools must be provided to match them. Do not think that spending money to purchase these advanced inspection and maintenance tools is wasteful; these are indispensable hardware conditions for ensuring that enterprise equipment can be used and operated normally. Nowadays, why is it sometimes difficult to accurately identify the cause of faults in modern filling and packaging equipment and pure beer/beverage production lines introduced from abroad at great expense by some beer/beverage enterprises? And even if the fault is detected and understood, why is it still difficult to repair it in a timely manner? One reason is the lack of necessary inspection and maintenance tools. Therefore, in the face of new problems and requirements in equipment management, beer/beverage enterprises must provide necessary inspection and maintenance tools so that faults can be accurately identified and eliminated in a timely manner, ensuring the efficient, high-quality, stable, and safe operation of modern advanced beer/beverage equipment.

4 Actively coordinate among various departments
A basic requirement for equipment management in beer/beverage enterprises is that the division of responsibilities among functional departments should be clear, each performing its own duties, completing tasks on time, and cooperating with each other tacitly, so that the overall equipment management of the plant can be successfully completed. For example, the finance department must ensure the funds required by the equipment department for equipment maintenance and replacement of parts; the supply department must provide spare parts and accessories needed for equipment maintenance in a timely manner without delay; the production scheduling department must strengthen communication with the equipment department to properly resolve conflicts between production and equipment maintenance, and avoid interference with each other. Equipment that needs inspection must be shut down for maintenance and must not be allowed to operate with faults.

5 Pay close attention to equipment maintenance work
Maintenance of beer/beverage equipment includes two aspects: first, equipment maintenance and servicing, including equipment inspection and upkeep, which is routine work贯穿于 equipment use throughout the entire process and is jointly completed by workshop operators and maintenance workers. Second, equipment repair, including minor repairs, medium repairs, and major overhauls. Minor repairs can be completed by the equipment management department in cooperation with workshop maintenance. Medium repairs and major overhauls are led by the equipment management department, with workshops cooperating. Medium repairs involve dismantling and inspecting certain components of the equipment, mainly including the following work contents:
1) Conduct comprehensive precision inspections, and based on this, dismantle and disassemble parts that need repair or replacement;
2) Repair reference parts, scrape, grind, and grind guide rail surfaces that need repair;
3) Clean, repair, and replace parts that need servicing; clean and clear lubrication points, change oil, and replace felt and wicks;
4) Repair leakage points;
5) Conduct comprehensive inspections and commissioning of repaired equipment.
Major overhaul involves completely dismantling the equipment for thorough repair, mainly including the following work contents:
1) Conduct comprehensive inspections and keep records;
2) Completely dismantle all components of the equipment, clean all parts, and make assessments for repair and replacement;
3) Replace and repair worn parts to restore the equipment's required precision and performance;
4) Scrape and grind all mating surfaces;
5) Complete safety devices and necessary accessories;
6) Repaint and electroplate;
7) Conduct comprehensive inspections and commissioning of the equipment.
In order to monitor the progress of equipment repairs, ensure that repair work proceeds smoothly, and improve work efficiency, major overhaul plans and implementation schedules can be prepared, with timelines, responsibilities, and personnel assigned, to further improve the management of major overhaul work.