From worn components to hidden bacteria, hazards that have the potential to cause breakdowns or worse in food processing facilities can be easy to miss during a casual inspection, that is until their presence finally causes drastic action to be taken. JBT’s innovative PRoCARE Service Agreements give customers the reassurance that such issues are identified before they become problems by turning a standard working relationship into a proactive partnership.
JBT Technical Solutions Managers, Stewart Linford and Joel Thomas, are two of JBT’s leading proponents of PRoCARE in the UK, Ireland and France respectively, which has given both a thorough understanding of the real benefits the agreements offer to customers.
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“For me, the added value of PRoCARE is regular inspections, regular deliveries of parts, oil and even chemicals, and in the process we are able to further develop our working relationships with customers and better understand their needs,” explains Stewart.
As well as providing best practice advice on cleaning facilities and the use of chemicals, PRoCARE provides regular inspections to customers, preventing damage to the belts and drive systems of equipment and replacing worn parts to avoid breakdowns. The service also provides customers with Capex forecasts, giving them a better oversight into how their equipment is performing.
“We inform them of new technical developments that are coming out and pass knowledge to our customers, so it becomes more of a partnership relationship and it’s a lot different from the old inspections,” says Joel. “It’s much more proactive: we find issues that can get missed by the customer that require the knowledge & skills only the OEM can provide. There’s also more flexibility in terms of what can be included, such as being much more proactive in training operators for example.”
Preventative cleaning
PRoCARE is regularly – and effectively – used by JBT customers in the three territories, where service engineers have advised on the correct cleaning of machinery. “Often people don’t use the right chemicals and cleaning processes to prevent the corrosion of equipment and even experience contamination from listeria and other hazardous bacteria,” says Joel. “Through PRoCARE, we can help customers maintain equipment at an optimal level of hygiene.”
Similarly, Stewart says JBT helped one UK customer improve cleaning procedures to make sure machinery was kept in the best possible condition. “The customer was having very high bacteria counts, but we showed them how to bring that down within two days and they were very happy with the results,” recalls Stewart. “They now carry out a deep clean once a month.
“Through PRoCARE, customers can call any time with an idea or a problem and we will help with either making that idea a reality or solving the problem.”
In these pandemic times, virtual support options have become more important and PRoCARE is no exception. As well as offering remote, preferential phone support for PRoCARE customers, Stewart says JBT support engineers have been making use of platforms – notably Zoom – that have risen to prominence in recent months. “We are really trying to leverage the new technology that’s available to help review service inspections and it seems to be working well,” he adds.