Planned Maintenance Benefits for Food Equipment

Deciding to make a service call isn’t always an easy decision. Your kitchen, or at least part of it, may be out of commission for a period of time, and if a unit that is out of warranty needs to be repaired, it may cost more than you anticipate. Despite the potential drawbacks, taking action and calling a service company anytime a unit isn’t working properly can save you time and money in the long run.

Early Detection is Key

The ideal time to place a service call is before a unit breaks. When you notice that a unit is starting to malfunction or to have reoccurring problems, schedule a time for a service tech to examine the equipment. A service call now can save you time, money and unhappy customers down the road, especially as waiting until a unit is broken or the issue gets worse can damage the unit further.

You don’t have to be a service tech to realize that something is off, as it can be as simple as hearing that your equipment isn’t running correctly. For example, a restaurant owner with a flight type dishwasher heard a loud grinding or humming coming from the motor. He knew that this wasn’t normal, so he placed a call for a service tech who inspected the unit and informed the owner that the impeller was loose. The tech replaced the impeller, and the dishwasher was ready to go. If this owner had waited or ignored the issue, more parts, such as the motor, may have had to be replaced and his operation may have been down for a few days, hurting his business. Simply by being proactive, the owner saved himself a lot of time, money and headache.

Never Work around a Broken Unit

While shutting down service for any time is not ideal, working around a unit that is malfunctioning can cost you. For instance, a kitchen owner had a convection range that was experiencing temperature problems for months. As many busy kitchens do, they worked around the unit to avoid downtime for servicing. The unit started to perform worse, and it had to be fixed immediately. This was a costly repair, as the emergency servicing had to be performed after hours and there were additional parts needed as a result of waiting to repair it.

For business owners who are proactive, the return on taking action can be huge, as continuing to use a piece of equipment that is malfunctioning can potentially cause more damage to the unit and surrounding parts, which may mean more downtime and an increase in cost to repair.

Conducting regular maintenance in-house and purchasing a maintenance package with a service company can extend the life of your equipment. Business owners who have a regular maintenance package reap bit savings in downtime and money. Plus, owners can take advantage of having trained professionals on-site to help educate staff on cleaning and maintenance practices.

Benefits of a Planned Maintenance Schedule

For smaller operations, a quarterly check-up may be all it takes, but for larger operations that run 20 hours a day, a service tech may need to come out every other month. With units that cost tens of thousands to even hundreds of thousands of dollars, paying for a service technician’s visit makes sense to ensure the proper use of your investment. For example, an oven found to have a faulty thermostat would be quickly diagnosed by a tech, and the tech would replace the thermostat and re-calibrate it during a regular visit.

Early Detection

A tech can also detect issues before they become larger problems and can provide valuable cleaning and maintenance tips for staff. Take a combi-oven with a self-cleaning system. Some may operate a combi-oven while knowing that the cleaning cycle is not working properly or simply without knowing how to properly utilize the self-clean function. Lack of proper cleaning procedures or knowledge on how it works can cause damage to a fan motor seal and ultimately the fan motor itself. In this case, running the unit may result in more downtime and lost business to the owner.

Expert Advice & Saving Money

The owner could avoid a more costly repair and extend the life of the unit by calling a service tech when there is an issue and by receiving regular planned maintenance checks. A tech can not only address the issue at hand during a call, but also explain proper methods of cleaning, provide tips for recognizing potential future issues and explain when to call a service tech.

A planned maintenance program can be a great investment, as the tech will work with you to provide proactive tips to keep your units running properly, assess potential issues and fix problems them before they become bigger headaches. The tech will also share why an issue occurred and how to minimize the cost or reduce the number of service calls moving forward.

For business owners, small and large, being proactive about equipment, taking the time to have units serviced and investing in a service plan can help minimize downtime and save valuable time and resources.