Lubrication in the Food & Beverage sector

The Food & Beverage is a sector which involves many sectors (bars, restaurants, hotels, automatic distribution etc…), and has a strong economic and social impact.

In Italy, for example, the Food & Beverage sector represents the second manufacturing industry, placing itself as a prominent element of the country’s economy.

For this information it’s easy to understand the importance and scope of this sector, which is in a market of continuous growth and transformation, in line with technological trends and the constant change of eating habits.

These dynamics impact the entire production chain creating new challenges in terms of quality, safety and reliability, in the production and packaging of food and beverages.

Due to this, the installation of a lubrication system on machinery used in this sector helps to achieve the require standards while allowing to meet the high production demand and eliminate costly machine downtime.

Machinery lubrication is therefore very important to safeguard the working cycle, and allows the bottling and packaging of food and beverages to be completed to the fullest.

In fact, most of the unexpected failures and downtimes are caused by inadequate lubrication of bearings, chains and gears, which negatively affects the maintenance costs and the performance of the machine.

More specifically, let’s see how lubrication systems increase the productivity of some of the machines used in this sector: conveyor belts and the labelling machines.

Conveyor belts have a key role in the production chain of the food and beverage sector, being one of the most used machines.

Its operation involves continuous activity in difficult operation conditions, due to the presence of dust, water, high temperatures and frequent machinery interruptions.

The need of the manufacturer is therefore to obtain greater reliability to increase production and at the same time reduce the maintenance operations of the machine.

An applicative example is given by milk line, which runs 24 hours a day but during maintenance, operations are subjected to a period of downtime which negatively affects the production cycle.

The installation of an automatic grease lubrication system provides the correct amount of lubricant at the bearings located in the various part of the conveyor belt during the operation.

Due to this, grease is always provided at regular intervals and the life of components are extended, thus helping to eliminate downtime.

Another application case is represented by bottling machine lubrication, for which DropsA designed a customized system to achieve automatic lubrication.

A similar operation condition can be found during the functioning of another machine used in the transport and packaging phase of food, that is the labelling machine.

During the operation of this machine, it is necessary to install an oil lubrication system or a grease lubrication system for the components are subjected to continuous activity, in particular bearings and belts which carry packaged food.

In view of the different applications which lubrication solutions can have in the food and beverage sector, generally it is necessary to know the advantages and benefits that are ffered to ensure optimal operation of the machinery.

The installation of a lubrication system allows the correct amount of lubricant at the right time and at the right point, while the components are working. This reduces friction and eliminates contaminants, which is essential to keep food containers clean.