Early warning of developing equipment faults is enabling food and beverage manufacturers to schedule maintenance before production is disrupted, reducing emergency repairs and unplanned downtime.

SEW-EURODRIVE Cape Town branch manager Dwane Lee Jacobs says the company’s DriveRadar condition monitoring solution continuously monitors the health of drive systems while they are operating, providing real-time visibility into the condition of motors, gear units and other rotating equipment.

Rather than relying on routine maintenance schedules or waiting for equipment to fail, the system enables maintenance teams to identify developing problems and intervene before failures occur.

Jacobs says DriveRadar combines intelligent hardware with user-friendly software and a mobile application. Maintenance personnel can monitor equipment status, track operating trends and receive notifications from anywhere, providing immediate insight into the condition of critical assets.

The systems monitor a range of mechanical and operating parameters, including vibration, temperature, operating hours and load conditions. Using this data, it creates a digital twin as a reference. These measurements, he explains, provide valuable insight into the health of the complete drive system, particularly the gearbox, where gradual changes often indicate developing mechanical issues long before failure occurs.

The accompanying software continuously analyses this data, allowing maintenance teams to monitor equipment condition over time rather than relying on periodic inspections. Users can also configure warning and alarm thresholds to suit their operating environment. If vibration levels begin to increase, gearbox temperatures exceed predefined limits, operating loads become abnormal or running characteristics change, the system generates notifications, enabling maintenance personnel to investigate before production is affected.

This approach enables manufacturers to identify bearing wear, gear wear, lubrication issues and overloading before they develop into mechanical failures. The result is improved equipment reliability, longer gearbox and motor life, reduced maintenance costs and increased plant running times.

For food and beverage manufacturers, this supports predictive maintenance by giving teams advance notice when components require attention.

“Rather than discovering a problem only after production has stopped, maintenance teams receive advance notice that a component may require attention,” Jacobs says.

He explains that if a gearbox begins operating above its normal temperature range or vibration levels gradually increase, DriveRadar alerts the maintenance team before these conditions develop into mechanical failures.

This allows work to be scheduled during planned production stoppages, reducing emergency breakdowns while improving production planning, resource allocation, equipment reliability and the availability of spare parts.

“Predictive maintenance changes maintenance from reacting to failures to managing equipment proactively,” Jacobs says.

Beyond improving reliability, condition monitoring can also help manufacturers improve operational efficiency. Jacobs says mechanical deterioration can increase friction or loading, resulting in higher energy consumption. Addressing these issues early not only helps prevent failures but also maintains optimum energy efficiency throughout the asset’s operating life.

DriveRadar also monitors factors such as oil temperature and lubrication performance, providing additional insight into the operating condition of drive systems and supporting more informed maintenance decisions.

Looking ahead, Jacobs says the ability to access equipment information remotely gives plant managers better visibility of the overall health of their operations.

“With access to information from anywhere in the world and early warning notifications, plant managers have much better visibility of the overall health of their operations,” he says.

“It helps reduce breakdowns, improve maintenance planning and enhance the overall performance of machinery.”