Introduction
The margin for error is slim in F&B production. Your products are uniquely at the mercy of seasonality, perishability and supply and demand. One emergency outage or urgent maintenance issue can put your business — and customers — at risk.
Unfortunately, you can’t predict an emergency. You can’t schedule a maintenance issue. And every minute of downtime is a minute of production lost.
Worst of all, temperature control is critical to the quality and safety of your food and beverage product. And one HVAC issue can push temperatures out of your control — and compromise your product’s safety.
But all’s not lost. With a proactive approach and the right solutions in line, you can overcome virtually any emergency outage and avert costly shutdowns, planned or unplanned. Here are the three ways to keep your F&B production running continuously — and successfully — despite manufacturing obstacles.
1. Have a continuity plan to bounce back from unplanned downtime
Outages can happen at any time, from anywhere. And as equipment ages, the chance for emergencies — not to mention dangerous and contaminating conditions — increases.
In F&B, time is everything. Every second of downtime escalates the risk of perished product. This is especially dire when you consider that contaminated food can harm customers, and the harvesting cycle of ingredients makes it very difficult to recoup losses in a timely manner. That’s why it’s critically important to have a continuity plan in place.
What should a continuity plan include for food and beverage production?
- Identify, and if possible secure and seal, any food or beverage products that are temperature sensitive. Always have a physical backup copy of all temperatures guidelines, in case your power goes out.
- Contact a temporary HVAC and power generation provider immediately. Work with a service that can diagnose, design and deploy a solution in as little as an hour. Always have a provider lined up in your continuity plan, so you’re not caught playing catch-up.
- Reach out to any customers to let them know what’s going on, and when you expect to be up and running again. Trust and communication are too often the collateral damage of unplanned downtime.
2. Rent food and beverage equipment on the fly to reduce downtime
Left alone, virtually all equipment will fail at some point. Equipment mishaps put your production behind the eight-ball, either slowing it down or outright halting it.
However, when planning for full-scale shutdowns, people tend to forget the catastrophes that can happen when even one thing goes down. Especially in food and beverage, where ingredients are often managed separately.
Plus, the time it takes to fix the equipment, coordinate with the vendor, or receive a replacement is far too long for the F&B production cycle.
Problems can quickly compound. You need a solution, fast.
In a situation like this, renting equipment ad hoc is the best way to go. Why?
- Full shutdowns can do more damage to your business than the equipment problem itself.
- Individual equipment problems are typically easier and quicker to self-diagnose.
- The turnaround from problem to solution is much quicker.
- It’s the most cost-effective solution available on the fly.
- It helps prevent minor mishaps from swelling into major issues.
It goes without saying that you want to work with a service that has a reputation for quality and reliability. But you also want to work with one that can handle any scale of problem. That way, whether your fault is confined to one piece of equipment, or spread out across multiple types of machines, you’ll always be covered.
3. Get supplemental support to preserve perishable product
Perished product can be a huge blow to your business.
You could be looking at increased production costs, waste and risk. Delayed shipments and contract fall-out. Uncertain safety conditions — including contamination. All of which are very hard to recover from in this sector.
Once a food or beverage product hits a certain temperature, it reaches a point of no return.
And products don’t perish one by one. They go bad by the batch. There’s no such thing as a little perishing problem. Each and every one is drastic.
This means that when it comes to perishable product, you have a two-headed problem: a time problem and a scope problem. How soon can you solve the issue? And how much product is likely to spoil?
You solve the first problem with urgency.
You solve the second problem with supplemental equipment.
Temporarily installing external supplemental equipment allows you the flexibility to keep product safe and sound during an extended disruption or a scheduled shutdown. For example, when one organization was in the process of moving to a new plant, we helped keep their product at a consistent 6℃ temperature with a supplemental process cooling system.
Final thoughts
Emergency outages, planned and unplanned maintenance and other emergencies are especially dangerous for food and beverage companies. Between the tenuous alignment of supply-and-demand, the perishability of the product, and the potential fall-out if things go wrong, safety and continuity are critical.
But, emergencies don’t have to be so dire. Taking the right action can keep your food and production on track — and your business and customers safe.
Find out more about our solutions for the food and beverage sector