If you’re in the plastics industry, you know the true cost of lost uptime. Whether it’s packaging, automotive parts, or industrial components on the line, sudden equipment failures can mean heavy losses and create endless headaches for maintenance teams.
A growing number of plastics manufacturers are getting ahead of failures before they happen, while avoiding the additional headaches that going digital can cause. After a quick, seamless move to real-time condition monitoring—with dedicated support from human analysts—these facilities are seeing big gains in efficiency, reliability, and uptime.
In this post, we’ll explore how predictive maintenance strategies are helping plastics manufacturers take control of equipment health so they can safeguard, streamline, and future-proof their operations.
The costs associated with run-to-fail, and even routine preventive maintenance, can be significant. From inventory and maintenance costs to production losses, manufacturers across all industries are losing an estimated $50 billion per year—with the cost of unplanned downtime averaging $125,000 per hour.
Overcoming Operational Challenges in Plastics Manufacturing
Predicting and preventing unplanned downtime allows facility teams to protect their equipment and ensure smooth, steady production. This helps alleviate some of the biggest concerns and risks that plastics manufacturers contend with daily.
Equipment Wear and Tear
Continuous operation of machinery leads to inevitable wear and tear. Because they’re subjected to high temperatures and pressures, components such as extruders, injection molding machines, and blow molders are susceptible to breakdowns.
How real-time condition monitoring helps: Regular monitoring ensures machines operate within optimal parameters, reducing wear and extending their operational life.
Material Degradation
Polymers can degrade under processing conditions, especially when exposed to high temperatures and shear stresses. This degradation can introduce chemical weak points into the polymer, affecting the quality of the final product.
How real-time condition monitoring helps: Detecting and addressing equipment issues in their earliest stages helps prevent degradation that could compromise production.
Quality Control Issues
Maintaining consistent product quality is paramount. Variations in material properties, machine settings, or environmental conditions can lead to defects, resulting in increased scrap rates and rework.
How real-time condition monitoring helps: Consistent machine performance helps ensure uniform product quality, reducing defects and waste.
Energy Consumption
Plastic processing methods, such as injection molding and extrusion, are energy-intensive. Inefficient equipment or suboptimal operating conditions can lead to elevated energy costs.
How real-time condition monitoring helps: As equipment issues worsen, assets consume more energy. Timely resolution helps maximize energy savings.
Regulatory Compliance
Manufacturers must adhere to environmental and safety regulations. Failure to comply can result in fines, production halts, or damage to the company's reputation.
How real-time condition monitoring helps: Keeping assets in peak health helps reduce not only carbon emissions, but also the risk of workplace hazards associated with sudden breakdowns.
For one plastics and protective film manufacturer, vibration monitoring plus prescriptive insights from a dedicated CAT III+ condition monitoring engineer (CME) resulted in an estimated $1.2 million saved at a single facility in the first year. Read their success story here.
4 Ways End-to-End Condition Monitoring Is Making Predictive Maintenance Easy
A growing number of plastics manufacturers are enjoying the benefits of end-to-end condition monitoring, which minimizes day-to-day effort, unplanned downtime, and time to value, all at once. It’s the simplest and most cost-effective way to implement condition monitoring and build a successful program over time.
Here’s how an all-in-one condition monitoring solution makes predictive maintenance easy and is transforming operations across the industry.
1. Subscription Service with No CapEx
A low-cost subscription service that includes hardware, software, IT install, and dedicated expert support eliminates steep upfront costs. By trying the technology risk free, teams have an opportunity to learn the system and start seeing results on day one.
2. Seamless Integration, Minimal Disruption
An initial criticality assessment, installation and ongoing maintenance of wireless sensors, and an easy CMMS integration are all performed without burdening facility teams, relying on facility Wi-Fi, or hampering production.
3. Rapid Deployment and Immediate Benefits
A turnkey solution offers the fastest possible time to value. Full implementation of a condition monitoring system can happen in as little as 1-2 days—versus months or even years for in-house solutions.
4. Instead of Alert Fatigue, Teams Get Prescriptive Insights
With a dedicated CAT III+ analyst reviewing the data stream and filtering out false positives, only valid alerts get through—along with actionable recommendations so maintenance teams can intervene before issues escalate.
Discover How Your Team Can Conquer Unplanned Downtime with Condition Monitoring
Plastics manufacturing is highly complex and demanding—and it’s no place for rampant equipment failures. A proactive maintenance strategy can help you defeat unplanning downtime and keep your assets healthy to ensure steady, reliable asset performance and consistent output. With the power to maximize uptime, made easy by full-service condition monitoring, you can slash costs and enhance your operations while effectively managing risk.
Want to learn more? Check out this brief Noria video, “3 Things You need to Get Started with Condition Monitoring,” to find out how you can make the shift easily and succeed long term.
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