Maintenance management and Optimization of the thermoforming process for the agri-food industry using the S² model

Abstract The agri-food industry has been greatly enhanced in recent years with the introduction of process control and the automation [1] of certain links in the production chain. The seasons of the year in which these machines must be operational and show robust and reliable operation, have short durations (2 to 4 months) and are therefore greatly affected by unexpected failures that cause stops on the production lines. This paper attempts to expose a comparative advantages that can be obtained in terms of availability and efficiency in the thermoforming process. With the introduction of Industry 4.0 [2, 4] and the S2 model [5] and actuator control and early action, it is possible to optimize availability and efficiency ratios on thermoformer machines. Results show that it’s possible to reduce unexpected failures by means of this optimization tools. Two improvement strategies are outlined. Maintenance Management improvement model improves response to failures but does not optimize the useful life of the components. Algorithm life optimization based on S2 model optimizes service life and improves response to failure.