Packhouse Pre-Season Checklist: Ready Before the Fruit Is

Once fruit starts arriving, a packhouse runs flat out for weeks. There’s rarely time to fix anything properly, and a stoppage at the wrong moment can hold up fruit that won’t wait.

That makes the last few weeks before harvest the most valuable maintenance window of the year. Here’s a practical checklist to work through, section by section.

Brushes and washers

Fruit washers and brush beds work in the wettest, dirtiest part of the line.

• Check brush wear, and replace brushes that are worn down or out of shape.
• Look at the bearings on brush shafts. Water and dirt getting past bearing seals is one of the most common causes of failure in wet areas.
• Check drives and chains for corrosion, and make sure guards are secure.

If bearings in your washers fail every season, it may be the bearing type rather than the maintenance. At Crasborns in Hawke’s Bay, switching to Challenge Triple Seal Bearings meant replacing 18 bearings instead of 240. Read the case study.

Conveyors and rollers

• Run each conveyor empty and listen for noisy rollers or bearings.
• Spin rollers by hand and replace any that are seized, flat-spotted or damaged.
• Check belt tracking, tension and wear, and look for fraying at the edges.
• Check transfers between conveyors, where fruit and cartons can catch, tip or bruise.

Drives, motors and gearboxes

• Check gearbox oil levels and look for leaks around seals.
• Clear dust and debris from motor fan covers and cooling fins.
• Check speed controllers are set correctly for the season’s fruit and volumes.
• Note anything running noisier or hotter than it should, and plan to replace it now rather than mid-season.

Carton handling and end of line

• Check carton conveyors, diverters and racking for damage and wear.
• Make sure accumulation and packing stations are set up for the volumes you expect.
• Walk through the flow of empty and full cartons with the people who work there, and fix the spots where cartons wait or get handled twice.

Order parts now

Suppliers and freight get busy in the lead-up to harvest. Make a list of the parts you replaced last season, the parts that failed, and the parts you’d struggle to get quickly, then check availability and lead times now.

If you haven’t got a critical spares list, here’s how to build one.

Plan bigger changes for after harvest

January is the time for checks and smaller fixes, not a major rebuild. If the season shows up a bottleneck, a layout that no longer fits your volumes, or equipment that’s reaching the end of its life, make a note and plan it for the off-season, when there’s time to design, build and install it properly.

We can help you get ready

Send us your parts list, nameplate photos or a short video of anything that isn’t running right, and we’ll help identify what you need and check availability. Email [email protected] or use our Gearbox Enquiry Form.

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0800 147 847 | [email protected] | eqm.co.nz