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16. PLANT MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

The plant maintenance program is vital to consistent production of high quality feeds and no less important to cost control and assurance to the customer that their feed will arrive on time and to formula specification (Parr, 1988).

Equipment breakdowns are bad enough as they impede aquaculture feed production, but at least as bad is machinery which is not working to design which may, through short weighing, or improper mixing, produce a defective feed.

Such defective feed may, at the least, hurt the farmer’s production and at worst create a serious crop failure. Also possible is a threat to human health.

Keeping motors, scales, pellet dies, conveyors and all other components of the mill in proper working order is as important as formulation or the quality of ingredients which go into the finished feed.

Mechanical or electronic failures may occur from time to time in a complex system like a feed mill, but proper attention to preventive maintenance will minimize down time and the prospect of the customer receiving feed which is out of specification. The latter may cause a costly recall of feed or possibly compensation for damages to the customer’s crop, if the error is not found in a timely way (Appendix II).

A good preventive maintenance programme should provide adequate maintenance at reasonable cost (Appendix III).

Preventive Maintenance Objectives:

Building and Grounds Maintenance:

Preventive Maintenance Areas:


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