Quenton Lind

Those of you who grew up in or around farming communities probably remember attending a celebration called Dairy Days. It was a festivity that focused on celebrating all things dairy. Depending on your town, the festivities were likely different, but I bet there were plenty of activities for the kids. Usual suspects could be: 

If you’re a large dairy company that requires centrifuge service, know that you can get those needs met by Separators. While it’s true we’re not an OEM, we’re not working out of somebody’s garage either. We are a full-scale company, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, and we have centrifuge service technicians positioned all across the United States. We want you to consider us as your service provider not only because of our service and expertise, but because of our attention to safety and insurance needs as well.

When you service with us, you'll find yourself benefitting from superior service in a few key areas: 

• Service
• Expertise
• Insurance 
• Parts
• Repair

Check out the rest of this blog for a breakdown on each one specifically. If you're looking to schedule a service call, scroll to the end of the page and place a call with us by following the link.

Here at Separators we understand that great customer service doesn’t end when a technician leaves your facility. In a lot of ways, it’s only the beginning. As the largest independent centrifuge service technician organization in North America, we are committed to being thorough and accurate in all that we do. This includes giving our customers access to the information they need to keep their centrifuge equipment operational for years to come.

Having a centrifuge is vital to many businesses. For instance, dairy companies across the country rely on a working machine to make the best milk products that consumers can find on a store shelf. Centrifuges can perform a whole gamut of operations and these machines are found in a wide range of industries.

Today, rather than talking about the general concept of a centrifuge and its accompanying technology, I'd like to take a chance to discuss their efficiency. In particular, I'll be taking a look at the milk production process.

The centrifugal separation of milk can be a tricky business if your machines aren't efficient. But how could they be more productive? We'll go over five ways to optimize your milk separator and kick your production into high gear.  

Scheduling service for your equipment can be a daunting task. Whether or not you've suffered an equipment failure, fitting service into your schedule isn't always easy. This is a situation equipment operators know all too well. That’s why at our business, we’ve made scheduling routine and emergency maintenance as easy as can be.

When you service with us, you can expect results that are just as streamlined as your production process. We strive to get you back to being fully operational as soon as possible.

No doubt about it, replacing your current centrifuge with a new machine is a large undertaking. Not only does it involve the capital investment of new equipment, it also typically involves reconfiguring feed lines and replacing your baseplate. And in case you're not familiar, replacing a centrifuge baseplate is a big job all on its own. It involves breaking the existing one out, pouring fresh concrete, and waiting for the curing process. And that all comes after you've worked out the details on the business end. Luckily, there's a way to skip this entire process while getting the equipment upgrade you need. 

Minor and major centrifuge service visits are staples for keeping your production line running. Because these visits require our technician to complete all of the work at your facility, there are a few things you’ll need to prepare for prior to the day of your service.

Are you familiar with what's included in our services at Separators? It's a question we receive quite often out in the field from our customers. From preventative maintenance to emergency services, and everything in-between, our team offers comprehensive service packages. Below is a video illustrating some of these services more in-depth:

When routine maintenance needs go unnoticed or unattended, larger issues with equipment can result. Oftentimes, problems that become serious and require immediate attention could have been prevented by thorough centrifuge maintenance.

So here’s what you need to know about upkeep and maintenance to hit your production volumes while also preventing a catastrophic event.

Stick to a service schedule

At Separators, we have found that the following maintenance schedule helps keep our clients up and running at their expected production volume, without creating too many downtime disruptions.

Minor service — Recommended every 6 months, minor service focuses on looking at the inside of your centrifuge bowl for worn parts and other red flags that could lead to downtime in the near future.

Major service — Recommended once a year, this service includes everything we do in a minor service, plus a full inspection of your frame and high-value parts.

If you’ve never worked with Separators before, we’ll start with a major service so that you can get an understanding of the current condition of your centrifuge bowl and frame. From there, we can list out our recommendations and replace parts that require repair. Generally, if we identify a part on your centrifuge that won’t make it through the next 12 months, we’ll opt to replace it to help you avoid unexpected downtime.

Be proactive about stocking spare centrifuge parts

We know that your plant doesn’t have a ton of storage space — but it’s well worth it to set aside a few shelves to store essential spare centrifuge parts, including gaskets, extra discs, and even a minor service kit. When you have these parts at your disposal, you can fix issues in the moment (such as an extra disc to your bowl, versus trying to accommodate inconsistencies in your product).

At Separators, we’ll keep a Bill of Material (BOM) kit on hand for your equipment to help make sure we have what you need in the event that maintenance is required at the drop of a hat.

Use service visits to train your staff

Our team’s technicians partner with your maintenance staff to educate and help grow their skills. During our minor and major services, we encourage your staff to shadow our technicians to learn more about the inner workings of your centrifuge (and how to identify warning signs that something isn’t working properly).

Extend equipment life

Whether you're looking to improve your separation process, optimize your flow rate, or extend the life of your equipment, maintenance is a large part of the answer. Taking care of your equipment makes it possible to get many more years of productive life out of it. 

Avoid emergency maintenance

Keeping your equipment well-maintained can prevent potentially dangerous situations and emergency service visits. Because you won't have to stop processing unexpectedly, you won't lose nearly as much production time to a maintenance visit as you would to emergency service needs. In this way, preventing emergency centrifuge service can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.  

In order to further illustrate the importance of maintaining your equipment, we put together a video focusing on the three areas of maintenance in response to our customers' questions on centrifuge upkeep:

Both routine maintenance and occasional service are essential to keeping your equipment running optimally. This is to say, centrifuge service cannot be skipped or avoided, but it can be made easy.