What our customer said about our project."This has fundamentally changed the way we approach maintenance."
Mixer 1 had been identified as one of the largest sources of production loss at Warburtons' Bolton site. Marmalade Solutions was engaged to investigate the root causes, stabilise the asset, and build a maintenance approach that would keep it reliable long-term.
Returning the asset to standard operational capacity
Using pressure and vibration monitoring alongside hands-on inspection, our team identified multiple points of loss and created a plan to address these issues. Time taken for the vacuum to reach its target pressure was reduced by over 80% and the stability at that pressure was vastly improved, allowing for more consistent production and a better product. Other asset health indicators such as vibration analysis also improved after making our suggested changes.
Warburtons Bolton - Mixer Reliability Recovery
Time to target vacuum pressure -seconds
Improved stability at target pressure
Before
After
PM rebuild
We then rebuilt the site's Planned Maintenance programme for the asset, replacing vague, subjective instructions with a package of 16 clear, measurable procedures designed to stop the same failures recurring.
Results
The factory’s biggest source of loss has been resolved and is no longer seen as a problem area. All estimates are based on a conservative 90-day comparison against a sister machine.
150 Hours
Of skilled maintenance labour released per year
66+ Hours
Of lost production prevented per year
Condition monitoring
Implementation of PM’s based off of condition monitoring to address issues when they become a problem.
“We engaged Marmalade Solutions to support our Reliability Managers, who were managing a high workload while continuing to develop in their roles. My initial expectation was that they would provide guidance on proven reliability engineering tools and methodologies to help improve asset reliability while coaching our team along the way. What they delivered went far beyond that. Not only did they help us achieve tangible improvements in mixer reliability, but they also collaborated with our software engineer to implement condition monitoring and introduced a new condition-based maintenance approach, where preventative maintenance is triggered by equipment condition rather than fixed schedules. This has fundamentally changed the way we approach maintenance and will become an integral part of how we manage reliability going forward. I’d highly recommend Marmalade Solutions to any organisation looking for practical, innovative reliability engineering support that delivers lasting results.”
— Craig Wolfenden, Warburtons, Bolton Head of Maintenance.Ready to see what’s costing you the most?
If a single asset can unlock improvements like this, imagine what's possible across your wider site. Get in touch to book a reliability audit and find out where your next biggest win is hiding.