Tray sealing specialist Proseal is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its successful preventative maintenance programme, PRoCARE®, as the company continues to fulfil its longstanding commitment to delivering outstanding customer support.  

Launched in 2011, PRoCARE provides comprehensive aftersales service through a series of scheduled inspections and maintenance of equipment in order to minimise unexpected and costly downtime. A decade later, PRoCARE has become so successful that Proseal has established a dedicated department to co-ordinate the programme to ensure continuity of service and speed of response are maintained.

“In today’s fiercely competitive markets and where consumers are expecting new products faster than ever, manufacturers need to be able to rely on their machinery to function at optimum capacity,” explained Daryl Henshaw, Proseal’s Key Accounts Manager. “Loss of production for any reason means a loss of sales, profit, and potentially food. Having proactive preventative maintenance support can help to significantly reduce these risks and prevent unnecessary food waste.”

Proseal’s PRoCARE provides both on-site and remote service and advice that helps to maximise machinery performance and uptime. Recognising that food manufacturing is a year-round operation, the service is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

For major food manufacturer, Bakkavor Group, investing in PRoCARE has played a key part in enhancing the efficiency of its operations. “Given the nature of our industry and where Proseal machinery sits within our group, the continued support of Proseal is key to the success of our business,” confirmed Bakkavor’s Group Engineering Manager, Ben Cooper. “Indeed, the level of aftersales support we receive from Proseal is often used as something of a yardstick for our other suppliers.”

Bakkavor has remained a participant in the PRoCARE programme since its inception. During this time, the company has continued to roll out PRoCARE across six of its largest UK sites, and the number of machines that Proseal is overseeing has increased from around 30 to over 80.

Another indication of the success is that every Proseal key account customer is a participant, and the PRoCARE division is now carefully managing around 80 active contracts covering over 400 machines.

Daryl Henshaw concluded: “PRoCARE is about reducing the risk of breakdowns, while driving up efficiency: a well-maintained machine is less likely to breakdown. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Most customers have reported huge reductions in downtime as a result of going from reactive maintenance to proactive PRoCARE.

“Equally important is how we have been able to adapt the service to deal with the specific challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team were able to put in place stringent procedures and provide PPE to our workforce, which allowed for maintenance visits to continue, underlining our genuine commitment to customer support, whatever the situation.”

Proseal is part of the JBT Corporation family, a leading global technology solutions provider to high-value segments of the food processing industry, committed to providing a service that surpasses customer expectations. PRoCARE service contracts are available across all JBT machinery solutions, built to maximise uptime and financial predictability; with the goal to reduce total cost of ownership.