Booth Ranches, Eco Farms, Ventura Pacific, and Fillmore Piru are just a few of JBT’s California, US produce customers that have benefited in recent years from PRoCARE® programs. A service which focuses on minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime, the PRoCARE proposition is an innovative customer care agreement which focuses on preventative maintenance, enabling customers to avoid breakdowns and budget the replacement of machinery parts.
For these kinds of produce customers, regularly scheduled PRoCARE service visits and in-house aftermarket parts management have kept equipment such as JBT Bin Scrubbers and Citrus Coatings Dryers running at 95% uptime by eliminating unscheduled downtime and unwanted breakdowns, explains William Wofford, JBT’s Sales & Service Manager, Fresh Produce Technologies & Fruit and Vegetable Processing.
“PRoCARE service inspection reports keep the customer aware of the equipment conditions and upcoming wear parts cost for customer budgeting, while regular on-site training programs are conducted with the customer’s preventative maintenance teams, operational supervisors and lead personnel to ensure operational safety, sanitation and cost reduction,” he says.
The other major benefit from PRoCARE service agreements, according to Wofford, is helping ensure JBT equipment is kept running at optimal efficiency. “Just because the equipment is running does not mean it is running to its optimum performance condition,” he says. “To make this happen we need to understand the condition of the equipment at all times and customers’ requirements and equipment performance goals. And that’s where the PRoCARE service program comes in. We monitor the machines and we make sure items are replaced as needed. We make sure these machines run as they were manufactured to run.”