When selecting a color sorting machine, quality and price are often the first factors considered. However, an equally important aspect that is sometimes overlooked is maintenance.
Proper maintenance plays a crucial role in determining the service life of a color sorter. Even with the highest-quality equipment, neglecting routine care before, during, and after the operation can lead to unnecessary damage, reduced efficiency, and costly losses. To ensure long-lasting performance, the following six maintenance practices should be followed:
- Drain water regularly – At startup, drain water at least every two hours to maintain system stability.
- Monitor operations in real time – During the sorting process, observe both equipment operation and sorting accuracy to detect issues early.
- Perform proper shutdown procedures – After operation, clean dust from the glass of the sliding hopper and sorting box to prevent blockage and rust.
- Keep optical components clean – Regularly check the cleaning brush, and ensure the camera lens and glass remain free of dust and smudges.
- Maintain the filter core – Clean it regularly to avoid clogging that could disrupt airflow or sorting performance.
- Inspect the lighting system – Ensure the lamp is bright and functioning properly, and prepare for timely replacement or repair if necessary.
Conclusion
Consistent maintenance not only extends the lifespan of your color sorting machine but also safeguards the accuracy and efficiency of its operation. By incorporating these six key practices into your daily routine, you can reduce downtime, minimize repair costs, and ensure your machine continues to deliver reliable, high-quality sorting results for years to come.
An Airborne Crisis on Two Fronts
This shortage is being seen in both the airline and the cargo industries. With such a small pool of applicants to choose from, these two sectors are battling to get the most qualified available candidates. Many pilots are increasingly being wooed to get behind the controls of passenger planes over cargo flights—frankly, it’s tough to compete with jobs perks like fixed schedules and free flights for your family across the world.
This is no anecdotal pilot shortage, either—the same problems are found on a global scale, with Boeing estimating an incredible shortage of 790,000 or more pilots across the world over the next two decades. In the shorter term, the domestic industry can expect more than 8,000 unfilled vacancies per year by 2020, and five years later that number could be higher than 12,000 pilot-less flights in need of help. This spells trouble for your supply chain because even if you don’t personally rely on flight to get items delivered, chances are at least one of your key suppliers does.
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Tomas Reuss
Just as we’ve found with the truck driver shortage, the impetus behind skilled labor leaving is many-fold. Demographics play a large role—a massive amount of pilots are expected to hang up their hats in the next few years as they reach the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age of 65. And there’s no large group of applicants sitting waiting to replace them.This is likely because it’s becoming considerably more difficult to obtain a pilot license than it was ten years ago. After a 2009 Colgan Air crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration raised the requirements for an ATP certificate from 250 hours to a whopping 1,500 hours of training.
