The KHS Group provides no fewer than 195 standard technical upgrades in its interactive conversion catalog. These enable service lives for existing machines to be greatly extended, resources to be conserved and current packaging styles to be specifically optimized through KHS’ Bottles & Shapes program for PET containers, for instance. The entire portfolio is directly accessible on both the KHS website and in the KHS Connect shop.
Investments in the machine base supplement the new machine business. Lots of bottlers are increasingly focusing on using their existing systems as efficiently and for as long as possible. KHS caters for this requirement with its conversion catalog of intelligent systems and solutions that are the technical cutting edge, also allowing outdated plant engineering that’s over 30 years old to successfully enter a second or even third life cycle. These modernizations bring entire lines into step with the current state of the art. Besides saving on resources, the portfolio aims to increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) – the key indicator of actual productivity derived from availability, performance and quality – for many years to come. With these targeted upgrades, beverage producers enable their machines to operate powerfully and cost-effectively for several decades.
Online and in KHS Connect
The conversion catalog can be browsed virtually on the KHS website, allowing the user to obtain an initial overview of the standard systems and solutions offered by KHS. The portfolio is also on KHS Connect, the interactive customer portal for all service issues. In the KHS Connect shop, a customizable filter function makes selection easier: precisely those conversions that are technically compatible with and available for the respective user’s machine park are shown as a summary. This specifically guides the browser to exactly the right conversion or upgrade for their relevant machine. Once this has been identified, a direct request can then be initiated in the system.
Advice on added value
“When we optimize single machines, we always take the performance of the entire line into account,” says Armin Wille, head of Service Sales Support. “Direct communication is essential for us: our global Service team either provides advice digitally or – and this is especially important to us – in personal talks directly on site at our customers’ machines.”
This close cooperation is the foundation upon which maximum production reliability is built – the top priority for beverage producers. In order to prevent unplanned downtime, KHS provides timely, individual consultancy. “Electronic component service lives are becoming shorter and shorter,” Armin Wille emphasizes. “We aim to inform customers of discontinued key components in good time – before shortfalls occur. With the specific solutions in our conversion catalog, we help our clients to keep their system availability at a high level in the long term.” In this dynamic environment, KHS also supplies proactive information on current upgrades.
“We update our catalog several times a year to introduce technological advances directly to our customers’ production lines,” states Wille. “Our global Service team gives holistic advice here: we don’t just concentrate on replacing outmoded parts but also on creating solid economic benefits for our clientele, such as lower electricity and water consumption and an increase in the overall line efficiency.”