7 Reasons Why Production Line Cleaning is Important for Manufacturers

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7 Reasons Why Production Line Cleaning is Vital in Manufacturing

Production line cleaning is an essential service for prolonging the efficiency and longevity of your industrial equipment, and preventing contamination of your products. Read more below to discover why production line cleaning should be a staple in your factory cleaning schedule.

Published by Leonie Leeder on 2nd July 2021, updated 11 June 2024

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Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2021 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy and comprehensiveness.

If you work in the manufacturing industry, you’ll know that factory production lines can soon become dirty. Over time, production or packaging machinery becomes exposed to grease, oil, dust, organic debris and many other contaminants.

Production line cleaning involves systematically cleaning and sanitising conveyors, machinery or other surfaces in a manufacturing or processing facility. The goal is to remove built up residue to avoid product contamination, while ensuring compliance with safety regulations and maintaining operational efficiency. Production line cleaning services can include both regular maintenance and more infrequent deep cleans in order to maintain a high standard of hygiene.

Whether you produce glass containers or tyres, neglecting your production facility cleaning can lead to expensive and reputation-ruining consequences. This can be due to a serious Health & Safety accident, contaminated products or risks of pathogens entering the supply chain, especially with food manufacturing.

Reasons why production line cleaning is important for manufacturers

Here’s our top 7 reasons why production line cleaning is an important investment for industrial managers, whether it be a one-off deep clean project or regular maintenance:

1. Production line cleaning removes build up of fine dust; carbon, organic, sawdust and many more

Manufacturing processes often create extremely fine dust as a by-product of their production processes. This may be sawdust in a wood mill, flour in a bakery, carbon dust in a glass container plant, and so on.

Dust is often a by-product of the manufacturing process when machinery parts move against each other, or from the product itself, and it eventually settles on surfaces across the factory shop floor.

Most fine dust particles are unsafe to breathe in for anyone working on the factory floor, especially with prolonged exposure. Some contaminants such as carbon dust can also be harmful to the environment if it contaminates local groundwater. A significant hazard, however, is the risk of combustion. This danger is increased in plants with regular use of flammable lubricants or furnace hot zones where fires can begin more easily than cold production plants.

2. Prevent cross-contamination of products

Cross-contamination of products can occur if your productions lines and machinery are left to become covered in grime, organic residue, dust and other contaminants. Regular cleaning will ensure that hygiene levels are maintained. This is especially important in food manufacturing plants to prevent allergen transfer or the growth of bacteria.

Cross-contamination of products can either lead to lost revenue due to discarded stock, complaints from customers or, more dangerously, exposing the public to pathogens and hazardous products. Regardless of your industry and the products you make, production line cleaning will ensure that your produce can enter the supply chain safely.

3. Health and Safety

The dirtier your production shop floor is, the higher the risk is of facing a dangerous accident at work.

Production line cleaning is crucial for health and safety because it prevents the buildup of harmful bacteria, viruses, and allergens that can contaminate products, leading to foodborne illnesses or allergic reactions. Regular and thorough cleaning ensures that all equipment and surfaces are sanitised and free from debris, allowing your operations to continue safely.

We have found that production shop floors can quickly become littered with debris and waste. This could be damaged products left around production lines, packaging debris left discarded on the floor, or oil spills from a mechanical repair that hasn’t been cleaned up. All these examples increase the risk of slips, trips and falls which can be easily avoided through regular maintenance and cleaning.

4. It allows you to meet industry regulations

Workplace regulations are in place for every industry, and production factories are no exception. This is especially true for food and drink manufacturers.

It is important that your machinery and production facility is kept to a sufficient standard, to ensure the safety of your employees and to avoid any nasty surprises come audit season. If you do not meet industry regulations, you could incur reputation-ruining and costly accidents that put your employees and business at risk. All the better to keep your facility to a high standard of cleanliness all year round, so that you know you will meet industry standards as a default, rather than trying to play catch-up before an audit.

5. Prevents slips, trips and falls

Cleaning your factory shop floor is vital for preventing slips, trips and falls, which accounted for 32% of the 60,645 non-fatal work injuries in 2022/23. You do not want obstructions, pallets or waste causing accidents for your employees or forklifts moving through the factory.

This cleaning is even more important if your industrial site produces food and beverage products where contaminants may be transferred to other areas of the plant. We recommend that floor cleaning be undertaken at a minimum of 2/3 times a week or more, depending on the circumstances of your facility.

6. Production line cleaning is cheaper than replacing machinery

If a production line or factory facility is not regularly cleaned, then the build up of dirt, grime, grease and contaminants can cause machinery to malfunction or break. Fixing or replacing this machinery can be eye-wateringly expensive, and may significantly increase unplanned downtime for repairs.

7. Zero interruptions to production

An experienced industrial cleaning company will logistically manage production line cleaning so that it can continue while production is ongoing.

Production line cleaning can be integrated into scheduled downtime or shift changes, or as a staggered service that works around your working production areas. A competent industrial cleaning contractor will work with an industrial manager to devise a plan that works best for them and their site. That’s why we recommend creating a factory cleaning schedule that aligns with your needs to ensure that necessary cleaning tasks are completed efficiently without impacting productivity.