Global Service & Support — Installation, Commissioning, Training and Spare Parts

1. What "service" actually covers

Service is the part of a machinery contract buyers read last and need most. The word covers four separate obligations, and they are priced and scheduled differently. Confusing them is how projects end up with an installed line and nobody able to run it.

Installation and commissioning overlap in practice, but the responsibility split does not. Positioning the frames, running cable trays and connecting compressed air is local work. Our engineer supervises, checks tolerances and signs off — then takes over for commissioning.

2. What must be finished before our engineers land

The single largest cause of extended commissioning is a plant that is not ready. Engineers who arrive to find no compressed air and an unfinished floor still consume their allocated days. A readiness checklist goes out with the shipping documents:

1. Floor. Concrete cured, flat within ±3 mm over 2 m, drainage channels cut and grated.
2. Power. Main cable pulled to the line's incoming panel, correct voltage and phase confirmed, earth resistance measured.
3. Compressed air. Low-pressure and high-pressure supply piped to the machine tie-in points, with dryer and filtration in service. Blowing air quality decides bottle quality.
4. Water. Treated water to the filler, plus service water and drains at the rinser.
5. Consumables on site. Preforms, caps, labels, film and product concentrate — in production quantity, not samples. A line cannot be speed-tested on 200 preforms.
6. People. Named operators, one maintenance technician and one electrician available for the whole commissioning window, not borrowed from another shift.

3. How commissioning runs, day by day

Commissioning follows a fixed escalation: nothing moves until the previous stage is signed off. The sequence protects the machine and the buyer's material budget.

1. Dry run. Every drive is jogged, rotation direction checked, safety interlocks and emergency stops tested. No bottles, no product.
2. Empty bottle run. The line runs with bottles but no liquid. Star wheels, guide rails and transfer points are adjusted until zero jams over a sustained run.
3. Water run. Water replaces product. Fill level accuracy, capping torque and reject logic are tuned and recorded.
4. Product run. Real product at low speed, then stepped up. Foaming, temperature drift and viscosity behaviour appear only at this stage.
5. Speed ramp and stability test. The line runs at rated output for a continuous agreed period. This is the run that matters for acceptance.
6. Site Acceptance Test. Output, fill accuracy and reject rate are measured against contract figures and signed by both sides.

4. Training that survives staff turnover

Training delivered as a one-off lecture is forgotten within a month. We structure it around the three roles that actually keep a line running, and we train them on the moving line.

4.1 Operators

Start-up and shutdown sequence, recipe selection, fault-code response, bottle-size changeover, CIP initiation. Operators perform each task themselves under supervision before sign-off — watching is not training.

4.2 Maintenance technician

Lubrication schedule and points, gasket and seal replacement, conveyor chain tensioning, capping-head torque verification, which wear parts to stock and at what re-order level.

4.3 Electrician

PLC navigation, sensor diagnosis and replacement, VFD parameter access, safety-circuit architecture, and how to connect the remote-support router. This person is the plant's first line of defence and the one we speak to during remote sessions.

Documentation is handed over in English as standard: operation manual, electrical drawings, pneumatic diagram, spare parts catalogue with part numbers, and the PLC programme backup. Russian documentation is available for Central Asian projects.

5. After-sales: warranty, remote support, spare parts

5.1 Warranty terms

12 months from commissioning or 15 months from bill of lading, whichever comes first. Covers manufacturing defects in mechanical and electrical components. Excludes wear parts, damage from utility failure — unstable voltage, wet compressed air, untreated water — and unauthorised modification.

5.2 Remote diagnosis

A VPN-capable router in the control cabinet lets our engineers read the PLC live. Most electrical faults, sensor failures and recipe problems are resolved in a session of under an hour. The plant needs to provide a stable internet drop at the cabinet — this is the cheapest piece of infrastructure in the whole project.

5.3 Spare parts logistics

Every line ships with a recommended two-year spare parts list. Buying it with the machine avoids the worst case: a 200 USD sensor stopping a line for three weeks because it has to clear customs on its own.

6. Where our service reach actually is

Sunswell has exported to 71+ countries and maintains engineer deployment capability in 9+ countries with regular project activity — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and the Maldives among them. In those markets a service visit typically means a 3–7 day mobilisation. Elsewhere the engineer travels from Zhangjiagang and the lead time depends on visa processing.

7. Service clauses worth writing into the contract

Frequently asked questions