A planned annual order for maintenance consumables, built from the manufacturers’ published service intervals and the plant’s installed equipment count.
An Annual Kit is a consolidated order covering twelve months of maintenance consumables for the equipment a plant actually operates. Quantities are derived from published service intervals multiplied by the installed machine count. The order is agreed once, priced once, and shipped once by sea.
It is not a service contract and it carries no ongoing commitment.
The invoice price of a spare part is the same in both cases. The costs that differ are the costs that surround it.
| Planned, within the annual order | Unplanned, ordered on failure | |
|---|---|---|
| Freight | Sea, consolidated with the full order | Air, single consignment, charged per kilo |
| Lead time | Not applicable; the part is in stock | Days to weeks, with the plant stopped |
| Expediting | None | Rush charges at the manufacturer and at the forwarder |
| Minimum order quantity | Absorbed into the annual quantity | Applied to a single item |
| Customs | One clearance, one document set | A separate clearance per consignment |
| Engineering time | On the plant | Expediting the consignment |
| Production | Running | Stopped for the duration |
The parts price is the smallest component of the unplanned column, and normally the only one reviewed.
Every line in the kit traces to a published interval and the plant’s equipment count. Where no interval is published, the line is marked as such on the quotation.
| Line | Basis of quantity |
|---|---|
| Vacuum pump oil | Published change interval, running hours, pump count |
| Oil separation elements | Published: 2,000 hours, or a minimum of twice yearly. Two per pump is the floor. |
| Intake filters | Published: check every 40–200 hours, maximum four cleanings, replace at least annually |
| Valve seat kits | No interval is published. Built from the plant’s own service records. |
| Membrane elements and cleaning chemistry | Cleaning every 18–24 hours; element life 1–3 years, or 4–5 on an enzymatic regime |
| Critical insurance spares | Items with no published interval and a long lead time. One mechanical seal held in stock. |
Calculated from the published intervals, a single vacuum pump in continuous duty consumes in the order of €850–1,200 per year in consumables, excluding vanes.
Derived from the intervals. Not a manufacturer-published figure. Vanes are excluded because no vane life is published for the oil-lubricated series.
The installed pump count is required to convert this into a quotation.
Identical parts, identical plant, identical year. The flat line is a single planned shipment. The stepped line is five consignments ordered on failure.
The kit is modular. A plant may take one, two or all three. Most take the first, and add the others once it has run for a year.
Vacuum pump oil, gear oil, food-grade greases, chain and food-contact lubricants, CIP and membrane cleaning chemistry.
| Quantities from | Published change intervals × running hours × machine count |
| Shelf life | Long. A year in stock is not a risk. |
| Typical entry | The lowest-value, lowest-risk line in the plant |
The usual first kit. It proves the route, the paperwork and the lead time before anything expensive is committed.
The parts with a published interval: vanes, oil separation elements, intake filters, seat kits, gaskets, membrane elements, belts, bearings.
| Quantities from | Published interval, corrected for the plant’s real duty |
| Lines with no interval | Marked as estimates on the quotation |
| Effect | Removes the airfreight line from the maintenance budget |
This is the kit that changes the cost structure. The parts price is unchanged; the freight, expediting and downtime around it are not.
The four-figure items with no published interval and a long lead time. Mechanical seals, rotors, drives, switchgear.
| Quantities from | The plant’s own failure history, not a manufacturer table |
| Held | One set, on the shelf, not consumed |
| Cost | The cost of capital, against the cost of a stopped line |
Insurance, not consumption. Normally bought after a plant has lost a line to a seal it did not hold.
Valve seat life, vane life on an oil-lubricated pump, and the mechanical seal on a hygienic twin-screw pump have no published replacement intervals. Those lines are estimated from the plant’s service history and are marked on the quotation as estimates.
Photographs of the nameplates are sufficient to begin.