Service & maintenance
Packaging machinery service, preventative maintenance and breakdown support from Whittaker Packaging Solutions
Whittaker Packaging Solutions runs a dedicated packaging machinery service operation alongside sales. We service the machines we sell, and most quality competitor machines on top of that: preventative maintenance contracts, fixed-price service agreements, reactive breakdown support, spare parts and repairs across pallet wrappers, strapping machines, carton sealers, carton erectors and water-activated tape machines.
Get in touch
Request a service estimate
Got a specific machine and a specific problem? Send us the make, model, what's happening and your site address, and we'll come back with an estimate of cost, time and parts. On the fence about a preventative maintenance contract? Send your machine list and we'll quote that too.
Send us your details
Tell us about your application and we'll come back to you with a useful steer.
The WPS service team has roughly 70 years of combined industry experience, and we're licensed electrical contractors where the work requires it. We carry parts where it makes sense to, and we specify the machines we sell with fewer proprietary components so when something goes wrong, it's usually fixable today, not next week.
This page is the service hub. The detail pages underneath cover specific failure modes and machine types.
Coverage
Service coverage, geographically explicit
Full maintenance coverage = SEQ + Toowoomba + Melbourne / VIC. Our full sales, service, preventative maintenance and breakdown support coverage is South East Queensland (Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast), Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, and Melbourne and broader Victoria. Other areas have different coverage rules, set out below. The geographic detail matters, because the wrong promise here costs everyone time.
Service and maintenance coverage by area
| Area | Service and maintenance coverage |
|---|---|
| South East Queensland (Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast) | Full sales, preventative maintenance, scheduled service and breakdown support |
| Toowoomba and Darling Downs | Full sales, preventative maintenance, scheduled service and breakdown support |
| Melbourne and broader Victoria | Full sales, preventative maintenance, scheduled service and breakdown support from our Melbourne base |
| Northern NSW (Tweed, Lismore, Coffs Harbour) | Sales and delivery. Service and breakdown via scheduled runs and ad-hoc visits where feasible |
| Regional QLD (Roma, Bundaberg) | Sales and delivery on regular runs. Service and breakdown on a scheduled or fly-in basis |
| North QLD, Sydney, Perth | Fly-in fly-out arrangements considered case by case |
If you're outside the three full-coverage zones, talk to us about whether scheduled runs cover your machine adequately, or whether a preventative maintenance contract with planned visits makes more sense than reactive callouts.
We service most quality competitor machines
A meaningful share of our service work is on pallet wrappers, strapping tools and carton sealers bought from someone else, often years ago, that now need a competent service team because the original supplier doesn't have one in the right state.
If you've inherited equipment from a previous fit-out or supplier, send us the make, model and the issue. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team to look at it.
What's covered
What service covers
Breakdown support
Reactive callouts when a machine has stopped. Typical breakdown response is 24-48 hours during business hours, especially in our key service hubs. See breakdown support.
Preventative maintenance
Scheduled visits on an agreed cadence (typically six-monthly or annually depending on the machine and duty cycle): wear-item inspection, lubrication, tension checks, photo-eye and safety-circuit testing, and a written report. The customers who run it religiously have far fewer breakdowns. See preventative maintenance.
Fixed-price service agreements
For larger operations or multi-site customers, we bundle preventative maintenance, parts and a defined breakdown response into a single annual cost. Easier to budget, easier to approve, and usually cheaper across a 12-month window than the equivalent ad-hoc spend.
Repair work
Targeted repairs on specific failures: drive belts, contactors, photo-eyes, VSDs, jaw assemblies, tape heads, pre-stretch rollers. Where a part can be fabricated locally to keep an older machine running, we'll usually do it rather than recommend immediate replacement. See the pallet wrapper repair, strapping machine repair and carton sealer repair spokes for detail.
Spare parts
Parts supply, usually as part of service work. We can also supply parts directly if you have a competent person on site to fit them. See spare parts.
When to call
When to call us
Three triggers come up over and over.
A machine has stopped and the line is down
Call, don't form-fill. We'll triage on the phone and dispatch where the issue can't be talked through.
A machine is still running but limping
Wrap quality has dropped, strap tension is inconsistent, carton seals are failing intermittently. These get cheaper to fix the earlier you call. Often a 30-minute adjustment fixes a week of intermittent failures.
The PM is due
If you're on a maintenance agreement, we'll schedule it. If you're not, this is when to ask about one.
FAQs
Common questions
Typical breakdown response is 24-48 hours during business hours, especially in our key service hubs.
Keep reading