Service & maintenance
Preventative maintenance for packaging machinery from Whittaker Packaging Solutions
Preventative maintenance for packaging machinery is the difference between a planned half-day service that fits around production, and an unplanned breakdown that stops a shift. Whittaker Packaging Solutions offers preventative maintenance agreements for pallet wrappers, strapping machines and tools, carton sealers, carton erectors and water-activated tape machines across our coverage area.
Get in touch
Request a service estimate
Send the WPS team a list of your machines (make, model, age, approximate runtime), your location and any history of recurring faults. We'll come back with a proposed service schedule, scope and fixed-price agreement quote. No obligation to sign, just a real number to weigh against your existing breakdown costs.
Send us your details
Tell us about your application and we'll come back to you with a useful steer.
We sell agreements as fixed-price service contracts, so you can budget the maintenance line accurately for the year, and we structure them around your actual runtime, not a generic interval.
The headline benefit is fewer breakdowns. The quiet benefit is consistent output. A wrapper running at the right pre-stretch tension, a strapping machine welding at the right temperature every cycle, a sealer with a maintained tape head: those deliver predictable throughput, less film and tape waste, and fewer rework pallets.
Why WPS
Why book preventative maintenance with Whittaker Packaging Solutions
The WPS team brings around 70 years of combined industry experience to maintenance work. We've seen the failure modes across most brands and we know which components wear first on which machine types. That lets us write schedules focused on the parts that actually need attention, rather than a generic checklist that misses what matters.
What we do differently
Fixed-price agreements.
You know the year's maintenance cost up front. No surprise invoices, no creep, no "while we were on site" extras.
Service schedule built to your runtime.
A wrapper doing 200 pallets a day doesn't need the same interval as one doing 30. We size the visit frequency to the work.
Service history kept.
Every visit is logged. When a fault appears six months later, the technician already has the context.
Same team for breakdown.
If something does break between scheduled visits, you're calling a team that already knows your machines.
Independent advice.
When we recommend a setting change or a part replacement, the call is driven by what the machine actually needs, with no consumable margin pulling it.
What's covered in a preventative maintenance visit
A typical visit covers:
Inspection of all moving parts, belts, bearings, sensors and control hardware
Lubrication to manufacturer specifications
Wear part assessment with replacement quoted before any out-of-scope work
Calibration of tension, weld temperature, sensor positioning and timing
Test cycle with your actual product to confirm settings
Operator check-in to capture any unusual behaviour they've noticed
Written service report covering what was checked, what was done, and what to watch for next visit
Each machine type gets a slightly different schedule. Pallet wrappers focus on film carriage components, turntable bearings, ramp linkage and sensors. Strapping machines focus on tension wheels, weld plates, feed rollers and gripper jaws. Carton sealers focus on tape heads, drive belts, side belts and flap folders.
How a fixed-price service agreement works
A fixed-price service agreement covers an agreed number of scheduled visits per year for an agreed set of machines, at a flat annual or monthly rate. The schedule and scope are written into the agreement so both sides know exactly what's included.
What's typically in scope
Scheduled service visits at the agreed frequency
Standard lubrication, calibration and inspection
Service history logged and shared
Priority booking for breakdown callouts
What's typically out of scope and quoted separately
Replacement parts beyond standard wear items
Major repair work that exceeds the standard visit duration
Travel charges outside the defined service area
The agreement is renewable annually and can be adjusted as your machine count or runtime changes.
Who preventative maintenance makes sense for
A preventative maintenance agreement is usually a clear call if any of these apply:
You run a single packaging line with no backup
A breakdown stops your dispatch operation
Your operators don't have the technical depth to spot wear before it becomes a fault
Your insurance or quality auditor wants a service record
You've had two or more breakdowns in the last 12 months on the same machine
You're trying to budget maintenance accurately for the financial year
For low-volume sites with redundant machines and operators who maintain the gear themselves, ad-hoc service may be a better fit. We'll be straight about which path suits your operation.
Coverage
Service coverage area
Whittaker Packaging Solutions provides full preventative maintenance and breakdown support across South East Queensland (Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast), Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, and Melbourne and broader Victoria. For these areas, typical breakdown response is 24-48 hours during business hours, especially in our key service hubs.
For Northern NSW and Regional Queensland (Roma, Bundaberg), we supply and deliver machines and arrange service through scheduled runs and ad-hoc visits where feasible. A preventative maintenance agreement here usually means a visit aligned to one of our scheduled runs, and we'll be straight about what we can deliver before you sign.
North Queensland, Sydney and Perth are case-by-case fly-in arrangements only, not generally suitable for a preventative maintenance agreement.
FAQs
Common questions
A Whittaker Packaging Solutions preventative maintenance agreement covers scheduled service visits at an agreed frequency for an agreed set of machines, at a fixed annual or monthly price. Each visit includes inspection, lubrication, calibration, wear part assessment and a test cycle, with a written report. Replacement parts beyond standard wear items are quoted separately.