Must Know Maintenance Tips for Conveyors | 2026 Guide

As the year gets closer to another major holiday season, manufacturers need to start preparing for the increased production. Holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving (also including Black Friday), and Christmas are only a few months away. These periods usually put the most strain on manufacturers, as their operations are pushed into overtime. And when these incredibly busy months arrive, it can put a strain on your conveyor systems. With this being true, it’s important to know exactly how to keep your equipment running as efficiently as possible.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at some of the top conveyor maintenance tips for 2026 to keep your system running. Topics like inspections, preventive maintenance, cleaning habits, and much more will be discussed. Having effective machinery that operates smoothly during difficult times saves you more money than you may realize. These tips will give you a clearer understanding of how impactful these seasons are for manufacturers and provide regular maintenance guidelines.

The first recurring upkeep habit we’ll mention is visual inspection. Some inspections don’t require the dismantling of the machine to diagnose. Just conducting a simple visual inspection can help solve these problems in a matter of minutes. This sometimes overlooked process can determine many issues that seem obvious. Some of the most common problems that can be identified include:

• Belt tearing
• Loose components
• Inconsistent speeds
• Belt misalignment

The next major repair recommendation is to keep all your components clean. This may seem very specific or useless in some cases, as the argument may be presented “Cleaning it only affects it visually.” Even though it’s a common misconception, dusty and corroded parts can affect your systems in significant ways. A few ways this can affect your equipment include: 

• Debris buildup 

• Belt tearing 

• Misaligned rollers 

• Reduced equipment life 

With this in mind, the question may remain, “How do I clean these parts?” There are several ways that are useful in taking care of these pieces. If there is a smaller stain that may not require disassembly, using a brush or damp microfiber cloth works well. However, if stubborn debris is piled onto parts, using a recommended cleaning solution works as well. Make sure that before any maintenance is done, your warehouse lockout/tagout procedure is complete, and no one reaches inside machines for cleaning. 

As parts and rollers are continually used, they become worn and dry due to friction. This friction over time may weaken and severely damage these parts, which could result in a total replacement. This is why it’s important to always keep your rollers and other moving parts lubricated. Not only does it save on potential substitute parts, but it increases the longevity of your conveyor as well. When using lubrication, make sure to follow standardized rules such as:

• Only use recommended solutions
• Follow lockout/tagout protocol
• Use recommended amount of solution
• Don’t reach inside of machinery

It’s always important to have a routine safety protocol when working in warehouses with heavy machinery. Consistently reviewing this plan and running drills is an important part of keeping the workplace safety in check. What’s also important is inspecting electrical parts that could affect the failsafe functions on these machines. Any part including motors, chains, control systems, and electrical components should be examined and tested to ensure functionality.

A great way to determine if any of the previous advice makes a difference is to use common KPIs and data. Using data, you can measure industry standards like overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), throughput, and jam frequency. These are just a few examples, and obviously more do exist, of KPIs that could determine whether these strategies are working. But another thing that could promote healthy machine standards is preventive maintenance.

This is already an established industry practice, but preventive maintenance can completely change how a company’s systems perform. Conducting routine inspections, like we’ve previously mentioned, can prevent any major or minor damage before it happens. If there isn’t one already, it would be wise to schedule regular preventive maintenance into your daily plan (even in periods of decreased demand). Reviewing this plan and setting up ordinary tests every so often will build credible results and produce more productive machines overtime.

Russell Conveyor has been one of the leading businesses for manufacturing conveyor technology and repairing it. We’ve built this strong portfolio over 20 years of service to our community and customers. One of our newest offerings is the Russell+ tiered maintenance program. Our four distinct tiers offer a variety of features to best support your needs. Some of the included features are discounted parts, remote support, total asset management, and even resident technician options.

Are you ready for your next big upgrade? Call us today at (336) 526-3014 and tell us about your exciting plans!

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