Primal Pet Foods

Primal Pet Foods trades Excel spreadsheets and break-fix chaos for condition-based maintenance

How Primal Pet Foods left behind reactive maintenance to build a proactive operation that saved thousands.

Key Insights

• Daily revenue at risk per line: $160,000

• Cold storage monitoring: 24/7, automated

• Previous system: 1 Excel spreadsheet

• Improved maintenance approach: Reactive → Proactive

A spreadsheet, a reactive mindset, and an overnight risk

Primal Pet Foods ran its maintenance operation on a single spreadsheet, reacting to failures as they happened with no system to get ahead of them. For a facility producing raw and freeze-dried pet food with strict cold storage requirements, that gap was an efficiency problem and a risk. Primal Pet Foods used UpKeep to build the infrastructure the team never had, and to close the after-hours blind spot that left product and equipment exposed overnight.

Challenge #1: The maintenance system was just a spreadsheet and a reactive mindset

Without a work order system, no asset history, and no way to get ahead of failure, the team tracked purchase orders in a single Excel file and fixed equipment only after it broke.

Challenge #2: Critical cold storage running unmonitored after hours

Freezers and coolers had no monitoring outside business hours. A temperature spike overnight would go undetected until the next shift, which left a production line worth $160,000 in daily revenue exposed.

Solution #1: A system simple enough for the whole team to adopt

Customizable data views kept the experience clean for mechanics. The structured work orders and PM scheduling gave the team the foundation to get ahead of failures rather than just react to them.

Solution #2: 24/7 automated temperature monitoring

An alert goes straight to the team the moment a temperature begins to rise, reducing after-hours blind spots.

Results

Thousands saved through prevented downtime

Moving to condition-based maintenance gave the team visibility they never had before by helping catch issues early and avoiding the cascading costs that come with unplanned failures.

Cold storage protected around the clock

UpKeep Edge closed the after-hours blind spot entirely. Real-time temperature alerts give the team the window to act before product or equipment is at risk.

A team that prevents problems instead of chasing them

With work order management, PM scheduling, and continuous sensor monitoring in place, Primal Pet Foods spends less time reacting and more time running a stable, predictable operation, which frees them to focus on keeping a high-output food manufacturing facility running at its best.

About Primal Pet Foods

Primal Pet Foods is a Fairfield, California-based manufacturer of raw, freeze-dried, and fresh pet foods for dogs and cats, founded in 2001. The company produces fully prepared, human-grade formulas using sustainably sourced proteins, organic produce, and unrefined vitamins and minerals. Primal Pet Foods is part of the Primal Pet Group, which operates manufacturing facilities across California, Colorado, Texas, and Washington.