Reliability Where It Actually Matters

Reliability - we can’t say it enough

What 8 Years of Field Data in IP69K Washdown Environments Has Taught Us

In food manufacturing, reliability is often discussed in isolation. Bench tests, lab cycles, theoretical MTBFs, or clean‑room assumptions dominate the conversation.

But the truth is simple: If reliability isn’t proven in heavy washdown, it isn’t proven at all.

At One Motion, every product we build operates in the same environment:

• Daily high‑pressure washdown
• Aggressive sanitation chemicals
• Strict food‑safety protocols designed to eliminate any biologically active material

This is IP69K territory. And it’s the environment where most traditional drive systems quietly fail.

The Reality of Washdown: Why “Normal” Reliability Metrics Don’t Apply

Anyone who has spent time in poultry, protein, bakery, produce, or ready‑to‑eat plants knows this reality.

Traditional motor + gearbox systems are not designed for continuous sanitation exposure.

Their failure modes are predictable:

• Seal degradation
• Bearing contamination
• Oil leakage and washout
• Corrosion pathways created by pressure and chemicals

In many food plants, one year of service life is considered normal for conventional systems. Gearboxes are rebuilt. Motors are swapped. Spares are stocked. Downtime is planned around failure.

That is the baseline.

So when we talk about reliability, the first question must be: Reliable compared to what, and where?

Designing for the Environment That Breaks Everything

Every One Motion product is built around a single principle: Direct Drive Rotary Motion.

That means:

• No gearboxes
• No lubrication systems
• No oil, grease, or gear meshes
• Fewer bearings and fewer ingress paths

This architecture wasn’t chosen to be clever. It was chosen because washdown destroys complexity.

From day one, One Motion products were designed specifically for:

• Hygienic food manufacturing
• Daily sanitation cycles
• Long‑term uptime under washdown duty

That’s why IP69K sealing is not an option or upgrade for us. It’s the starting point.

Why We Track Complaints So Aggressively

There is a common temptation in reliability conversations to undercount issues.

We do the opposite.

At One Motion, every customer complaint is logged, whether or not a product is returned. If a customer calls something out, it goes into the system.

More importantly, complaints are classified by root cause:

• Design and Manufacturing equal true product‑caused issues
• Customer, Application, Shipping, and Commercial equal non‑product causes

This distinction matters. Not every reported issue is a product failure, and pretending otherwise helps no one.

What the Data Shows (2018–2026)

Over the last eight years:

• 1,962 total complaints have been logged
• Only 607 were product‑caused (design and manufacturing)
• The majority of reported issues were customer‑, application‑, or process‑related

Beginning in 2023, we saw an increase in complaints categorized as Unknown. This reflects changes in reporting discipline and investigation timing, not a sudden decline in product reliability.

The important point remains unchanged: Even with an intentionally conservative approach to logging issues, true product‑caused problems represent a minority of all complaints.

That matters, especially in washdown duty.

Warranty Is a Lagging Indicator of Confidence

Reliability claims are easy. Warranties are not.

Every One Motion product ships with an industry‑leading three‑year performance warranty.

In food manufacturing, where one year is often considered acceptable, this is a deliberate statement:

We design for multi‑year uptime in environments that are designed to destroy equipment.

Across our installed base, internal performance tracking shows an average MTBF of approximately five years in heavy washdown applications.

Five years. Under daily sanitation. With aggressive chemicals. In plants where downtime is expensive and unforgiving.

Why This Is a Step Change, Not an Incremental Improvement

This isn’t about being slightly better than traditional systems.

It’s about eliminating the failure mechanisms entirely:

• Remove oil and you remove contamination and seal failures
• Remove gearboxes and you remove wear and backlash
• Remove complexity and you remove washdown vulnerability

What remains is a drive system that:

• Is simpler to clean
• Is harder to kill
• Stays in service years longer than legacy designs

That difference compounds over time in uptime, maintenance labor, spare parts inventory, and overall equipment effectiveness.

The Takeaway

If reliability is measured in real food plants under real sanitation protocols, the bar is high.

Our field data, warranty posture, and observed MTBF all point to the same conclusion:

In IP69K washdown environments, where conventional systems are consumables, One Motion delivers multi‑year reliability by design.

This is not theory. It’s not marketing. It’s what happens when you engineer for the environment that actually matters.

Will Salley One Motion | Direct Drive Rotary Motion