Evaluating the situation
Although another supplier had built the smelter plant just six months before, the customer was already having problems with plant availability. Language issues and a lack of suitable training aids and detailed knowledge meant that operator and maintenance training was deficient.
The customer also lacked the relevant manuals and information on maintenance procedures. When it came to spare parts, they had only been provided with a list of plant consumables without any details. This meant there was great potential to improve plant availability from its current level of 67%.
The customer wanted us to achieve a 10 to 20% increase in plant reliability in a short timeframe. Our review confirmed that there were several areas for improvement – lubrication was poor and the plant had not implemented preventive maintenance procedures. Spares management was causing delays and there were maintenance induced errors caused by lack of tradesman knowledge.
A comprehensive asset management solution
The customized solution was designed from the following Outotec services: Equipment Inspections, Maintenance Strategy and Program, and Preventative Maintenance.
During the ten-week project, we created hundreds of supporting documents for the customer’s computer maintenance management system CMMS. These included preventive maintenance plans for electrical, mechanical, and instrumentation equipment, work instructions for repairing every piece of equipment, lubrication plans, and condition monitoring plans.
Condition monitoring routes and tasks were also created, as well as a bill of materials for each repair task. We also provided practical support for project management and helped with resource leveling. Weekly progress meetings improved documentation and helped the customer reduce their existing work backlog.
In our experience, organizations take several years to create documentation, improve ways of working, and adopt preventative maintenance practices. With our asset management solution, the customer was well on their way toward their reliability target in only ten weeks.
