July - AMMJ

Maintenance News
Effective collision avoidance technology from AIS
Growing productivity of mining sites results in significant
dependence on heavy vehicles and automated equipment in
open cut and underground mines. Drivers of those massive
vehicles struggle with limited visibility and especially in conditions
of heavy dust and smoke. This moving machinery poses a real
risk to life or damage through collisions.
TAVOR is one of our best safety solutions for mining sites.
Originally designed for military armoured vehicles, the system,
manufactured by Opgal (Israel), is based on thermal imaging
technology. It can be easily installed on heavy machinery and is
created to work reliably in harsh operating conditions including
strong shock and vibration, high temperature, rain and dust.
This cost-effective thermal imaging kit has powerful and
proprietary algorithms which enable driving in complete
darkness. It enables seeing through smoke, dust and dirt; antiblooming
mechanism prevents dazzle when pointed at high heat
sources. AIS (Applied Infrared Sensing) web-site:
www.applied-infrared.com.au
SKF knowledge to create leadership in maintenance
efficiency in Chinese heat and power generation
“I selected SKF in order to make the Jiaxing New Jies plant one
of the leaders and an industry standard in combined heating and
power (CHP) generation, regarding maintenance efficiency”.
This ambitious statement came from Mr. Ji Rong Lin, Executive
General Manager, whose plant, in the Zhejiang province
southwest of Shanghai, supplies approximately 112,000 KWh/
hour of electricity into the national electricity grid and 400 tons/
hour of steam for central heating to local community houses, as
well as to a hospital, a government building and many factories,
in a 15 km radius of the power plant.
Maintenance efficiency is a relatively young science in many
parts of the world and in many industries. China belongs to
a large number of countries where opportunity is high, and
ambition is high to reap the rewards that an experienced and
professional approach can bring.
Local Chinese companies active in maintenance services could
provide some of the support that Mr Ji envisaged, but he felt
there was more to be achieved. He wanted a partner that could
handle the management objectives from a single perspective with
regard to his total plant assets and a total advanced maintenance
approach, and not in a series of separate and uncoordinated
projects. In addition he wanted to engage a company using the
very latest maintenance practices, from which his own personnel
could learn, because part of his own business philosophy is
to develop into a knowledge-based company with continuous
improvement as a core activity.
His search brought him in contact with Dr. Liang Dong, Asset
Management Services Manager, SKF China, part of the worldwide
SKF Group. Dr Dong had presented at a maintenance conference
attended by one of Mr Ji’s senior managers. Impressed by the
‘total and modern approach’ described in the SKF presentation,
the manager set up a first meeting at the New Jies plant.
“Directly after our first meeting I knew SKF could provide what
we needed”, said Mr. Ji. “The scope of the proposal made by
Dr. Dong covered all my areas of concern, and even some that
were new to me. It was apparent that SKF had deep professional
experience how to enter an organisation like mine and transform
the entire maintenance philosophy from the traditional one,
where long-serving people were the knowledge sources, into
one where processes, new maintenance practices, benchmark
comparisons, well documented data, knowledge sharing etc
provide the basis for progress. Of course we have a good level
of traditional time-based maintenance operations, but I want
that level to be pushed continually higher! By working with SKF
my people will get exposure to proven and applied advanced
concepts and methodologies in the area of condition based
maintenance, root cause failure analysis and reliability centered
maintenance”.
The scope of the project involves the setting up of a fully
computerized Enterprise Asset Management system (EAM),
setting up data gathering methods and routines, training and
supporting the New Jies personnel in the use of the new system,
reviewing and updating the maintenance strategy to improve
work efficiency, defining damage and failure levels of all assets
- especially critical items - defining spare parts and inventory
needs, and developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
All machinery and equipment requiring maintenance, including
linear assets such as steam transmission piping, will be identified
and ‘tagged’ according to the Power Plant Industry standard
KKS coding, and entered into a new computerized maintenance
management system (CMMS). The electronic storing of data
and the coding structure allows faster and consistent access and
tracking of all maintainable plant assets and their maintenance
history, by any authorized personnel at the New Jies plant.
Compared to the current paper-based, manual system for storing
and retrieving data this will increase tremendously the speed
of maintenance operations and give much greater guarantee
of always having the latest information available on any asset
– which leads to better decision making regarding maintenance.
And, faster and more efficient maintenance decisions and
actions have a large and direct positive affect on the financial
performance of all manufacturing and process industries,
including Thermal Power.
The project is run with very close cooperation between the SKF
team and the New Jies maintenance team. Five SKF persons
are involved in the project and, on average, 2-3 SKF persons
are on-site every day. The close proximity of the SKF team and
the New Jies team maintains the pace of progress and allows all
questions and concerns to be immediately attended to. Weekly
project reports from SKF keep everyone updated, and documents
generated during the project are uploaded to a shared file server
at the plant, for further detailed inspection, discussion or action.
A monthly meeting covers all ‘progress against plan’ issues and
looks into any aspect where mutual discussion is needed to
decide the next steps.
The project is running on schedule and Mr Ji said; “I am very
happy with the progress so far. While it will take time before we
can assess the effect of the new maintenance approach, I am
convinced it will deliver everything we expect.
As well as the range of results Mr Ji expects for his company
in the short term he is looking ahead. His company plan to
install two more boilers and another turbo-generator set that will
increase annual capacity by 160 million KWh of electricity and
500,000 tons of steam, and allow more of the local community to
utilize the power plant output.
“I am very keen to complete this maintenance project and
see my people applying the new systems, methodologies and
knowledge. That will deliver our short term goals but also put
us in an excellent position to more efficiently operate the plant
after our planned capacity expansion. By the time the added
capacity is available everything will be in place, my people will be
experienced and the whole transition to the larger maintenance
demands will be offset by the increased level of professionalism
and efficiency that my team will have built up. We will make even
bigger nett savings due to their ability to apply the new approach
to an increased output.
www.skf.com
Vol 24 No 3