Customer Success Story
All Machines in View at All Times on a Dashboard
“Hiss” – for some people, the sound a beverage can makes when it’s opened is music to their ears
At a well-known global can manufacturer, several million sustainable beverage cans are produced per hour in Europe. The bodymaker, the pin oven, and other machines are heavily stressed in the process. To avoid unplanned machine downtime, the can manufacturer was looking for a condition monitoring solution that was above all one thing: easy to operate. Also, there had to be an easy way for the maintenance team to keep an eye on all the machines. Schaeffler’s certified service partner Faber Industrietechnik recommended the digital OPTIME Condition Monitoring solution. More than 5000 sensors monitor process-critical machines in all European plants of the customer. And they are successful: in a period of around two years, more than 500 critical faults have been detected and numerous early warnings have been given. Plans to extend the monitoring solution are underway.
Result: 180 unplanned downtimes avoided, or in equivalent hours: 360
Challenge
The can manufacturer produces several million beverage cans a day in one of its German plants. Depending on the requirements, up to 20 process steps can be required to manufacture the popular beverage cans from the aluminum coils.
Process-critical machines such as the deep-drawing (cupping) machine, the bodymaker, and the printing machine and auxiliary units such as motors, fans, and pumps are heavily stressed in the process. The machines are operated in shifts around the clock every day of the week
It is not possible for impending damage on machines to be “heard” because it is a “loud” process. In addition, the machines are sometimes difficult to reach.For safety reasons, some machines are protected behind a protective guard (grid). Keeping an eye on the many drives also poses new challenges every day for the maintenance team.
In order not to jeopardize the operational processes and to avoid unplanned downtimes, the company relied on regular manual measurements, which were performed by Faber Industrietechnik, until 2020. But these measurements no longer reflect the spirit of the times.
The Global Director Plant of the Future, summarizes the situation as follows:
Solution
24 hours of unplanned downtime avoided
Case 1 – Plant in southern Germany
Damage detected on exhaust air motor
Shortly after the OPTIME sensors were installed, motor damage was detected. The maintenance team confirmed this. The motor was examined during a planned replacement activity. The bearing was found to be damaged due to current passage. Without OPTIME CM, the defect would not have been detected until much later. High consequential costs were thus avoided.
