Incorporating an advanced maintenance strategy improves equipment reliability and reduces cement plant costs

Deployment of a proactive maintenance approach and predictive maintenance technology with existing preventive and corrective maintenance actions has improved reliability of assets and stabilized maintenance costs at a 58 year old cement production facility. This advanced maintenance strategy with identification of a “bad actors list” was adopted for crucial cement plant clinker burning and milling operations to reduce failure rates and increase equipment production time. The “Bad Actors List” led the plant to a more pronounced reliability centered predictive maintenance program enabled through the computerized maintenance management system. The new program has quality results attached to the PM's along with measurable results to track failure rates and to predict corrective actions for the equipment health. Failure rates associated with the key performance indicators in the kiln, raw mill and finish mill operations have trended lower with each successive year of advanced maintenance strategy implementation. Equipment reliability remains improved even with budgetary changes associated with a recessed economy. This adoption of a proactive maintenance approach with predictive maintenance technologies led to a decreasing failure rate of all bearing types utilized throughout the plant. The average dollar savings in replacement bearing costs from 2006 through 2009, using 2005 as a baseline year, has been $96,000 per year.