91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ

In manufacturing, the financial cost of downtime can be significant. With sufficient demand for products, plants often run 24 hours, seven days a week to satisfy production and financial goals. Austin Powder produces industrial explosives and services customers in the quarrying, mining, construction, and oil and gas industries worldwide.  When the company began experiencing disruptions at its facility in southeast Ohio, it required a partner to help identify issues and create long-term solutions.  Austin Powder partnered with 91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ’s Site Management team, which immediately began collecting and reviewing documents, analyzing equipment, interviewing on-site personnel, and reviewing control network alerts.

91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ’s identified problem areas and worked with Austin Powder to develop a plan to meet budget requirements, operating conditions and schedule. A master scheduled was developed and implemented over a 12-week period. It included performing daily equipment maintenance, tracking key performance indicators, and documenting completed tasks.

Given the sensitive nature of the operations, the 91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ team was challenged to carefully coordinate and plan work around production activities to ensure safety requirements were met at all times.  The team spent time reviewing owner manuals for all equipment, creating process flow procedures, troubleshooting the electrical system, and correcting steam and condensate system issues.  A new system for future ordering of equipment and parts also was implemented.

Once the facility began to reduce downtime, 91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ developed a process equipment predictive maintenance program to address interruptions.

The initial schedule for completion of all recommendations was one year.  Due to the combined efforts and success of the Austin Powder-91ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ partnership, the full program was completed in less than six months.