Schaeffler’s certified service partner Faber Industrietechnik recommended their OPTIME Condition Monitoring (CM) solution. More than 5,000 sensors now monitor process-critical machines in all the customer’s European plants. In approximately two years, OPTIME CM has detected more than 500 critical faults and has provided numerous early warnings. In this time, a total of 180 unplanned downtimes (360 hours) have been avoided.
Challenge
The customer produces several million beverage cans a day at one of its plants in Germany. Depending on requirements, up to 20 process steps may be required to manufacture the beverage cans from aluminium coils. Process-critical machines such as the deep-drawing (cupping) machine, body maker, printing machine and auxiliary units such as motors, fans and pumps are heavily stressed in the process. The machines operate in shifts around the clock seven days a 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 or grid. Keeping an eye on numerous drives also poses new challenges every day for the maintenance team.
In order not to jeopardise the operational processes and to avoid unplanned downtime, the company relied on regular manual measurements, which were performed by Faber Industrietechnik until 2020. If a machine fails unexpectedly, part of the production facility has to be stopped. This incurs extremely high costs in terms of personnel, material and scrap. Manual measurements are no longer sufficient for reliable planning. The customer needed a European-based solution that could be expanded to all world-wide locations for can and lid manufacturing.
Solution
What started as 50 OPTIME CM sensors installed in the first plant has turned into more than 5,000 sensors installed across several European plants by September 2023. Initially, only a few machines were monitored using OPTIME CM. After the initial successes, the solution was expanded to other European plants. In addition, lubrication monitoring using the Schaeffler OPTIME C1 is also used in some of the customer’s plants.
Case 1 – Plant in southern Germany: 24 hours of unplanned downtime avoided
In a plant in Germany, auxiliary units such as main drives, pumps, gearboxes and fans on critical machines have been monitored with OPTIME CM since May 2021. Around six months after installation, several faults were displayed on the dashboard. Among these were, for example, bearing damage on the main drive motor of the exhaust air treatment unit, pump defects in the wet system, and various faults on other machines.
Damage detected on an exhaust air motor
Shortly after the OPTIME sensors were installed, motor damage was detected. The maintenance team confirmed this. When the motor was inspected during a planned replacement, the bearing was found to be damaged due to passage of electrical current. Without OPTIME CM, the defect would not have been detected until much later. High consequential costs were therefore avoided.
Case 2 – Plant in eastern Germany: 31 hours of unplanned downtime avoided
In another plant in Germany, critical auxiliary units such as motors, gearboxes, fans, pumps and drives, as well as air extraction, air supply and air recirculation fans on all machines (i.e. the pin oven, decorator, body maker, and more) have been monitored with OPTIME CM since February 2022. From February 2023, the OPTIME C1 lubricator has been used primarily to supply pin ovens and exhaust fans with the necessary amount of grease.
Numerous faults have been detected at an early stage and several cases of unplanned downtime have been avoided. Here is an example:
Alarm on decorator 2
Two weeks before the main alarm limit was exceeded in April 2023, a slight rise in the ISO value on the guide roller on the decorator was seen on the dashboard display. The maintenance team confirmed that a defective bearing was the cause of this. The bearing was replaced as planned. This saved 7 hours and cost savings were in the 5-digit range. After the bearing was replaced, the machine ran as normal without further problems.
Successful project
Thanks to the close cooperation between Faber and Schaeffler, the can manufacturer was completely satisfied with the CM solution. Through Faber, OPTIME CM was made available to all countries and provided installation support in Germany, with Schaeffler supporting across Europe with the installation. Plans to extend the monitoring solution are underway.
