Up Time Magazine - February/March 2009 - (Page 52) they are today without an effective predictive maintenance and reliability strategy. It’s paramount to providing consumers with a high quality product that is well priced and profitably manufactured. Anheuser-Busch began investigating Predictive Technologies in 2000. They had a vision of their ultimate goal, but recognized there would be hurdles along the way. Their decision to implement ultrasound inspection was based on the immediate return on investment through reduction of compressed air and CO2 leaks (no one likes flat beer), and improvement of their steam processes through the identification of faulty steam traps and leaks. The driving force was the immediate cost savings through the reduction in air loss because of leaks and misuse. Where does a company start when developing a long-term program? The first step was to develop policies, best practices and standard operating procedures. “You must remove the option of performing Ultrasonic Inspections” recounts Dan Durbin, corporate engineer and the man charged with piloting this project. A policy was written which required Ultrasonic Inspections to be conducted. Best Practices and Standard Operating Procedures were written to support the policy. Procedures included “how to implement an ultrasonic program”, “how to conduct a scan”, and “how to use the equipment.” Anheuser-Busch leaned heavily on their ultrasound vendor to implement their program. An in-house Computer Based Training (CBT) module was developed for the large number of operators that had to be trained. Its focus was to provide the training necessary to identify and quantify air, steam, and CO2 leaks. A cost calculations spread sheet was developed so that each plant manager could select their Brewery and fill in the decibel readings to determine the potential savings from repairing the leak. Two major hurdles that threatened the project were costing, and getting buy-in at the brewery level, especially since this was a corporate down initiative. The initial problem was that the utilities budget paid for the production of compressed air and the purchase of CO2, but wasn’t the major user. Utilities used only a small portion of the air; mostly for instrumentation. Packaging was the majority user, mostly for moving and drying product, and Brewing was the major CO2 user. Deciding on budget allocation to get the program off the ground was a big hurdle, but Durbin negotiated to reach an accord. The second challenge was to get buy-in at the brewery level. This issue was familiar; “Corporate Interference” in Brewery operations. It’s also called the “not invented here” syndrome, yet getting upper level Brewery management to buy-in was essential. So a presentation was made showing potential savings from reducing air and CO2 loss and improving the steam system. Then a Quarterly Scorecard was implemented to ensure compliance to Corporate Initiatives. Dan Durbin recounts how this program came together, “Once the Corporate program was established, we cross-seeded the program in phases. The first step was to build a baseline for air use to be able to track improvement. Next we added the requirement for Reliability Managers to go through the CBT for Ultrasonic Analysis. This built a base knowledge of Ultrasonic techniques in the audience responsible for equipment reliability. Next, we added the requirement for the Predictive Maintenance Plans to be developed in SAP. Last, we established a specific number of scans be conducted during a quarter.” Training and Certification in MACHINERY VIBRATION ANALYSIS and MONITORING Syria, Virginia, April 21-24, 2009 New Orleans, Louisiana, August 11-14, 2009 Boston/Peabody, Massachusetts, November 3-6, 2009 INTRODUCTION TO MACHINERY VIBRATIONS MACHINERY VIBRATION ANALYSIS Tempe, Arizona, February 24-27, 2009 Houston, Texas, May 19-22, 2009 New Orleans, Lousiana, August 11-24, 2009 Knoxville, Tennessee, September 28-October 1, 2009 Willowbrook, Illinois, December 8-11, 2009 Tempe, Arizona, February 24-27, 2009 Houston, Texas, May 19-22, 2009 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 23-26, 2009 Knoxville, Tennessee, September 28-October 1, 2009 Willowbrook, Illinois, December 8-11, 2009 BASIC MACHINERY VIBRATIONS ADVANCED VIBRATION ANALYSIS Syria, Virginia, April 21-24, 2009 ADVANCED VIBRATION CONTROL New Orleans, Louisiana, August 11-14, 2009 BALANCING OF ROTATING MACHINERY Boston/Peabody, Massachusetts, November 3-6, 2009 Call, Fax or Email the Institute for Complete Information or Visit Our Web Site: http://www.vibinst.org THE VIBRATION INSTITUTE 6262 South Kingery Highway, Suite 212 Willowbrook, Illinois 60527 Telephone: (630)654-2254 Fax: (630)654-2271 Email: vibinst@att.net february/march 2009 52 24 http://www.vibinst.org http://www.vibinst.org
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