Planned servicing is a vital component at Kemira Chemicals

Phil Black - PII Editor 10/10/2017

175 1 minute read

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Kemira Chemicals in Bradford is part of a global chemicals company renowned for a wide range of different products for the water treatment industries.

In Bradford, up to 230 tonnes of dried polyacrylamide is manufactured and packaged daily and then sold across the world to companies in the water treatment, paper and pulp, mining and oil recovery industries.

Some years ago, Production Managers at Kemira Chemicals took the decision to work with single suppliers of ancillary equipment used throughout the manufacturing process. Rotary valves came under the spotlight.

Up to this point Kemira Chemicals used rotary valves from three manufacturers. Keeping spares, manuals and servicing complicated an otherwise smooth-running operation. Meetings with suppliers took place and the decision was taken to work with DMN Westinghouse.

Today, there are over sixty DMN Westinghouse 200mm and 250mm rotary valves together with some 175mm and 300mm versions throughout the factory with around twenty more held in stores.

However, what has really helped to confirm that the decision to work with one supplier was the right decision is the DMN Westinghouse Servicing Plan.

The production area at Kemira Chemicals consists of four sections. Every six months, one section is shut down for three days for general maintenance.

During this three day period, two engineers from DMN Westinghouse strip, clean and replace any damaged or worn components in every valve in the section. This means that every valve in the factory is maintained every two years.

Dave McDonald is the Maintenance Manager at Kemira Chemicals says: “Since the introduction of the DMN Westinghouse Service Plan, downtime has been drastically reduced to the point where if there is a problem it rarely involves a rotary valve.”

For more information please contact Bob Rogers on 01249 818401 or E-mail b.rogers@dmnuk.com

www.dmnwestinghouse.com