The need for proper equipment maintenance is one of the constants of the cement industry. Without proper service, production volume and efficiency fall off and operating costs escalate. But maintenance is frequently a paradox: as demand increases, opportunities to perform the necessary maintenance become limited because plant staff is too busy producing the product and troubleshooting to devote time to prevent these problems.

But at Holnam's Mason City, Iowa plant, the maintenance service offered is helping keep production up and maintenance costs down, according to plant personnel.

Problems and opportunities The Mason City plant opened in 1906, when it was called the Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. In 1990, it became one of Holnam's 13 U.S. plants. Presently, the plant has nearly 150 employees and produces more than 1 million tpy of cement in the plant's two kilns. To move that amount of material through the plant cleanly and efficiently is a continuing challenge.

"This is a big plant, at least geographically," said Ron Hill, utilities supervisor for the Mason City plant. "Equipment is physically spread out, and so there are lots of belts carrying material from place to place. We need to keep these conveyors as efficient and clean as possible, so the plant can meet its production goals."

But the problem for any plant comes in stretching limited resources to cover all the required maintenance tasks. "It's these routine, recurring tasks that can make an important difference in the efficiency of an operation over time," added Hill. "But frequently, the plant does not get them all done."

Consequently, routine duties like inspecting the conveyors and adjusting the belt cleaners get neglected. "That kind of job was just beyond our capabilities, without adding people," Hill said. "The production department is not staffed to do this kind of work. And the work order backlog for the maintenance department is just too long. Therefore, the routine chores do not get done, because some 'crisis' or 'hot project' will be given a higher priority."

Hill emphasized how important seeing the equipment working properly is to plant employees' attitude toward a particular piece of equipment. "When the employees see the equipment is working and being serviced, they know its success is important to the overall plant operation," he said. "But if it isn't maintained, eventually the performance falls off. Then the attitude in the plant-any plant-becomes 'Why should I bother to maintain it? It doesn't work anyhow.' Of course, then the maintenance requirements of the equipment are ignored, and its performance falls off even more."

So the challenge for the plant operations and maintenance managers becomes how to find the resources (time, manpower, and funds) to maintain equipment. This must be done to keep system performance high and avoid this downward spiral of self-fulfilling, low-performance expectations.

Maintenance service technician One of the things Holnam's Mason City facility did to improve its conveyor operations and maintenance was to bring in a maintenance service technician from Martin Engineering. Through its service technician program, Martin Engineering offers solutions to keep conveyors running, thus allowing in-plant maintenance and operations staff to focus on other projects. The service technicians visit a contracting plant on a regular basis and "take ownership" of the plant's conveyors, inspecting their operation, adjusting cleaners and other components, and acting as a conveyor consultant to improve material handling in a plant.

Although the Holnam Mason City operation has several types of Martin Engineering equipment installed, "It's the service technician program that has made the greatest difference in plant operations," said Mike Moorehead, materials supervisor for the plant. "We've had the program in place for about seven years now, and it's been a big bonus for us."

"The key to success is timely maintenance of the equipment," added Hill. "With the program, belt cleaners stay adjusted and have fresh blades installed as they are needed, and not just when we 'get around to it.' And that means our conveyors run cleaner and more efficiently."

Phil Wates, the service technician serving the Mason City plant, spends two days every other week at the Holnam facility. "When I first get to the plant for a service visit," said Wates, "I first check in with the department supervisors. We go over what's new and where they have been having problems. On every trip, I walk every conveyor in the plant."

During this walking inspection of the plant's conveyors, Wates performs any required maintenance on all Martin Engineering production installed in the plant. "There is at least one belt cleaner installed on every main conveyor in the plant," Wates pointed out. "Some conveyors have both a pre-cleaner and a secondary cleaner. I check these cleaners, adjusting the cleaning pressure and changing the blades as needed. I back each cleaner away from the belt for a visual inspection, and then re-tension it to the proper cleaning pressure.

"During my inspection, I also check V-plows, the sealing systems at transfer points, and conveyor belt tracking. I also make sure the air cannons on the material hoppers are working."

Because the plant has a continuing contract with the service technician, plant personnel can call on him whenever there's a problem. "When we've had a problem that could shut us down, he's been here in a hurry," said Moorehead. "We've called him in the morning, and he was right there that afternoon from 300 miles away. We called on a Sunday, and he came right up."

To make certain he always has the correct parts for the more than 50 belt cleaners and other equipment in the plant, Wates maintains two large lock boxes full of inventory in the plant. These contain replacement belt cleaner blades in widths from 24 to 48 in. to match the equipment installed in the plant; replacement blades for modular cleaners and V-plows; and other typical parts like quick exhaust valves for air cannon systems. This equipment is on consignment to the service technician, and the plant pays nothing until a piece of equipment is installed.

The Mason City plant personnel have keys to these storage systems in case there is an emergency where a cleaning system needs to be replaced immediately.

Like visits from a conveyor consultant Because he is there every alternate week, depending on workload and required service, the service technician is more like a full-time employee than a contractor. "It's really better than having a full-time employee," said Hill. "It's like having a regular visit from a conveyor consultant. Phil has spotted problems before we would have noticed. He'll tell us about a problem, like a bad splice or a seized idler, even if its not related to Martin Engineering equipment."

Moorehead gives an example: "We had a hard time keeping an effective cleaner on the #203 clay belt-a narrow belt with a mechanical splice that carries a wet, sticky material. The service technician put a different type of belt cleaner-an SAF-2 with the tungsten carbide tips-on that conveyor. This cleaner works very well with the material and the conveyor. Because the individual blades are only 2 in. wide, they can take the impact of the mechanical splice and bounce right back into position. In short, we're getting better cleaning and longer blade life because the service technician understood the plant and the problem."

Payback In a business where every expense is scrutinized and must be justified, the use of the outside service contractor is valuable for Holnam's operation. Despite the benefit Mason City plant officials see in the use of the service technician, creating a formal analysis and justification is hard to do. "We don't devote the resources to keeping track of payback," explained Hill. "For example, we don't track manhours for housekeeping chores, but we know the service technician program is working; it's really a no-brainer.

"We used to devote a certain number of people to cleanup; I know that we would spend a couple of days every week just digging out the transfer towers. Now we've been able to send those people to other projects. What the service technician does is important to us. My people will tell you the same. They know the value of effective belt cleaning. When something goes wrong and a system is not working, they'll let me know right away.

"The program does better than pay for itself through reduced maintenance. The service costs money, but it's well worth what we spend."

It's a given at any operation that there will be problems, setbacks, and things that go wrong with any piece of equipment. "The key is to see what is done to correct it," said Mark Scheetz, Mason City production superintendent. "The service technicians have always worked to correct any problems and stayed with it until it's straightened out. They do what they say they're going to do and they bill what they say they are going to bill. That's good enough for me."