Maintenance data collection and utilisation in the process industry

To those on an operations level in the capital-intensive process industry, e.g. in pulp and paper production, the pressure is on to get most return from the assets employed. Cash flow and returns on assets are indicators of a company's performance, and this translates into a requirement for maximum uptime of the machinery. Some means to increase the efficiency even without major investments are the introduction of new maintenance concepts, e.g. TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) [1] and systematic reliability programs [2]. Also, the machinery manufacturers meet stricter demands on equipment reliability and maintainability and the prospective users have begun to demand convincing reliability specifications and guarantees. All these trends require detailed and reliable information on failures and maintenance actions. The paper describes a new Internet-based maintenance data collection application (MDCA) and its utilisation for better maintenance planning. The MDCA was developed by Andritz Wood Processing and VTT in Finland, and tested at a woodyard of an American paper mill. The application provides both the mills and the machinery manufacturers device-based classified data, and better tools to improve the equipment's reliability and the efficiency of the production systems.