Can Proactive Maintenance Save Your System and Your Pocketbook?
All too often, an operation’s idea of maintenance can be referred to as being “reactive.” Something breaks and you react to fix it so that you’re limiting downtime for your conveyor. Oftentimes, these fixes end up being temporary because there is no time to identify the real problem and come up with a long-term solution. So the equipment keeps breaking and the operation keeps shutting down for unexpected periods of time.
How do you avoid these instances? It’s not like you can anticipate what equipment is going to go down at what time. Or can you? Taking a more proactive approach to your conveyor maintenance could serve as your “crystal ball” when it comes to the future of your system. If you periodically assess your system, you can detect potential problems before they lead to costly repairs and unscheduled downtime. Bringing in a third party who can assess your belt conveyor system and provide you with the feedback you need could add years to your equipment and keep money in your pocket.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 1:
Assessors should be knowledgeable experts with strong technical skills
and years of hands-on training with belt conveyor systems and components
Safety first
There are a lot of reasons to have someone come in and assess your operation. A fresh set of eyes looking at your system from an outside view is key, especially since resources have been reduced at many operations. Plus, owners and operators that are around the conveyors every day may not notice the slight changes in the system, whereas an assessor can identify issues that may not be obvious. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, they can help you address the issues proactively, saving time and money in unscheduled downtime.
Safety issues are a major concern when it comes to assessments. In many industries the issue of carryback is a “slip and fall” hazard, threatening the safety of workers. In the coal industry, however, the threat to worker safety is even greater since coal carryback is a combustible material that builds up around the conveyor. Couple that with a belt rubbing up against the structure and you are at risk for a fire. A proper assessment can recognize issues like these before they become problems.
While the safety of workers is most important, the violations a plant can accumulate after a visit from an inspector because of unsafe conditions can also affect your productivity. Fines can be imposed for those unsafe conditions, and if an employee is seriously injured, the plant can even be shut down.
Spending money to save money
One of the most important reasons you should assess your system actually involves the health of your bottomline. CEMA (Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association) estimates that 1-year maintenance costs for a belt conveyor is 5% of the purchase cost of the belt and 2% of the purchase cost of the structure and equipment. Add to that the cost of downtime and lost production, and you have a very good reason to assess your system.
If nothing else, an assessment can help keep your equipment running longer. Simple maintenance tasks that may have gone unnoticed can be identified and addressed by your team, or components can be replaced that will make your equipment run more efficiently. Consistent service will ensure peak performance of your products, reduce unnecessary wear, prevent damage, and extend component life.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 2:
Fastener-cleaner compatibility is just one of the things an assessor
should be observing when looking at your system in a holistic manner
Secrets to a successful assessment
While each coal operation is different, the elements of a good belt conveyor assessment are the same, with the underlying goal to evaluate the entire system. While each product in a conveyor system is a separate component, the entire system should be evaluated to ensure that everything is compatible. For example, if your fasteners and belt cleaners aren’t compatible or your system isn’t center loading, you could have a serious problem.
Focusing on system solutions, as opposed to simply focusing on replacing specific products, is also key to a good conveyor assessment. Whoever walks the belt conveyor line needs to identify all of the issues they find, not simply the issues that they can fix with a product or service. Regardless, these fixes should still be noted, and a course of action suggested.
A coal-loading operation in the U.S. thought they simply had a problem with mistracking, when the real problem involved the weakening of the conveyor structure. This was pointed out during the assessment and an engineer was contacted for advice. The result was an adjustment to the structure, which centered the load and minimized spillage.
The point of an assessment is not to simply identify problems, but to identify the root cause of those problems. Simply telling an operation that the belt is dirty and suggesting a product to “fix” the problem is not a best practice when it comes to assessments. An assessor should tell you why it is happening and why the solution he/she is suggesting will work for you.
Your maintenance team should constantly be assessing your system, but there is no substitution for having a third party share tips, tricks, and best practices. Sometimes that assessor can even save you money when providing the solution. When a mining company supervisor recently asked for an assessor to come out and look at their system because of mistracking that was causing spillage on the catwalk, they also asked for pricing on a trainer. After assessing the conveyor, the third-party assessor instead suggested installing a belt positioner – a far less expensive solution to their problem. The positioner did its job and the operation hasn’t had any spillage since the install.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 3:
An assessor may suggest that you check the tension
on your cleaners for optimal performance
Get the facts from your third-party assessor
Make sure that the person who assesses your system is knowledgeable, with strong technical skills and years of hands-on training with belt conveyor systems and components. It’s ok to ask for their background and what they have done for other companies they have visited.
Upon completion of the assessment, problems that may immediately pose risks to your crew or equipment should be identified. The assessor should also record his/her findings and return to your operation with a complete presentation on the system, identifying immediate needs and suggested future fixes.
Look for an assessor that provides you with a complete report on the findings, identifying the issues and the importance of fixing each issue. The assessor should point out which fixes are immediate and which fixes are recommended for the future so that you can develop a timeline for these adjustments.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 4:
When you perform a belt conveyor assessment, issues like mistracking
can be identified and fixed with products like this Flexco Belt Positioner
The top assessment findings
While damaged components and safety issues are always big concerns, the top four issues identified in a belt conveyor assessment are carryback, spillage, mistracking, and slippage. These issues may seem like simple things that should be noticed by your crew, but this isn’t always the case.
You and your crew look at your conveyors every day and while the big issues may stand out, workers often get used to the rest of the everyday issues. You may think that a pile of debris sitting under your conveyor is common, when the reality is that the right adjustment or equipment could drastically decrease or eliminate that problem.
Carryback, for example, is one of the main maintenance problems in the coal industry. It is also a major contributor to the cost of maintaining the belt conveyor. CEMA conservatively estimates carryback to be as high as three tons per week, given a 1500 mm wide belt traveling at 240 m/min. Over the course of a full year, this is over 150 tons of material for one belt. If carryback on a conveyor can be reduced from 3% to 1%, it can result in a 67% reduction in conveyor maintenance costs. Carryback is just one of the maintenance issues that an assessor would evaluate when analyzing your system.
Another common problem that can be found is when drive rollers begin to slip and operators either “crank up” the hydraulic take-up or apply more weight to the gravity style take-up. This problem can affect the whole conveyor system. That’s because the bearings now have to tolerate more of a load, which causes premature failures. The motors also work harder, which not only raises electric bills, but can also cause tracking issues and shorten the life of both mechanical and vulcanized splices. An assessor can recognize worn lagging on a drive roller and fix this issue before it applies unnecessary stress to the system.
Some other common issues found during assessments include seized and worn idlers, unguarded equipment, and blocked transfers areas. Luckily, solutions are available for these issues and crisis can be averted if they are identified before becoming major problems.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 5:
Fixing a problem with carryback may be as simple as
adjusting the tension on your cleaners
(Photos: Flexco Europe GmbH)
The single most important part of an assessment
The one commitment you have to make when deciding to perform an assessment doesn’t involve scheduling the time for someone to come out to your plant or having someone available to walk the assessor around your plant during the assessment. The most important part of the assessment is actually addressing the issues. If you don’t follow through with an assessment, the effort you made to be proactive and ensure that your operation will run smoothly all comes down to a worthless piece of paper.
Assessments should be performed at least once a year, and a true assessment cannot be performed without all of the belt conveyors running. Part of an assessment, after all, is ensuring that all of your components are compatible, and that compatibility can’t be reviewed unless the assessor sees the parts interacting with each other. Following through with the assessment results also involves finding local experts available to implement and maintain these systems and solutions.
Inspecting and performing maintenance on all of your conveyor system components should be part of an overall maintenance plan, and an assessment is a large part of that plan. The amount of effort you put into proactive maintenance will decrease the amount of unexpected downtime, help keep your workers safe, and help your operation run more efficiently.
About the Company
Flexible Steel Lacing Company (FLEXCO), headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois in the USA, is the leading international specialist for mechanical conveyor belt fastener systems, belt cleaners, belt positioners, impact beds and pulley lagging for light- and heavy-duty applications. With the company's innovative solutions, endusers can substantially reduce downtime and increase productivity. FLEXCO Europe GmbH is the German subsidiary of FLEXCO, and is headquartered in Rosenfeld, where the company currently has 60 employees.
Conveyor Maintenance
Conveyor Maintenance
Can Proactive Maintenance Save Your System and Your Pocketbook?
All too often, an operation’s idea of maintenance can be referred to as being “reactive.” Something breaks and you react to fix it so that you’re limiting downtime for your conveyor. Oftentimes, these fixes end up being temporary because there is no time to identify the real problem and come up with a long-term solution. So the equipment keeps breaking and the operation keeps shutting down for unexpected periods of time.
How do you avoid these instances? It’s not like you can anticipate what equipment is going to go down at what time. Or can you? Taking a more proactive approach to your conveyor maintenance could serve as your “crystal ball” when it comes to the future of your system. If you periodically assess your system, you can detect potential problems before they lead to costly repairs and unscheduled downtime. Bringing in a third party who can assess your belt conveyor system and provide you with the feedback you need could add years to your equipment and keep money in your pocket.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 1:
Assessors should be knowledgeable experts with strong technical skills
and years of hands-on training with belt conveyor systems and components
Safety first
There are a lot of reasons to have someone come in and assess your operation. A fresh set of eyes looking at your system from an outside view is key, especially since resources have been reduced at many operations. Plus, owners and operators that are around the conveyors every day may not notice the slight changes in the system, whereas an assessor can identify issues that may not be obvious. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, they can help you address the issues proactively, saving time and money in unscheduled downtime.
Safety issues are a major concern when it comes to assessments. In many industries the issue of carryback is a “slip and fall” hazard, threatening the safety of workers. In the coal industry, however, the threat to worker safety is even greater since coal carryback is a combustible material that builds up around the conveyor. Couple that with a belt rubbing up against the structure and you are at risk for a fire. A proper assessment can recognize issues like these before they become problems.
While the safety of workers is most important, the violations a plant can accumulate after a visit from an inspector because of unsafe conditions can also affect your productivity. Fines can be imposed for those unsafe conditions, and if an employee is seriously injured, the plant can even be shut down.
Spending money to save money
One of the most important reasons you should assess your system actually involves the health of your bottomline. CEMA (Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association) estimates that 1-year maintenance costs for a belt conveyor is 5% of the purchase cost of the belt and 2% of the purchase cost of the structure and equipment. Add to that the cost of downtime and lost production, and you have a very good reason to assess your system.
If nothing else, an assessment can help keep your equipment running longer. Simple maintenance tasks that may have gone unnoticed can be identified and addressed by your team, or components can be replaced that will make your equipment run more efficiently. Consistent service will ensure peak performance of your products, reduce unnecessary wear, prevent damage, and extend component life.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 2:
Fastener-cleaner compatibility is just one of the things an assessor
should be observing when looking at your system in a holistic manner
Secrets to a successful assessment
While each coal operation is different, the elements of a good belt conveyor assessment are the same, with the underlying goal to evaluate the entire system. While each product in a conveyor system is a separate component, the entire system should be evaluated to ensure that everything is compatible. For example, if your fasteners and belt cleaners aren’t compatible or your system isn’t center loading, you could have a serious problem.
Focusing on system solutions, as opposed to simply focusing on replacing specific products, is also key to a good conveyor assessment. Whoever walks the belt conveyor line needs to identify all of the issues they find, not simply the issues that they can fix with a product or service. Regardless, these fixes should still be noted, and a course of action suggested.
A coal-loading operation in the U.S. thought they simply had a problem with mistracking, when the real problem involved the weakening of the conveyor structure. This was pointed out during the assessment and an engineer was contacted for advice. The result was an adjustment to the structure, which centered the load and minimized spillage.
The point of an assessment is not to simply identify problems, but to identify the root cause of those problems. Simply telling an operation that the belt is dirty and suggesting a product to “fix” the problem is not a best practice when it comes to assessments. An assessor should tell you why it is happening and why the solution he/she is suggesting will work for you.
Your maintenance team should constantly be assessing your system, but there is no substitution for having a third party share tips, tricks, and best practices. Sometimes that assessor can even save you money when providing the solution. When a mining company supervisor recently asked for an assessor to come out and look at their system because of mistracking that was causing spillage on the catwalk, they also asked for pricing on a trainer. After assessing the conveyor, the third-party assessor instead suggested installing a belt positioner – a far less expensive solution to their problem. The positioner did its job and the operation hasn’t had any spillage since the install.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 3:
An assessor may suggest that you check the tension
on your cleaners for optimal performance
Get the facts from your third-party assessor
Make sure that the person who assesses your system is knowledgeable, with strong technical skills and years of hands-on training with belt conveyor systems and components. It’s ok to ask for their background and what they have done for other companies they have visited.
Upon completion of the assessment, problems that may immediately pose risks to your crew or equipment should be identified. The assessor should also record his/her findings and return to your operation with a complete presentation on the system, identifying immediate needs and suggested future fixes.
Look for an assessor that provides you with a complete report on the findings, identifying the issues and the importance of fixing each issue. The assessor should point out which fixes are immediate and which fixes are recommended for the future so that you can develop a timeline for these adjustments.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 4:
When you perform a belt conveyor assessment, issues like mistracking
can be identified and fixed with products like this Flexco Belt Positioner
The top assessment findings
While damaged components and safety issues are always big concerns, the top four issues identified in a belt conveyor assessment are carryback, spillage, mistracking, and slippage. These issues may seem like simple things that should be noticed by your crew, but this isn’t always the case.
You and your crew look at your conveyors every day and while the big issues may stand out, workers often get used to the rest of the everyday issues. You may think that a pile of debris sitting under your conveyor is common, when the reality is that the right adjustment or equipment could drastically decrease or eliminate that problem.
Carryback, for example, is one of the main maintenance problems in the coal industry. It is also a major contributor to the cost of maintaining the belt conveyor. CEMA conservatively estimates carryback to be as high as three tons per week, given a 1500 mm wide belt traveling at 240 m/min. Over the course of a full year, this is over 150 tons of material for one belt. If carryback on a conveyor can be reduced from 3% to 1%, it can result in a 67% reduction in conveyor maintenance costs. Carryback is just one of the maintenance issues that an assessor would evaluate when analyzing your system.
Another common problem that can be found is when drive rollers begin to slip and operators either “crank up” the hydraulic take-up or apply more weight to the gravity style take-up. This problem can affect the whole conveyor system. That’s because the bearings now have to tolerate more of a load, which causes premature failures. The motors also work harder, which not only raises electric bills, but can also cause tracking issues and shorten the life of both mechanical and vulcanized splices. An assessor can recognize worn lagging on a drive roller and fix this issue before it applies unnecessary stress to the system.
Some other common issues found during assessments include seized and worn idlers, unguarded equipment, and blocked transfers areas. Luckily, solutions are available for these issues and crisis can be averted if they are identified before becoming major problems.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Fig. 5:
Fixing a problem with carryback may be as simple as
adjusting the tension on your cleaners
(Photos: Flexco Europe GmbH)
The single most important part of an assessment
The one commitment you have to make when deciding to perform an assessment doesn’t involve scheduling the time for someone to come out to your plant or having someone available to walk the assessor around your plant during the assessment. The most important part of the assessment is actually addressing the issues. If you don’t follow through with an assessment, the effort you made to be proactive and ensure that your operation will run smoothly all comes down to a worthless piece of paper.
Assessments should be performed at least once a year, and a true assessment cannot be performed without all of the belt conveyors running. Part of an assessment, after all, is ensuring that all of your components are compatible, and that compatibility can’t be reviewed unless the assessor sees the parts interacting with each other. Following through with the assessment results also involves finding local experts available to implement and maintain these systems and solutions.
Inspecting and performing maintenance on all of your conveyor system components should be part of an overall maintenance plan, and an assessment is a large part of that plan. The amount of effort you put into proactive maintenance will decrease the amount of unexpected downtime, help keep your workers safe, and help your operation run more efficiently.
About the Company
Flexible Steel Lacing Company (FLEXCO), headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois in the USA, is the leading international specialist for mechanical conveyor belt fastener systems, belt cleaners, belt positioners, impact beds and pulley lagging for light- and heavy-duty applications. With the company's innovative solutions, endusers can substantially reduce downtime and increase productivity. FLEXCO Europe GmbH is the German subsidiary of FLEXCO, and is headquartered in Rosenfeld, where the company currently has 60 employees.
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