Avoiding Plant Shutdowns

We know downtime and emergency shutdowns can cost your company money and throw off production. Here are some ways to recognize possible complications before they lead to a shutdown:

• Perform routine visual inspections of your processing equipment. This helps identify problems such as leaks, vibrations, and everyday wear and tear on equipment (loose bolts, corrosion, cracks, etc.).
• Install internal diagnostics within your equipment. Some problems are not easy to recognize with visual inspections. Internal diagnostics will detect a problem and attempt to rectify it as soon as it occurs. A high-level probe is an example of an internal diagnostic. It will identify when the tank contents reach the maximum fill and then alert the fill operator to discontinue the flow into the tank.
• Track equipment depreciation: If a company records when a piece of equipment begins to malfunction, it will be able to more accurately schedule maintenance or part replacement in the future. Scheduled maintenance is cheaper and more efficient than unscheduled shutdowns.

When issues are found, make the necessary repairs before the small problems become larger ones. For example, if not fixed, this cracked tank and broken weld seen on the right could lead to product contamination, compliance issues, and unusable equipment.

Operating with broken equipment can lead to lower-quality products, longer production times, higher maintenance and production costs, and the possibility of a plant shutdown.