Invenstment in Reliability:Condition Monitoring in Cement Factory about FAG

Early damage detection with FAG DTECT X1 prevents unplanned shutdowns ¨C Customer staff training by F¡¯IS vibration experts HERZOGENRATH, July 11, 2005 ¨C The installation of a condition monitoring system, combined with intensive staff training, provides maximum protection against costly unplanned shutdowns for Spenner Zement, a company based in Erwitte, Germany. The FAG DTECT X1 system used to permanently monitor the gear box and transmission gear of a cement mill (tube mill) at the Erwitte plant will automatically trigger an alarm in the event of values deviating from predefined specifications. After initial support from the vibration and analysis experts at FAG Industrial Services (F¡¯IS), the Spenner employees are now capable of operating the monitoring system and evaluating the readings themselves, following intensive training by the F¡¯IS team. The reason for installing the online monitoring system was because of damage to a gear unit at a cement mill a few years ago. Since detection was too late, it resulted in several weeks of unplanned shutdown and incurred a costly complete repair. The Erwitte cement experts soon realized that they made the right investment decision. Recently the DTECT X1 online monitoring system diagnosed toothing damage on the main gear box, which was confirmed by the Spenner employees during a thorough visual inspection. Thanks to early damage detection, consequential damage with resulting high repair costs and major production loss was avoided. The gear unit was replaced on time within the scope of a planned facility shutdown. One of the decisive advantages of online condition monitoring with the help of DTECT X1 is that the transmitted values permit the precise location identification of the damaged component in addition to the actual detection of damage. Again the type of damage in a rolling bearing (outer or inner ring, rolling elements) enables valuable clues regarding the necessary response time as these defects progress at different rates. For maintenance planning this means that any required special replacement parts as well as the mounting team can be ordered well in advance and that the replacement can often take place during scheduled maintenance intervals, as was the case here. FAG Industrial Services GmbH (F¡¯IS) Headquartered at Herzogenrath near Aachen, FAG Industrial Services GmbH (F¡¯IS) offers its services, service products and training all about maintenance on a manufacturer-independent basis, so helping customers to save maintenance costs, optimize machine availability and avoid unexpected machine downtime. F¡¯IS takes responsibility for the Schaeffler Group¡¯s worldwide service business regarding the INA and FAG brands. In 2004, the Schaeffler Group employed a workforce of about 58,000 at 185 locations worldwide and generated sales of