With profit margins as they are, some kind of maintenance in pulp and paper is a must. The advances in the industry’s tech and machinery, while invaluable in meeting demand, does not afford foolproof production indefinitely. Equipment can, and does, stop working or even outright breakdown—which can crater productivity and… Read More
Downtime, or any period of time when a machine is not in production, is the largest source of lost production time for most manufacturers. As obvious as downtime is when it occurs, most companies seriously underestimate their true downtime costs—in fact, over 80% of companies aren’t able to accurately calculate… Read More
Industries of all kinds rely heavily on the efficiency of their manufacturing for both the quality of their products, and keeping the costs of those products reasonable for their consumers—because we all know, the less efficient (and therefore more expensive) your manufacturing process, the more expensive your products have to… Read More
Power plant managers have to do a balancing act, juggling multiple things in order to keep their plants running efficiently and keeping stakeholders happy. The trouble is, there are so many problems a plant manager faces on a day-to-day basis that it can be difficult to keep on top of… Read More
When it comes to boilers, efficiency is the name of the game. Lower efficiency leads to worse performance, which impacts the revenue and profit margin of a plant, either directly (for a power plant) or indirectly (for a steel plant, pulp & paper mill, etc.). Stokers have a lot to… Read More
Heat rate, as any power plant engineer knows, is the amount of energy a plant has to expend in order to generate a unit of work or electricity. It’s expressed in Btu/kWh, or how many Btu/hr of energy are needed to generate one kW. For decades, the gold standard of… Read More
When it comes to choosing the right type of expansion joint for your plant, it can be hard to know whether metal or fabric is the best option. The answer really depends on your needs, so let’s take a look at the various situations in which you might opt for… Read More
When it comes to coal power plants, efficiency is the name of the game. Ultimately, more efficiency means fewer bottom-line costs. Higher efficiency ratings mean that coal is more competitive against natural gas and renewables. All other things considered equal, pursuing higher efficiency can be one of the best decisions… Read More
