Planning your yearly outage is critical because unexpected downtime can significantly impact your steel mill’s production timelines and your bottom line. You need a plan to fulfill your maintenance needs and keep your outage on schedule, setting your steel mill up for success next outage season!
Mike Brooks, Regional Sales Manager for ProcessBarron, has been involved in the steel industry since he took a summer job at a local steel mill in college. He has been with ProcessBarron for more than 35 years and took the time to share his expertise about how steel mills can leverage preventative maintenance to ensure each outage is successful.
Challenges in Planning for Yearly Outages
Steel mills face several challenges when planning for yearly outages. You have to service your equipment and address all of your top priorities, and you only have a few short days and a limited budget. Staying on schedule and comprehensively addressing issues is crucial to your plant operations.
Operations are tough on equipment, especially in a steel mill. Since much of the equipment in a steel mill is custom designed and time-consuming to manufacture, your steel mill should be planning outages at least a year in advance to predict equipment repairs and replacements your plant will need in the future.
ProcessBarron can help you get the equipment you need for your plant! We provide equipment inspections, consultations, design and manufacturing. Reach out to a sales representative to learn more!
Fan Efficiency: The Biggest Outage Season Opportunity for Cost-Savings and Long-Term Success
Budgets are essential when planning an outage. Balancing your maintenance needs with how much your plant can spend on repairs and upgrades is a constant struggle. That’s why efficiency matters.
One of the most significant missed opportunities for steel mills during plant outages is fan upgrades that increase efficiency. Electricity expenses for industrial equipment can be tremendous, but the right fans can significantly lower your plant’s energy costs. Prior to your outage, ProcessBarron can conduct testing and inspections to discover issues and develop opportunities for increased system optimization. The data you receive is applicable to many system applications and provides detailed statistical analysis projected cost savings. Fan upgrades can save your plant up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and often deliver a positive ROI in less than two years.
Contact us to learn more about airflow testing and industrial fan upgrades!
How Better Annual Planning Can Reduce Unplanned Outages
We recommend bringing in a team to audit your plant and gather information on your equipment several months before your shutdown. Our technicians can evaluate your equipment to help you determine what should be at the top of your repair list and what repairs you can put off until the following year.
The Industrial Efficiency Program team will document your equipment’s performance as they conduct exterior and interior inspections that look for issues such as cracks, missing lagging, in air leakage, fan performance, and emissions. They can see beyond surface-level issues and provide a report that will help you track your equipment even after the outage. When your maintenance team knows what to look out for, they will be better prepared to tackle minor issues before they become significant problems!
Ensure Your Steel Mill Stays Up & Running All Year Round
Almost everything airborne in a steel mill is abrasive, so your equipment experiences erosion faster than in other industries. Another way to maximize use of steel mill equipment is through utilizing solutions that slow down effects of wear-and-tear on your equipment. Adding certain materials, such as chrome and tungsten carbides, can reduce the impact of this abrasion and extend the life of your equipment. It can also have a tremendous effect on plant operations.
To learn more about solutions to extend the life of your equipment, contact us today!
We understand that efficiency and reliability are critical for your steel mill. Our team of experts is committed to finding solutions that save you time and money while building trust and focusing on your long-term success. Our maintenance team is always available and guarantees a quick response, no matter the time of day. Learn more about our preventative maintenance services, or contact us here for emergency repairs!