Lubrication interval extended sevenfold, lubricant consumption almost ten times lower
Euro-Mit Staal: from wear problems to secured lubrication maintenance
Euro-Mit Staal in Vlissingen is the European service centre of the Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. Ltd. At this site, large coils of transformer steel are precisely slit to the required width for the production of transformers across Europe. Nearly two years ago, Interflon solved a pressing lubrication problem on a rewinder, which led to an intensive collaboration. The company now uses LaaS® (Lubrication as a Service). This has secured the lubrication plan for the entire factory, lubricant consumption is almost ten times lower and the lubrication interval now stands at seven months.
Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has supplied small format transformer steel coils from Nippon Steel in Japan to Europe for decades. As lead times grew to several months, the company decided to set up its own service centre in Europe to slit the larger master coils to the required width locally. Euro-Mit Staal was founded, and in 1992 the first coils of what is known as Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES, transformer steel) were slit and delivered. The name EMS is now well known throughout the European transformer industry, and production capacity, storage and office space have since been expanded.
Cutting process
Slitting master coils into narrower widths may not sound especially exciting, but it is far from simple. Dennie Minderhoud explains: "The most challenging part is achieving the correct cutting edge. This has to be slit to an accuracy of a thousandth of a millimetre, which means the machines also have to be set with this level of precision. The finished products must have no 'angel hair', no raised edge and no burrs. If the cutting edge is not perfect, problems arise in the power and distribution transformers for which these coils are produced, such as short circuits or hotspots. A stable cutting process is further complicated by the fact that the master coils weigh around nine tonnes."
The production lines required consist, broadly speaking, of an unwinder, a slitting unit and a rewinder. EMS currently operates five so-called slitting lines, which the company maintains itself. Good maintenance is essential for the quality of the finished products, but it also means the entire machine line stands still while it takes place, and that costs money. Minderhoud: "It is therefore important for us to stretch maintenance intervals as far as possible to minimise downtime."
Wear problems in the rewinder
Interflon has since become a valuable partner for this purpose. The first contact arose when a problem was identified on the rewinder of one of the oldest lines in the factory. Material entering the lubricant created a kind of grinding paste, which led to excessive wear and an unacceptable loss of accuracy. During the annual major maintenance, black grease was found in the rewinder. When functional problems with the moving parts subsequently occurred, this was recognised as a possible indicator of wear. To establish the extent of the problem, a pilot was set up in which the unit was first dismantled and cleaned monthly, with the grease replaced as a baseline, before switching to Interflon Grease LS2.
Galling marks in the shaft chamber, where the comb/wedge shifts.
On Interflon's advice, the original lubricant was replaced with LS2, a long fibre grease particularly suited to applications with high loads and low speeds. Because the lubricant contains MicPol® technology, the micronised particles smooth the surface roughness while the polarised particles adhere to the metal surface, creating a durable protective layer between the moving parts. This makes the lubricant resistant to being pressed out, even under heavy load. Minderhoud: "We replaced the old grease with LS2 and then carried on operating as we normally would."
After one month, the rewinder was dismantled again and the wear pattern was found to be considerably reduced. The lubrication interval now stands at seven months, the optimal balance between protection and maintenance.
Dennie Minderhoud
Technical Service Planner, Euro-Mit Staal B.V.
"In under eighteen months, Interflon has secured the lubrication maintenance of our entire factory through Lubrication as a Service. All lubrication points are documented, the right products are kept in stock and ILAC® ensures nothing is forgotten. We use less and experience less unexpected downtime."
Following the success of this pilot, Interflon was asked to help identify further optimisations across the entire factory. An extensive analysis of the factory was carried out first, mapping every lubrication point. This data was entered into the cloud-based lubrication management software ILAC® and linked to the correct lubricants, the desired interval and the quantity required per lubrication round. This ultimately resulted in a comprehensive new lubrication plan for the whole factory.
ILAC® automatically indicates which lubrication point needs attention and when. Forgotten lubrication points are therefore a thing of the past, as is under or over lubrication. Because all relevant data is also stored in the software, the company can demonstrate during audits that lubrication maintenance of the machines is kept at an optimal level and cannot give rise to production defects.
Minderhoud is visibly satisfied with the collaboration. "Interflon's products represent a larger investment, but when cheaper alternatives mean using almost ten times more lubricant, it is not difficult to calculate that the overall cost ends up considerably lower. That applies not only to lubricant consumption but also to labour: fewer lubrication moments mean directly fewer maintenance hours and less downtime. The longer service life of Interflon lubricants, due in part to MicPol® technology, makes the difference.
In under eighteen months, the lubrication maintenance of our entire factory has been brought to a high standard, including stock management and the safe storage of lubricants. This noticeably takes work off our hands and helps us meet the strict quality requirements from Japan."
Curious what a similar audit could reveal at your own site? Talk to an Interflon Technical Advisor about your lubrication plan.
Euro-Mit Staal is the European Service Centre of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. Ltd, where cutting accuracy matters because large coils of grain oriented electrical steel are slit to precise widths for transformer production across Europe. The cutting edge must be accurate to within a thousandth of a millimetre, since any burr, raised edge or angel hair can cause short circuits or hotspots in the finished transformers.
The partnership between Interflon and Euro-Mit Staal started around two years ago, when Interflon was asked to solve a pressing lubrication problem on the rewinder of one of the factory's oldest slitting lines. Contamination in the grease had formed an abrasive paste that caused excessive wear and unacceptable inaccuracy, and the resulting pilot on that single line led to a broader collaboration.
Lubrication as a Service (LaaS®) is Interflon's fully managed lubrication service, covering training, an ILAC® lubrication plan, supplier consolidation and, where relevant, execution and inventory management. Interflon is delivering LaaS® at EMS after a successful pilot made the company open to a broader assessment, resulting in a documented lubrication plan, safer lubricant storage and better inventory control across all five slitting lines within under eighteen months.
Interflon lubricants have a higher upfront cost than standard alternatives, but Dennie Minderhoud, Technical Service Planner at EMS, notes that cheaper alternatives require almost 10 times more lubricant and more frequent maintenance stops. Once lubricant consumption, labour and downtime are combined, Interflon's total cost works out lower, not higher, than standard alternatives.
EMS has achieved a relubrication interval extended from a 1 month baseline to 7 months, a reduction in lubricant consumption of almost 10 times, and a fully documented lubrication plan across all five slitting lines since implementing MicPol® grease and ILAC®. The company also reports improved inventory control and safer lubricant storage, helping it meet the quality requirements set by its Japanese parent organisation.
