Think out of box (concluding part)

In my last post I had narrated a problem of kiln stoppage every time the coal mill was to be taken under maintenance for turning its rollers’ wear segments. This job was taking 6 hours while the available fine coal stock used to be sufficient for 5 hours only even at reduced kiln output.To avoid the shutdown I did brain storming sessions with the team.

The procedure for this maintenance was to stop the mill. Open the doors. Remove one roller by opening its’ bolts. Take the roller down outside coal mill, near to the another spare roller which was kept ready with all maintenance done. Remove the wear segments from the roller taken out from coal mill and fix those wear segments in turned position on the spare roller (This job used to take 2 hours).Lift the spare roller and fix it in the coal mill. Close the doors and give clearance to run the mill (Total job duration 6 hours). The removed roller was then overhauled, bearings cleaned and inspected, seals replaced during the rest of the day and then it was kept ready for replacement next day.

When I asked team why we can’t fix a set of wear segments on the spare roller and keep it fully ready for replacement, this would save 2 hours and avoid kiln stoppage. Their reply was negative due to the reason as given by them was that the spare roller fitted with a set of new wear segments when fixed inside coal mill would make the mill operation unstable as the other two sets of wear segments on other two rollers were already worn and had different profile. My next question to the team was if we could fix a set of worn out wear segments (which we had scrapped in past) on the spare roller and keep it ready in all respects for replacement. Initially they were speechless and then their eyes were glittering with joy for finding a solution of long pending problem, as this arrangement would not make the coal mill operation unstable.

We started doing the same and on the fourth day of maintenance we used to remove the spare roller fitted with scrap wear segments from coal mill and kept the same ready by overhauling the same for replacement during the next scheduled maintenance.

This clearly shows that many problems looking big and impossible to solve can have simple solutions. The only thing is to think out of box.

Hope you would have found the above blog interesting. This is only one example. During my long tenure in cement industry with rich experience, I had solved many chronic problems in cement plants, which were affecting plant operation and efficiency.

I am open for consultancy. In case of any need, I can be reached on my E-Mail ID:- apagarwal2004@yahoo.co.in