Make A Refreshing Change

The Problem

At the heart of Bondgate’s beverage packaging operations is one of its most utilised and critical assets - the can filler and seamer. As a complex rotating asset capable of operating at 1,500 cans/minute, failure of the high-speed line can lead to costly downtime and expensive supply chain
interruptions.

As the main bearings used in can fillers are typically manufactured to order, lead times run into months. Visibility of potential degradation of the rotational elements is therefore critical to maintaining production.

With the filler manufacturer’s standard service package coming to an end, Refresco’s engineers needed a solution that would give insight into asset performance and help manage the line’s ongoing maintenance.

The Solution

To monitor ongoing wear and detect potential failures, RS Industria’s team worked closely with the customer to install 14 fixed vibration sensors, covering the main rotating components of the filler.

The individual accelerometer sensors were then connected to RS Industria’s onsite edge gateway via Siemens vibration monitoring cards.

As vibration levels differ with the speed and type of product running through the filler, a baseline was established to consider normal production variances, with alerts triggered when the vibration exceeds what would normally be expected. A customised dashboard was also created to display the vibration data from each sensor on a web-based reporting system.

Within weeks, two of the sensors picked up abnormal vibration levels on the main ring bearing, a crucial and costly element of the asset. This triggered instant alerts to engineers who were able to shut the line down for investigation and resolve a lubrication issue before it could irreparably damage the bearing.