- Case Study -
Call time on Downtime.
How data distilled by RS Industria helps
improve asset reliability for a leading
brewery.
The Problem
At the heart of its brewery operations is Shepherd Neame’s bottling line. With a capacity of 27,000 bottles per hour, the Sidel filler is critical to production.
As the asset is ageing, Shepherd Neame’s engineers were keen to develop a greater understanding of its performance. By utilising RS Industria, Shepherd Neame could gain valuable insight into the machine and its components and use the resulting data to inform its future maintenance strategy.
Such insight would enable engineers to take the necessary action required to increase the reliability of the asset and prevent potential in-service failures, thereby safeguarding against costly downtime.
Given the long lead times on spare parts and the additional expense of product loss in the event of a complete line stoppage, gaining insight into the performance of the machine and its components was critical to business. If the line were to stop completely, Shepherd Neame would lose £1000 for every hour the asset was halted. With any unplanned downtime likely to last up to five days, the cost to Shepherd Neame – based on 12-hour shifts - would be in the region of £60,000, excluding the cost of new parts, plus any secondary damage and labour.
The Solution
RS Industria monitors machines in real-time, connecting assets to engineers in order to improve reliability and flag small issues before they become big problems.
Working closely with Shepherd Neame, RS Industria engineers installed condition monitoring on the asset’s main drive and vibration sensors on its gearboxes before connecting these to a local hub.
From there, real-time data on the condition of the machine is now fed to the cloud, where it is further analysed to spot indicators of failure. Any deterioration in performance is flagged, with engineers alerted to anomalies via text and email.
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The Outcome
Within hours of RS Industria being used to monitor the bottling machine, the resulting insight flagged an immediate need for action on two critical components.
Data revealed that the Crowner Gearbox was showing high-frequency vibration, which indicates a lubrication issue. Following further investigation, the customer’s engineering team discovered an oil leak and changed the faulty seal – at a significantly lower cost than the £4000 price tag of a new gearbox.
RS Industria also picked up high vibration on the motor and alerted the customer’s engineers, who immediately investigated. Once aware of the issue, the team could install the necessary component replacement around planned maintenance schedules. Again, awareness of the unseen issue meant unplanned downtime and potential secondary damage within the machine was averted, saving the customer tens of thousands of pounds.
The Lessons
Gathering insight into the health of assets is key to increasing reliability and enabling predictive maintenance.
Next Steps
The customer is now analysing initial results gleaned from water monitoring, with the data used as a subsequent lever to drive changes in practices and consumption.
RS Industria continues to monitor the bottling line, playing a pivotal role in supporting Shepherd Neame’s operations so it can continue to deliver its award winning premium products.