Annual planning cuts downtime at Canadian pulp mill
Feb 21, 2020
The mill worked with Valmet to develop a customized approach to annual outages at their site that combined OEM vacuum washer expertise, spare parts inventory planning, shutdown planning, project planning & execution, on-site field service and outage support.
We continue the relationship each and every shutdown. Year after year we are working together to evaluate what is needed for the year to come.” - Al Parsons, Mill Sales Manager, Valmet
Location
Western Canada Pulp Mill
Customer challenge
Planning is critical to the success of an annual outage.
Time and on-site resources required for proper planning are often limited.
To minimize downtime and achieve the goals of the shutdown, mill personnel needed outage planning support that demonstrated:
Full understanding of mill-specific equipment needs
Expert process knowledge of pulp washing and Fiberline operations
Available resources to execute maintenance and troubleshooting
Solution
Began with process audit of vacuum washing system.
Audit uncovered the need for shower bar replacement.
Replacement project created opportunity for mill-specific training on vacuum washing process and legacy equipment GL&V and IMPCO equipment.
Utilizing the expertise of Valmet's vacuum washer expertise, mill began preparing for its next outage with pre-planned spare parts program that included the use of customized washer parts boxes delivered to the mill.
Subsequent projects were planned and excuted, including trunnion replacements and additional wash shower replacements.
Results
Removed bottleneck from the fibreline
Continue to keep downtime in the mill at a minimum
Peace of mind for mill personnel that they prepared for their upcoming outages
Reinforced trust in and understanding of OEM partner
