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2015 09 21 114058According to a survey made by Bain & Co, the pulp and paper (P&P) industry has been a forerunner in maintenance outsourcing. Pulp-PaperWorld.com sat down with Pertti Weissenfelt, Pulp and Paper Industry Segment Manager for Quant to get an insight into why this industry has outsourced more maintenance than any other industry.

Has the P&P industry been under harder cost pressure than other industries?

They are today, especially printing paper production where the demand is declining all the time because of the digitalization that has had huge defect on printing paper consumption. Paper producers are looking for all possible ways to cut costs and ensure their own competitiveness in the market where prices have been declining for years.

Board and pulp producers are in a lot better market situation and basically they can sell what they are able to produce. For them, the most important thing than pure cost cutting is the reliability of the machinery to ensure the highest possible production efficiency – without forgetting the maintenance costs.

So one main driver for maintenance outsourcing in the P&P Industry has certainly been due to cost cutting. This is especially in Europe and US, while in some other regions the main driver has been the need to keep and improve maintenance capabilities and expertise.

Are P&P industry maintenance organizations more traditional when needing a culture change?

This is the main reason in many cases for maintenance outsourcing in every industry. Outsourced maintenance is driven as a business, which makes it vital for everyone to always consider the most efficient way of their own work. Furthermore, continuously develop it to be able to guarantee the most cost efficient solution to the customer and stay competitive in the market.

Does outsourcing maintenance give more flexibility than having it in-house?

This has always been important in the P&P industry. This is because the need for maintenance resources varies a lot for a longer period of time. For example, a pulp mill shut (normally between every 12-18 months) requires a lot more resources compared to the production phase. Secondly, due to a weak market (like now), when paper machines need to be occasionally stopped temporarily for days or even weeks due to lack of orders, the machines don’t need any maintenance. Both these situations are easier for the customers to outsource this maintenance cost, which guarantees better flexibility for resource allocations.

Do P&P mills contain more complex technology than other industries?

Today the P&P mills are highly automated and that has caused quite a big reduction of people working at mills. For example, the European P&P Industry had 420 000 employees in 1992. However in 2014, the amount was 180 000. Production at the same time has increased from 65Mt to 90Mt.

This result creates a higher automation rate, making machinery and maintaining them more complex, which requires an in-depth knowledge and skill base from the maintenance team. P&P mills don’t have many employees anymore. All of them have their own expertise, therefore they support the increasing development of maintenance outsourcing to companies who have a wide enough customer base to keep all needed resources. Pulp and paper production processes are already by themselves, complex enough to be managed. By outsourcing maintenance, the production organization can concentrate 100% on their own core, pulp and paper production.  

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Pertti Weissenfelt, Pulp and Paper Industry Segment Manager
From Finland, Pertti has 30 years of experience in industrial maintenance most of that being from Pulp and Paper industry in Finland, Belgium and Australia. He has been working as Maintenance Manager, Project Manager in Greenfields and Rebuilds, P&P Industry Specialist in Asia Pacific, MPC Manager for P&P, VP Engineering & Projects, VP Business Development, Global P&P Industry Sales Director and latest as Cluster Manager for Finland and Baltics.
“Pulp and Paper industry has always been a strong segment in our maintenance outsourcing business and we have a great track record and references in it. I’m exited being back in the global team and looking forward to work together with our regional teams to get us growing in P&P Industry.” 

Do P&P Industry customers get more benefit out of outsourcing than other industries?

It is maybe easier in the P&P industry to define the full potential that exists in maintenance than in some other industry. This is because paper machines are quite similar for each different paper and board grades. Regardless of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) who has made the machine, the machines have been like that for decades. This similarity makes them easier to compare.

Usually P&P companies are comparing their own machines to identify the ones that perform and the ones that don’t. Quite often, company targets are set based on their top sites. That still doesn’t demonstrate to the company if they are among the best compared to their competitors. Quant has been benchmarking the P&P industry for over 10 years and has a wide global database of paper and board machines’ efficiencies and maintenance costs, divided by production grades and geographical regions. Benchmarking with the best in the P&P industry is a strong tool when defining the full potential of maintenance.

Having such a similar machinery makes it more important to have the capability to find, share and implement best practices. There is basically no new equipment failures in the P&P industry. If you get a machine failure or problem that you haven’t seen before, it most certainly has happened somewhere else earlier and there is maybe a solution for it already.

Quant being a global industrial maintenance company with experience in the P&P industry over 25 years has wide network in the industry as well as other industries. This guarantees the access to best practices and specialists.

In your opinion, did the Pulp and Paper industry just happen to be the first industry where outsourcing started?

In some cases this may be true. Many of Quant’s (ABB at that time) first outsourcing agreements were done in the P&P industry and we became very good references that encouraged others in the same industry to outsource as well.

I would like to contact someone about outsourcing in this industry, click This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

About Quant

quant logoQuant ( www.quantservice.com ) is a global leader in industrial maintenance. For over 25 years, we have been realizing the full potential of maintenance for our customers.

From embedding superior safety practices and building a true maintenance culture, to optimising maintenance cost and improving plant performance, our people make the difference.

We are passionate about maintenance and proud of ensuring we achieve our customers’ goals in the most professional way.

For more information about Quant, visit www.quantservice.com

To subscribe to our magazine Quant plus, please click here

Published in Featured Articles
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quant logoSpecval Coatings (previously known as Sappi Cape Kraft paper mill) in South Africa, is a showcase of a leading global paper company, manufacturing 100% Recycled Linerboard and Fluting (corrugating medium) from waste paper.

In 2009 the mill was looking for a sustainable solution to improve the general productivity and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) through a reputable outsourced maintenance partnering agreement, and selected Quant as the preferred service provider.

The primary objective for the production team was agreed, and the target was to be in the Top 3 Global Efficiency Improvement position, and aiming to become 1st position by 2014.

Engineering teams started focusing on specific production department issues that were causing downtime. Quant maintenance staff also underwent intensive training for skills enhancement. The process department was streamlined and started capturing flows, consistencies and trending data on a daily basis.

Goal alignment sessions were regularly held, including all support departments, when new Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and within agreed Timeframe goals were set to obtain buy-in from all.

Engineering had to focus efforts on planned maintenance shuts, unplanned downtime, and rework, which hampered the availability and equipment reliability on a regular basis. Best Operating Practices (BOP’s) and Best Maintenance Practices (BMP’s) were revised and new equipment maintenance schedules updated on SAP to prevent premature unplanned failures.

Since July 2013, Sappi Cape Kraft has stayed in the top 5 positions of the Sappi Global Efficiency Ranking, while achieving both the number 1 and 2 positions 3 times and is currently in the number 1 position, here in 2014.

The focus area remains uptime where opportunities still exist. Quality focus is a given and will continue. Machine run rates are currently dryer limited, and this will be worked on during 2015, on our continuous improvement journey to become world class in all aspects of our recycling paper production operation.

Benefits

Improvements from the production planning side and continued daily focus, has resulted in significant improvements to current level of approximately 3%, which is well below budget

The Year to Date OEE is at 81.07%.

About Quant

Quant is a global leader in industrial maintenance. For over 25 years, we have been realizing the full potential of maintenance for our customers.

From embedding superior safety practices and building a true maintenance culture, to optimising maintenance cost and improving plant performance, our people make the difference.

We are passionate about maintenance and proud of ensuring we achieve our customers’ goals in the most professional way.

Want to learn about Quant?

Click here to download our company brochure

Subscribe to Quant plus online magazine

Watch our video Realizing the full potential of maintenance

Website: http://quantservice.com/

Published in Asian News
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Wednesday, 05 August 2015 11:19

Quant wins large contract with Stora Enso in China

StoraEnsoQuant and Stora Enso (Guangxi) Packaging Company Limited in China have signed a total maintenance outsourcing agreement, effective April 15, 2015. The deal represents a significant order for Quant both globally, and in the region.

The site is a greenfield operation for Stora Enso and Quant, consisting of two main phases: phase one — board machine with mechanical pulping line and supporting utilities; phase two — chemical pulp line with expanded utilities.

Spanning a total duration of six years, the scope of the agreement demonstrates Quant’s expansive capabilities, covering all maintenance resources and materials across different stages and subcontractors, including warehouse, repair workshop operations, equipment and warranty management. The ongoing maintenance team size is estimated at 75 people for phase one.

Quant’s objective is to provide Stora Enso (Guangxi) Packaging Company Limited with sustainable, world-class industrial operations, while demonstrating the value of taking maintenance to the next level.

About Quant:

Quant www.quantservice.com­ is a global leader in industrial maintenance. For over 25 years, we have been realizing the full potential of maintenance for our customers. From embedding superior safety practices and building a true maintenance culture, to optimizing maintenance cost and improving plant performance, our people make the difference. We are passionate about maintenance and proud of ensuring we achieve our customers’ goals in the most professional way.

About Stora Enso:

Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wood and paper in global markets. Stora Enso’s aim is to replace non-renewable materials through innovation based on wood and other renewable materials. The Group has some 27 000 employees in more than 35 countries, and is publicly traded in Helsinki and Stockholm. www.storaenso.com

For more information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Published in Asian News
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Papelera Brandia SA produces machine-glazed (MG) kraft papers ranging from 24 to 140g/m2. Their kraft papers are ideal for wrapping and packaging. The brightness of the glazed side of the paper optimizes printability.

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In 2012, Papelera Brandia started to have problems with maxi-meters tripping. These are devices used to automatically block power consumption after having reached a pre-determined limit, in order to avoid penalty payments to the local electrical utility for consuming too much energy. The maxi-meters became faulty due to old age and lack of servicing.

Benefits
  • Total energy savings: 288.830 €/year
  • Global energy savings 9,25%
  • Electrical savings 9,9%
  • Natural gas savings 7,9%
  • Savings in tons of CO2: 1.467 Ton/year
  • Average ROI: 2,1 (92k in less than 18 months)

Quant offered an Energy Audit as the strategic approach to both reveal their energy consumption and to identify a follow up including a master plan with the identification of potential opportunities and savings.

Following an on-site visit by Quant experts, who performed electrical and thermal energy measurements in the power plant, pulping process and paper machine energy sources, interviews were conducted with the quality, production, maintenance, purchasing and plant managers to understand how they manage their operations and their knowledge about energy policies.

Information such as invoices from various utilities and other energy supply companies were collected and analysed.

As a result, Quant and Papelera Brandia defined a master plan with prioritization of opportunities, categorization and a feasibility analysis.

One of the crucial needs identified was a monitoring and targeting system. Quant’s solution was to install the cpmPlus Energy Manager, including meters and monitoring software, to communicate with quality control, production and planning systems.

About Quant

Quant is a global leader in industrial maintenance. For over 25 years, we have been realizing the full potential of maintenance for our customers. From embedding superior safety practices and building a true maintenance culture, to optimizing maintenance cost and improving plant performance, our people make the difference. We are passionate about maintenance and proud of ensuring we achieve our customers’ goals in the most professional way.

For more information, visit www.quantservice.com

Published in European News
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