Mining and Fertilizer Company Lowers Costs and Increases Availability

Overview 

A mining and fertilizer company with multiple processing plants operating 24/7 deployed Cordant™ Asset Strategy to optimize asset performance. The company sought to increase equipment availability and production and reduce maintenance costs. It also wanted to align strategies to Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) targets.  

The project included implementing a simplified process for asset performance optimization, including continuous improvement. The process is underpinned by Cordant™ Asset Strategy which addressed previous challenges such as a lack of connection between equipment strategies and the operators computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).  

Benefits include up to 15% increases in equipment availability per plant and a commensurate uplift in production volumes. Forecast reductions in labor costs are as high as 20% in some areas. 
 

Challenge 

The company previously used multiple systems to capture maintenance strategy information. These systems lacked connection to the CMMS and equipment and maintenance data was incomplete. This led to suboptimal maintenance tasks being completed in the field. In some cases, equipment was over-maintained while, in other cases, equipment was undermaintained. The outcome was unplanned failures, and higher than optimal maintenance costs.  

In addition to solving these challenges, the operator recognized the need to align their equipment strategies to constant changes in operational context. As a result, a key requirement was to implement a process of continuous improvement. 

Lastly the operator wanted to realize value as soon as possible by quickly addressing areas of poor performance and key areas of strategy misalignment. The use of rapid implementation practices as well as library and template content enabled rapid process initiation and accelerated the time to generate initial strategy updates, implement them and begin seeing results in the field. 

Solution 

Cordant™ Asset Strategy supports a simplified process for asset performance optimization that allows the company to achieve maximum value with limited site resources. For example, use of generic strategies supports the efficient development and optimization of strategies, especially for new equipment.  

Cordant™ Asset Strategy also facilitates grouping and regrouping of tasks into maintenance plans, aiding efficient execution. Connection to the company’s CMMS ensures strategy, master data, and work instructions are all aligned.  

The operator optimized strategies with high frequency maintenance tasks firsts, so the maintenance team could start leveraging the new strategies right away. This not only helped it achieve its goal to quickly realize value but also meant early feedback could be collected from the maintenance team.  

Continuous improvement is supported through the ability to efficiently deploy changes to like equipment across plants. There’s also a clear view of activities and data from FMEA to work execution to support failure investigations.  
 

Results  

While the project is in the final stages of completion, significant benefits have been achieved.  These include increases in equipment availability in every plant. These increases range from 2- 15% and have contributed to an uplift in production volumes.  

The company can also forecast planned work more accurately and forecasts labor cost reductions of 10% to 20% in some areas.  

The company is also set to benefit from further efficiencies and performance gains as a result of embedding a process of continuous improvement.