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The NRF prevents a loss of €10,600 through predictive maintenance with Sensorfact

Formerly known for manufacturing high quality radiators, the NRF has evolved into a major supplier of automotive aftermarket parts and industrial cooling solutions.

They provide an extensive selection of over 11,000 engine cooling and air conditioning parts, reaching customers in more than 80 countries every day. To maintain such levels of production, the adoption of a proactive strategy towards machine maintenance is essential.

Insights into upcoming maintenance at machine level

Alerts for deviating vibrations

Prevention of a €10,600 loss

The need

The NRF has several one-of-a-kind machines at their plant. Maintenance is thus crucial, as a breakdown of any one of these unique machines could halt the entire production. Previously, the NRF conducted quarterly vibration analyses to identify potential issues with the machines, but they lacked insight into the machines’ condition between these measurements. Consequently, they sought a solution that would allow for continuous monitoring of the condition of their machines.

The solution

They installed eight Sensorfact vibration sensors on the machines that were primarily placed on ovens, drying ovens, and center drills. These sensors enabled real-time tracking of vibrations, among other parameters, via the online dashboard.

The results

Sensorfact was able to detect anomalies in the vibration pattern of a drying oven fan. Upon this discovery, the NRF chose to disassemble the fan, revealing that the bearing was oscillating and had suffered wear on the shaft. After conducting repairs, there was a significant decrease in the vibrations.

“Of course machines vibrate, but to what extent are these vibrations really harmful? We’ve seen firsthand that it’s absolutely worthwhile to inspect a machine if something seems off—you can then see the visible damage for yourself. It’s become clear to us that investing in real-time monitoring of vibration patterns is definitely a good investment.”

Without continuous monitoring, this problem would have gone undetected, and could have caused fan failure. The result was a production delay of 1-2 days. Monitoring the vibrations prevented a financial loss estimated at €10,600.

Vibrations before and after repairs

Quote

The software detected high vibrations on a fan, after which we opened it up and saw visible damage from an oscillating bearing. We immediately repaired the damage, thereby preventing production delays. We are confident that by continuously measuring vibrations we will suffer less loss on downtime.

Rene Hoornweg NRF B.V. Head of Technical Services

Start saving today

Whether you want to save on energy or avoid maintenance, we can show you how our smart monitoring solution will benefit your plant. Don’t wait any longer and start saving on time and costs right away.

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