Honeywell Southern Africa has concluded a support services agreement with African Products for its Germiston mill. The agreement entails a logistical management system for spares, software enhancement, support and preventative maintenance to reduce plant stoppages and minimise capital investment in spares holding.
The mill produces starch, glucose and related products - converting corn into quality cornstarch, modified waxy starch, special glucose starches and glucose products - and runs continuously on a 24 h, 365-day schedule. Availability of spares and service personnel is vital to the mill's operation, which is based on Honeywell control equipment. The Germiston mill is certified to both ISO 9002 and ISO 14001.
Trevor Quinn of African Products commented, "We have formed a strategic partnership with Honeywell to enhance our control system. Our 24 h operation depends on uptime, and maintaining spares and components on our premises ensures production capability." He added that a planned quarterly preventative maintenance programme was scheduled to maximise skills' development, the operation of equipment and the enhancement of production capabilities at the mill.
In terms of the agreement, critical spares for the control equipment in the mill are maintained at African Products stores. Nonvital components are held by Honeywell to be made available to the mill within 10 days of order. Additional software enhancement and support is included in order to maintain the software at the latest revision. Technical tips, news and reports are conveyed via a monthly newsletter.
Arrie Pretorius of Honeywell added that with the implementation of the service agreement African Products have reduced downtime and increased plant availability. "African Products had previously relied on their own maintenance teams in the plant. However, without adequate access to spares and critical components, uptime could never be guaranteed. Now the strategic alliance with Honeywell provides African Products with a competitive edge, not only with regards to production but also in terms of the variety of equipment supported."
Pretorius went on to add that by utilising the latest technology Honeywell is able to maintain compatibility between both new equipment and older generation multifunction controllers. The new equipment communicates perfectly with the older generation equipment through a highway bridge spanning a technology gap of 20 years.
"The most important benefit to the customer is guaranteed plant uptime through a close relationship with Honeywell," concluded Pretorius.
Honeywell Southern Africa
(011) 805 1201
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