Challenges
- Equipment failure
- Potential multi-facility downtime
The ATS team was alerted on a Friday morning that a mixer was not running at a hydraulic manufacturer’s Newbern, TN plant. After a thorough inspection of the equipment, the team discovered that the mixer’s drive had caught fire due to a transformer failure, causing over 4,000 volts of electricity to surge through its components. This failure not only interrupted operations at the Newbern plant but also posed a risk of cascading production loss across multiple facilities.
Solution
Within hours, the team identified the root cause and worked with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to arrange obtaining a new cabinet. Understanding the urgency, ATS authorized a $210,000 required down payment that Friday afternoon to expedite the procurement process.
Over the weekend, the OEM cleaned and tested the new cabinet while the ATS team disassembled and removed the damaged one from the control room, which required removing shelving, sheet metal and insulation to pass it through the control room’s wall. The old cabinet was removed and the new one, shipped via air freight, arrived by Tuesday morning.
Upon arrival, the ATS team moved quickly to resolve compatibility issues, install the drive transformer, test the mixer to ensure it was running smoothly and reassemble the control room’s wall and shelving. By early morning Wednesday, the plant was fully operational.
Results
- Rapid parts procurement within 24 hours
- 500 hours of potential production loss avoided
- Prevented production loss across multiple facilities
Agile problem-solving and action saved over 500 hours of potential production loss and prevented loss at multiple other plants. The plant’s procurement manager expressed sincere appreciation for ATS’s rapid, above-and-beyond actions that helped minimize costly downtime across several facilities. Such actions highlight ATS’s commitment to operational excellence and customer support that drives successful outcomes in critical situations. Learn more about our Comprehensive Maintenance Program here.
