Construction projects around the globe are responsible for the development of countries, in particular, infrastructure improvements have a positive effect on the surrounding communities. That is why Brazil’s Odebrecht, one of the largest contractors in the world, decided to invest in Metso Automation’s remote monitoring technology with the Metso DNA system for some of its mining equipment. The technology allows them to pinpoint problems and speed up processes.
Odebrecht was looking for new tools that could improve the productivity of its equipment at construction sites, thereby reducing costs and delivery times. One of the main goals was to obtain a trustworthy tool that could give around-the-clock information on its crushing plants, eliminating unexpected failures.
A global system to keep track of operations
“This kind of control is very important, as our company has 120 000 workers in 20 countries. We had to create a global system that would allow us to verify at any moment what is happening in a given location, allowing us to gather information before making important decisions,” explains Benito Bottino, Odebrecht’s industrial equipment leader.
According to him, remote control is also important to assist workers in the field when they do not have enough experience to deal with a specific problem. “People were initially concerned when we told them we would be monitoring their equipment, they thought it would only show their mistakes. But as soon as they started working with it, they saw how helpful the tool is,” Bottino says, explaining that an automation system can show specific performance details, such as amperage, bearing temperature and engine use. “It becomes a really powerful management tool.”
José Antônio Tortorelli, Odebrecht’s mine engineer, agrees that monitoring increases efficiency: “With monitoring systems we can stop the equipment for preventive maintenance and avoid unexpected breakdowns.”
Although the need for monitoring systems at crushing plants was clear for Odebrecht, the market did not offer many solutions of this kind. That is when Metso’s Mining and Construction and Automation business segments joined forces to deliver automation solutions for this contractor.
“When we decided to monitor crushing centres, our goal was timely intervention on troubled equipment to avoid the problem becoming too serious. We asked Metso to study the possibilities and they came up with a new system, a specific product for our case did not exist,” explains Tortorelli.
Following a pilot project, Metso has delivered a remote monitoring system based on Metso DNA to the Odebrecht Serra Talhada site. The engineers point out that there are many practical cases where the automation was useful: “Once, we detected a problem in a crusher bearing before any serious damage, so we were able to stop the equipment for preventive maintenance, avoiding a full shutdown and reducing costs,” said Tortorelli.
Metso understood the monitoring needs
According to Bottino it was easy to deal with Metso: “When we talked to Metso’s team, they understood our monitoring needs exactly. This kind of monitoring system is now a default feature in our new equipment acquisitions.”
He concluded Metso understood Odebrecht’s need for an automation system that would enable equipment to produce more thus lowering production costs. “Now we are able to prevent equipment breakdowns through an improved maintenance schedule. It also reduces our costs, since we can identify a single piece with a problem, without the need to replace an entire section of equipment.”
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