In industrial maintenance, unexpected failures can quickly escalate into major downtime and costly repairs. This case study highlights how ongoing monitoring and quick action helped prevent a larger issue on a corrugator’s Bottom Belt Head Pulley Drive Side, saving time, money, and production losses.

The Initial Concern: Unusual Vibration Levels

Despite a recent drive shaft and U-joint replacement, routine vibration monitoring detected worsening radial and axial velocities. Normally, these replacements should have improved performance, but the data kept triggering alarms.

The team completed a full lubrication cycle on the drive system as a first step, hoping it would resolve the issue. However, the data showed alarming trends, signalling something deeper was wrong.

The First Discovery: A Broken Drive Coupling

A closer inspection revealed a broken drive coupling, a serious issue that, if left unaddressed, could have led to catastrophic failure.

The team immediately shut down the machine and replaced the coupling, resulting in three hours of unplanned downtime.

While three hours of downtime is disruptive, the alternative could have been far worse, a complete system failure leading to days of lost production and significant repair costs.

Once the repair was complete, vibration levels were expected to stabilize. However, the data continued to rise, indicating that the problem wasn’t fully resolved.

The Second Discovery: Motor Coupling Failure

Determined to find the root cause, the team conducted another round of inspections. This time, they found that the motor coupling was also broken. Again, they shut down the machine to replace the faulty component, avoiding a major failure that could have resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in lost output and emergency repairs.

Key Takeaways from This Case

1. Data is critical. Vibration analysis helped detect early signs of failure before a major breakdown occurred.
2. One fix doesn’t always solve the problem. The initial repair addressed part of the issue, but ongoing monitoring uncovered another hidden failure.
3. Proactive shutdowns prevent bigger failures. While three hours of unplanned downtime was inconvenient, catching the issue early prevented a multi-day production stoppage and significant financial losses.
4. Routine monitoring and inspections are essential. The broken couplings might not have been found without vibration analysis until it was too late.

The Business Impact: ROI & Cost Avoidance ($80,000 in Savings)

According to industry studies, unexpected downtime costs manufacturers an average of $260,000 per event in lost revenue, labour, and emergency repairs.

This proactive maintenance approach saved an estimated $80,000 by mitigating lost production and repair expenses, catching these failures early, and preventing a potential multi-day outage.

What’s Next? Your Turn to Take Action!

Have you encountered similar issues in your facility? Are you looking to improve the monitoring of your plant's condition and reliability? Contact us today to learn how proactive maintenance strategies can save you time, money, and unplanned downtime.