Kuusakoski

The challenge: A large fleet of machines requires constant maintenance and care

The Heinola plant became a part of Kuusakoski in the 1970s. Later, it developed into the centre of the company’s operations in Finland. The car crusher, sink and float station, aluminium foundry and electronic scrap processing, amongst others, are located in the Heinola plant. The plant employs nearly 200 people including the contractors working in the area.

There are plenty of devices and machines at the large factory. According to Maintenance Manager Jani Oravala and Purchasing Manager Lasse Leinonen, there are approximately 900 larger sets of machines in use in Heinola. One set of machines includes, for example, the car scrap conveyor which entails the conveyor belts, rollers and gear motor. The daily maintenance and repair is taken care of by the company’s own maintenance organisation of 14 people. The mechanics work in three shifts the same way as the production staff. During larger maintenance breaks the maintenance team is reinforced by external contractors.

The solution: Novi enhances maintenance management

Kuusakoski acquired their first proper maintenance system as a tool for the maintenance group at the end of the 1990s. Over the years, the system fell behind and ran its course due to usability issues. Thus, the company started to look for a new maintenance system. After careful comparisons, Novi proved to be the most suitable system for the company’s needs. The browser-based system and visual properties were the deciding factor.

The data in the old maintenance system needed updating which delayed the work: the log cards had to be updated before transferring them to the new system. Oravala and Leinonen both say that changing systems was rather effortless. The specifications were transferred to the new system in one run and the expenses of the system project stayed within agreed limits.

“We didn’t even try to take all the features in use at once. The most important thing for us was to be able to start utilising the fault signals and so that is what we invested in at the beginning,” Leinonen explains.

The cloud-based Novi system can be used on fixed work stations, laptops and mobile devices. The user-friendly system has been received well at the plant and already during the first operating months its utilisation rate has increased substantially.

“It can be said that almost 100 per cent of the fault signals given by the operators and the production staff come through the system. The change has been significant because before the fault signals were given through any communication channel. The information was scattered and no data about the fault history was recorded,” Oravala says.