Innovations

23.12.2011

 

                                            Near the entrance door to the production shops of Mining and Transportation Equipment Maintenance Plant of Bogatyr Coal, LLP – the joint venture of the Kazakhstani company Samruk-Energo and the Russian company RUSAL from times immemorial there hangs a huge poster, on which the slogan is written in large letters: “Put your heart and craft in work, value every minute of labor!”. Urgent in all the times, currently this slogan acquires modern meaning. The plant started the conversion to the new management methods. It means that currently every person becomes a participant of the important project this way or another.

The joint project of RUSAL and Bogatyr on increase of efficiency of maintenance processes, which started at the beginning of this summer, is already demonstrating the first positive results.

            One of the problematic shops of the enterprise – the section of electric machines maintenance – was taken as “the staging area” for the experiment.

            - This section has been selected because there for the last several years almost never the plan of electric machines maintenance from mining equipment was fulfilled, - Plant Director Aleksandr Ivanskiy says. – Its potential, material resources allow achieving high results, but the traditional labor organization and work by old methods does not give a chance to work to the full capacity. That is why, the part of equipment subject to repair is sent to a subcontractor, which the company pays big money to.

FOR INFORMATION. The plant is the main maintenance base not only for Bogatyr Coal, LLP, but also for other coal mining enterprises of Ekibastuz coal basin. Its first phase was put in operations at the end of the sixties of the last century. The numbers say about the scales of the enterprise: the total area of the plant is 242 thousand square meters, and the production area is almost 25 thousand. The machine tool population is 255 units of metal processing machinery. The structure of the enterprise is two large subdivisions of the main operations: shop for excavator maintenance, shop for rolling stock maintenance and six sections. The plant employs over 500 people.

FOR INFORMATION. Within Bogatyr Coal, LLP there are two coal mines - Bogatyr and Severny. Currently the production capacity of the enterprise is 42 mm tons of coal per year, including 32 mm t at Bogatyr mine and 10 mm t at Severny mine. The share of Bogatyr coal is about 40 percent of the total volumes of coal production in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The total coal reserves in the deposit are 10 billion tons.

The coal reserves within the boundaries of the mining allotment of Bogatyr and Severny coal mines of Bogatyr Coal, LLP are about three billion tons of natural fuel. Under the current capacity of the enterprise the coal reserves will be enough for 70 years of operations. 

Starting the project implementation, the working group was formed at the plant, the head of which is Chief Engineer Victor Zabelin. The specialists by directions became the members of it, and also the crew leader, senior foreman, technologist. Besides, the specialists were also attracted from the parallel subdivisions – the excavator shop and the shop of metal structures. These people had a week-and-a-half training, which was held by the representative of Production Service Department from RUSAL Andrey Tarasov. He told the repair men about the tasks, which the group would have to resolve, he demonstrated the examples of implementation of similar projects at other enterprises of RUSAL. After the brief theoretical part the trainees went to the production section to make a comprehensive analysis of the situation, which was created there, and to determine: what prevents it from working successfully, where to go further, what needs to be achieved as a result of the reforms.

- This brain storm showed that the plant people were waiting for the changes for a long time. With a lot of interest they started to participate in the search of “bottle necks” at the section. As a result, a lot of them were found. In total, these problems became the insuperable obstacle in achieving good production parameters, in labor productivity increase. The people were in acedia because of this.

In reality for the past more than forty years the labor organization system was almost unchanged. Everything was going on by once and forever set up scheme. Certainly, periodically, as the equipment was worn out, new machine tools were purchased, and equipment for maintenance works was upgraded. These innovations, of course, contributed to the improvement of the people’s labor conditions, but the general picture remained unchanged – the manual labor prevailed, and the shop area overloaded with details and mechanisms of electric machines did not give an opportunity to rationally use the working time for productive labor.

Let us say that the whole civilized world has been using different mechanical, electric and pneumatic tools and devices in work for a long time. They are at the plant, but not in the sufficient volume and are used by people unwillingly – the multiyear habit is affected to use old and conventional techniques. Here is the example: it was very complicated to convince repair men to use pneumatic tools instead of simple wrenches. But this is, as people say, something minor. In the process of work the repair men have to frequently repair traverse beams from a traction unit engine, the weight of which reaches one hundred kilograms. So, till the present time they have been restoring this part by old methods: they place it on a metal table, disassemble it with a wrench, and with big efforts they manually sand ceramic isolators, brush holders from carbon and mud. The group was searching for the resolution of this problem for long and, eventually, it was proposed to use a sand-blasting plant, which allows reducing the sanding time several times.

- We have found the plant in a neighboring shop and decided to demonstrate its capabilities, - Andrey Tarasov says, - we have sanded all the details just for half a minute! Please compare: half a minute and eight hours! Such a big difference!

- The matter is that this sand-blasting plant is not envisaged for sanding parts, which there are on a traverse beam, let us say, - Victor Zabelin, Chief Engineer of the plant joined our talk, - this plant is used for cleaning metal structures of a rotary excavator in the mine conditions. Dirt, rust, paint – all this was flying away with sand beyond retrieve. We have designed the structure with a closed cycle: that is, this time in a special chamber filled in with sand, it is possible to process parts for a long time. Of course, one should periodically change it as it gets dirty, but not with such volumes as it is done now.

But the ice broke up, as people say. The plant specialists, not waiting till the conclusions and proposals of the working group would be considered, developed and manufactured a special table with a rotating circle. Now a worker places a heavy part on it without special labor efforts, by one finger effort rotates a circle. This operation was demonstrated by a repair man Vladimir Kovenko. By his opinion, now it will be easier for him to fulfill his operation, what will surely be reflected on labor productivity and repair quality. This simple device was invented by a senior foreman of the excavator shop Andrey Turischev.

To find a comparison - the electric repair shop reminds a big apartment filled with all kinds of boxes, small tables, shelves with things and objects not needed for anybody. All this satisfies an owner until the time comes, but then all this garbage becomes an obstacle for normal life. And then big cleaning begins. The same happened in the electric repair shop. The members of the working group proposed to bring the shop itself in order. It turned out to be that in the shop at the same time there were both disassembled engines and the ones just brought from the mine. Moreover, there they also stored electric engines, which were not good for repair at all and were just waiting to be written off for metal scrap. All this blocks passages, prevents normal work of not only this or that repair man, but of the whole shop.

- Currently we organized the work on writing off and carrying such machines outwards, - Chief Engineer says, - we already have 15 certificates, during the week these electric machines will be transported from the section, eight more are waiting for signing a contract with a subcontractor to go for repair. We will place several more mothballed machines in a cold storage place, where they will be standing and waiting for repair. Thus, we will clean the territory of the shop from unneeded equipment.

The members of the working group could not but notice the fact, which was not noticed by anybody else till the present time.

For example, for several tens of years traction electric engines are repaired in the sixth bay of the plant, but the varnish bath for ceramic isolators, which is used in the course of repair, is located in the third bay and on the territory of another section. That is, a repair man had to take isolators, carry them three bays away to another shop, varnish them there, dry and bring them back.

Now not waiting for the command from the management, the electric shop employees manufactured and installed a similar bath in their own section. Now there is no need for a repair man to make moves losing valuable time for empty walking.

- The first thing the group paid attention to was that many works in the shop were fulfilled mainly on the floor, as people say, on hunkers, - Andrey Tarasov noted, - what prevented to make stands? Nothing. We manufactured metal tables and now most types of heavy works are fulfilled in a standing position.

By Chief Engineer Victor Zabelin, soon it is planned to organize the so-called maintenance line. Currently all the shop sections are located randomly, what causes the irrational loss of time for parts transportation, components from one place to another, at the same time interbay carts and other devices are used.

- We have developed the scheme of sections location, - Victor Aleksandrovich continues, - now the electric repair shop will take one bay only. The line will be built in the form of a cell, where all operations will go one after another. There is a task in front of us – to improve production parameters of the shop by 155 by March 2012. This, in its own turn, will allow completely satisfying the requests of Bogatyr coal mine in repair of electric machines.

There appears a well-formed question: does not have a threat of staff cuts? No, it does not, - Plant Chief Engineer calmed down. The shop personnel will remain unchanged because the volume of maintenance works will increase for account of the equipment, which currently the plant has to send to subcontractors for repair. Currently the special motivation regulations are being developed, which will allow increasing a salary at the shop depending on increase of work volumes.

In addition to it, the distinct scheme will be adjusted how to plan and fulfill repair works. Till now the practice prevailed, when non-repairable electric machines were piled at the plant waiting for a decision of their writing off or sales. And the plant people were putting up with it. From now on everything will be different.

As it turned out to be, the problem can be easily resolved. The group started to develop the regulations on repair of electric machines and interaction between the plant and Bogatyr coal mine. In these documents all the stages will be clearly set forth – how and in what order electric machines should be brought to the shop, how much time will be required for specialists to make their flaw detection, what actions to undertake in the case, when the plant can not repair equipment with own forces, etc.  

            Technical progress moves with seven-league steps. Unfortunately, until the present time Mining and Transportation Equipment Maintenance Plant of Bogatyr Coal, LLP was lagging one step behind in this movement. But the time dictates its conditions. The largest maintenance enterprise in Ekibastuz has accepted these conditions.

At the plant at the beginning of the current year the special program was developed on upgrading a maintenance base and the electric shop, particularly. The new equipment was purchased, which envisages the introduction of mechanized work techniques. It is the chamber of vacuum impregnation of electric machines armature, machine tool for manufacturing jacks, argon welding device, winding machine for electric engines sections, set of hydraulic pullers, several types of wrenches. All this equipment is already being used.

 - Our program has received the new development, - Victor Zabelin, Plant Chief Engineer added to the above-said, - thanks to the look from outside, which was brought in the work by the representatives of RUSAL, currently we have some new opinions we never had before. Currently one can say that we will significantly increase the labor productivity with our joint efforts.

There is one more important fact. First of all, the program of the electric shop modernization is aimed at “awakening the initiative of people”, increase creative activity of people, to interest people to achieve high results in labor and get not only moral but also financial motivation from it. The plant has always been glorious by its development engineers and innovators, but lately this work almost came to nothing. Currently it has acquired the new impulse.

There are mainly women working in the electric winding shop. Their work is routine, mainly manual. Although it is also possible to introduce some innovations, which would make the women’s work easier and more attractive. Recently the new machine tool on electric machines section winding was purchase for the shop. It seemed engineers and designers had worked on its design and manufacture, but when it came to the shop, the women found a lot of shortcomings and deficiencies in it. By their request, the plant can-do men upgraded the machine tool, and now it works more efficiently. The winding woman Tatyana Kachura is the so called an idea woman. It can be explained. Because she is from a big dynasty of the Kachuras. Her grandfather Ivan Kachura worked as an excavator operator for Irtysh coal mine # 1 in the far 1950-ies and became famous as the one of those, who had introduced a domestic rotary excavator, he was considered to be an active innovator. It seems his genes were transferred to his granddaughter. Her father and mother and other relatives also worked in the coal industry.  

Tatyana Kachura has thought for long time how to improve the process of unwinding big insulation spools. Until the present time these black “cakes” were unwound by women manually. One can imagine: you have to make four small “wheels” out of one big spool. It took an hour to make a small spool. Tatyana proposed to manufacture a machine tool, which would make this operation faster.

The mechanism is already working, and Tatyana demonstrates its advantages with pleasure. With subtle movements she puts a big spool in a clamp, brings one band end into an empty carrier and starts rotating the machine tool handle.

- There is nothing supernatural in this device, - Tatyana said smiling, - I saw something like that in my childhood when my grandmother was spinning wool. I had to think over all the parts of its manufacturing, of course. As you see, it is here.

Thanks to the device, the labor productivity while spool rewinding went up four times.

Tatyana has jovial and smiling eyes, they light with interest and optimism. In her hands there is a human creativity. These guesses are confirmed by Victor Zabelin.

- Tatyana is a true-born innovator, - Chief Engineer says, - she submitted three more improvement suggestions, which are sure to be introduced at the section.

What has been already done in the electric repair shop is causing positive replies from the people. It awakens their interest to work. The young guys accept “the reorganization” favorably. It is them, who wait when the conditions, when one can work with pleasure and upgrade qualification, develop modern equipment will be created not only in the shop, but also in the whole plant. They are sure this will happen.

- I work as a section foreman, currently I work on introduction of new devices, machine tools, equipment for labor productivity increase, improvement of labor conditions in the shop, - Nataliya Manko, the working group member says, - the young specialists grasp something new successfully, with pleasure. I value the innovations at the plant very highly and positively. There is no need to make a stopwatch study – the labor productivity increased, the rates of engines repair accelerated.