Industriale revamping of a mixer: €57.000 saved

The revamping hypothesis is in fact an alternative to the purchase of new machinery, therefore it can arise from arguments such as these:

• breakdown or obsolescence;
• low security level according to current standards;
• low productivity of the machinery;
• difficulty of integration into the plant;
• higher level of automation and computerization.

Depending on the type of machinery, it is essential to evaluate how much the resolution of critical issues is possible with revamping and retrofit processes and how convenient it is.

Let’s see a case study in which a mixer for liquid chemical products (potentially explosive) presented several critical issues.The machinery, built in 2001, complied with the standards in force at the time (Machinery Directive) and:

• it did not comply with the current EHSRs in terms of protection against the risk of explosion (the ATEX Directive 94/9/CE came into force in 2003);
• the relocation of the control desk was changed;
• it showed wear and tear of the moving parts.

The machine interested, however, was adequate in terms of productivity and interface with the rest of the plant. In consideration of the fact that a new machinery with equivalent performances has a cost of approximately 85.000€, we proceeded to evaluate the costs associated with the necessary revamping measures.

The measures contemplated for the adaptation to the current EHSRs in terms of protection against the risk of explosion (A), automatically resolved two more critical issues, namely the modifications to the control desk (B) and the wear and tear of the moving parts (C), with expenses shown in the following table.

REVAMPING		EXPENSE	NEW MACHINE	EXPENSE
A	Addition of a temperature control and other components. Replacement of the rotation encoder with another one ATEX marked. Maintained the motor, explosion-proof according to old standards, but still considered capable of guaranteeing the EHSRs. Associated manpower.	6.500 €	Expense	85.000 €
A B	Complete reconstruction of the control desk, embedded into an explosion-proof box. Replacement of cables and cable glands. Associated manpower.	16.500 €
A C	Replacement of the transmission belts with new antistatic belts in accordance with the new standards. Associated manpower.	6.000 €
	Technical advice	4.000 €	Plant adjustment on the basis of the connected users	5.000 €
TOTAL EXPENSE		33.000 €		90.000 €

There is a noticeable 57.000€ reduction of the expenses, which does not account for the plant shutdown and the costs of disposal in case of replacement with a new machine. Revamping, in this case, is very convenient.

Contact us if you want to increase production without changing plant.

Article written in collaboration with Fabrizio Bellini, consultant for the design, the revamping and the certification of equipment and machinery intended for use in explosive atmospheres. For further information and clarifications, you can contact Engineer Bellini by sending an email to f.bellini_epe@outlook.it.