Capital Equipment News December 2015

CONSTRUCTION

INGERSOLL RAND CLIENT DEDICATION reflected in commitment to Eskom’s Majuba Plant

I n its largest contract to date in terms of the number of compressors supplied and serviced, and the years under ser- vice, Ingersoll Rand is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that Eskom’s Majuba plant in Mpumalanga has sufficient compressed air for continuous operation. Majuba is the power utility’s second largest plant with an installed capacity of 4 110 megawatts, which has 21 Ingersoll Rand Centac ® cen- trifugal compressors installed onsite. These compressors, which vary from 16 m³/ minute capacity to 125 m³/minute capacity, are used to service Majuba’s compressed air requirements, primarily process air and dust conveying air. To ensure optimum run- ning of the centrifugal compressors, Inger- soll Rand employed a dedicated Eskom Ser- vice Sales Engineer (SSE). Now a dedicated team of six – the senior technician who also performs the role of onsite supervisor, an instrumentation technician and dryer tech- nician, along with an assistant each, are seconded to the utility’s site in a full time capacity. The team is responsible for all maintenance, service and repairs, and per- forms all operations pertaining thereto. In addition to the Ingersoll Rand Centac ® compressors, the company inherited an additional 84 non-Ingersoll Rand products onsite, including 63 dryers, and are also responsible to ensure continuous optimum running of these products.

agreement, the contractual obligations are split into two measurable service agree- ments – a maintenance contract and a spare parts contract, which run concurrent- ly for five years. The current service agree- ment is the second-term five year contract, and currently in its second year. The original product commissioning took place as far back as September 1995, while the two service agreements came into place only seven years ago when Es- kom realised the need for dedicated onsite professionals to ensure uptime continuity. “Although the average compressor lifetime is approximately five years,” says Neo Kuhn, Service Sales Engineer, Key Accounts Man- ager, Ingersoll Rand, “with correct upkeep and proper service intervals, it is possible to increase compressor longevity.” Ingersoll Rand removes and overhauls each compressor every three years for smaller compressors and every five years for the larger ones. Neo points out, “due to the way we maintain our compressors we have a number of smaller units that achieve five years or more before an overhaul and larger units that have reached a seven-year mile- stone.” Brett and Neo, point out that these partic- ular Centac ® compressors provide Eskom with several advantages that others don’t, such as the ability to provide a constant flow, as well as providing quick demand compression.

Ingersoll Rand South Africa is certainly putting its money where its mouth is and living up to one of the statements made by its American parent company: We stand behind our air compressors and beside our customers during planning, installation and maintenance.

To facilitate smooth running of the service

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