“The Road to Reliability at

Great Lakes Chemical Corporation”

Steve Butler / Chris Hayes

Great Lakes Chemical

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 SPACER
Safety is a top priority at Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. The leadership in the
corporation has helped to establish a strong focus on safety at all levels. One of the
ways this is accomplished is through the use of SPACER for all meetings. SPACER is
a framework used by the meeting leader/s to help those involved in the meeting to
understand what the meeting is all about. We will be using this framework to aid in
the presentation of our reliability program.

S – Saf ety Topics

Trip hazards, exits, phones, travel safety

P – Purpose
Our goal for this presentation is to give those in attendance an overview of our
reliability program, the tools we use, and the people who help to make the program a
success.

A – Agenda
Company Overview (Size, Locations, Processes & Products)
South Arkansas Overview (Facilities, Size, Products & Processes)
Team Members (Team Makeup)
Reliability Program History (Structured Program Beginning)
Team Responsibilities
- Increase Equipment Uptime
- Reduce Equipment Maintenance Cost
Team Focus
- Equipment type by highest failure rate and/or total maintenance cost
- Top 20% “Bad Actors” of equipment type
Programs
- Cost and Failure Tracking
- Mapping
- Training
- Condition Monitoring

C – Code of Conduct
- Active Listening

E – Expectations
We hope to provide information that will be useful to those who are in attendance.
We would like to receive feedback from the audience about our program and the
presentation. Also, we welcome any comments or experiences that others have had
with establishing and implementing similar programs.

R – Roles (These will be filled by our Team members)

Scribe
Swamp Master
Time Keeper

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 The Road to Reliability at Great Lakes Chemical Corporation

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Great Lakes Chemical Corporation is one of world leaders in the production of

elemental bromine and bromine based chemicals. Great Lakes Chemical’s corporate
headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana and it employs over 5000 people in
eight different countries throughout the world.

Great Lakes Chemical came to South Arkansas in the early 1960s to take advantage of
the naturally occurring rich bromine concentrations found in the area’s brine
formations approximately eight thousand feet below the earth’s surface. Today South
Arkansas is responsible for the production of about 97% of all of the bromine that is
produced in the United States each year. In addition to elemental bromine, Great
Lakes-South Arkansas facilities also manufacture a wide variety of other products
such as a diverse line of specialty flame retardants, pharmaceutical intermediates,
water treatment chemicals, oil and gas well completion fluids, and soil fumigants for
the agricultural industry.

Currently, Great Lakes has four manufacturing sites in South Arkansas which together
employ close to 700 people. These sites are the El Dorado-South, El Dorado-West, El
Dorado-Central, and the Newell plants.

RELIABILITY HISTORY

As with many other companies, the maintenance philosophy at Great Lakes Chemical
prior to the late 1980s’ was primarily a “run-till-breakdown” approach. During this
period, the maintenance departments devoted the maj ority of their time and resources
to addressing the “emergencies at hand” and had very little time available for root
cause analysis of equipment failures. This problem was addressed at the South
Arkansas facilities in 1991 with the formation of a structured reliability program.

The first Reliability Groups consisted of two maintenance technicians from each of the
two largest South Arkansas manufacturing facilities, the El Dorado – Central and
South plants. These pairs of technicians operated independently of each other under
the guidance of a mechanical engineer and the leadership of the maintenance manager
at each of their respective facilities.

The Reliability Groups’ first responsibilities included the maintenance of larger

rotating equipment such as compressors and also “high failure” or “critical
equipment.” To accomplish the task of improving the reliability of this equipment, the
two teams received extensive training in areas such as equipment alignment, pump and
mechanical seal mechanics, and vibration analysis. The two groups began to apply
these and other tools (proper foundations, grouting, etc.) to the equipment they were
responsible for.

The formation of the Reliability Groups, along with a commitment from management
was the first of many steps that Great Lakes Chemical would be taking on the path to
building a successful program.

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 DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS

One of the first tasks to be undertaken was a search for a more suitable computerized
maintenance management system (C.M.M.S.) that would allow us to better track and
analyze equipment failures and costs. The program that the South Arkansas facilities
eventually standardized upon was Datastream’s MP2. This program allows for the
recording of a detailed history of equipment and also has flexible reporting
capabilities. These capabilities allow us to compare and evaluate equipment cost and
failures throughout all of our facilities in South Arkansas. The reporting features of
MP2 also provide a valuable tool for communicating program successes and areas in
which more attention is required.

With the installation of MP2, a new equipment numbering system was developed for
the South Arkansas sites. This numbering system consists of a two-letter equipment
type identifier, followed by a two number process unit identifier, and finally a unique
three-number equipment I.D. As an example, the equipment number PP-02-403 would
describe a pump (PP), in the Fine Chemicals process unit (02), with an I.D. number of
403.

Without a consistent means of identifying equipment and tracking costs and failures,
the time and efforts spent by most reliability programs eventually becomes wasted or
misguided. Doubts can be raised as to the effectiveness of the program (i.e., Are you
going after the right equipment?, Is the cost of the predictive or preventive measures
taken j ustifiable?, etc.). With a solid equipment identification and cost/failure-
tracking program, the data generated becomes the driving force for the decisions made
as to where it makes sense or not to focus time and money on a particular piece or type
of equipment. For the GLCC-South Arkansas facilities, the installation of MP2 and the
development and implementation of a unified numbering system were two of the most
important first steps that our program would take.

SIX SIGMA PROGRAM

The early part of 1998 brought changes to the South Arkansas facilities as the Six
Sigma initiative began to move through Great Lakes. Six Sigma is a statistical
approach to process improvement that was developed at Motorola in 1985 and has
played a maj or role in the continued success of several maj or corporations including
General Electric and Allied Signal. As Six Sigma began to become a part of the
culture at the South Arkansas facilities, all aspects of our manufacturing process
began to be examined in a different light. Up until this point, the maintenance
departments at the four sites in South Arkansas and the maintenance groups within
each of the departments had operated independently of one another with limited
contact or exchange of information. The Six Sigma process promoted communication
throughout the South Arkansas facilities. The potential benefits of increased
communication throughout all of the maintenance departments were great. Since most
processes operated using similar equipment (pumps, compressors, blowers, etc.), all
facilities would stand to benefit from the experiences of others who had encountered
similar problems and had overcome them. In short, time and money could be focused
on new challenges instead of continually “reinventing the wheel”.

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 TEAM BUILDING

In the first quarter of 1998, the reliability program underwent several changes. One of
the first changes was the addition of several new members. The group was expanded
to include maintenance technicians to represent each of the South Arkansas facilities.
With the addition of the new members, the group now became the South Arkansas
Reliability Team (S.A.R.T.). What began as separate groups operating independently
was now a team working together toward a common goal. The responsibilities of the
team expanded to include the establishment of best practices for equipment, to develop
and provide training to all personnel charged with the maintenance and operation of
equipment, and the tracking and reporting of equipment failures and costs.

SIX SIGMA - MAIC

Once the team was in place, training was conducted for all of the team members on
Maintenance Based Six Sigma. This was a custom-developed program, which took
many of the tools commonly used for process improvement and adapted them for use
with maintenance applications. This program helped to give team members the tools
needed to accomplish the goals that were set before them. One of the tools gained
from the Six Sigma training was an outline that drives both maintenance and process
proj ects. This outline consists of four steps – 1) Measure, 2) Analyze, 3) Improve, 4)
Control. Following these steps, the S.A.R.T. began to move forward as one unit.
During the measurement step of the “maintenance proj ect,” data on equipment costs
and rate of failure was compiled for all of the South Arkansas facilities. The list of
equipment types alone was huge. It was clear early on that it would not be possible to
address every item at once. In order to set priorities as to where our limited resources
would be dedicated, the S.A.R.T. used another tool learned from our Six Sigma
training – Pareto Analysis. The Pareto principle, when applied to our equipment,
showed that 20% of the equipment accounted for 80% of the dollars spent for
equipment maintenance. It was this top 20% of equipment that we would be
concentrating our efforts on.

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 EQUIPMENT BREAKDOWN

Maintenance Cost

Pump Refrig Comp Gearbox Blower Centrifuge

Equipment Types

Figure 1

When the costs and number of equipment failures were pulled from MP2 and sorted in
an Excel pivot table, it was discovered that the equipment types that made up the top
80% of cost for maintenance in our facilities were pumps, fans, blowers, and
compressors (as shown in Figure 1). The team members were then assigned between
these equipment types to begin the second step of the proj ect – analysis.

BASELINE DATA & METRICS

(For the purpose of this paper, all of the examples will refer to pumps.)

Once the target equipment types were identified, our team again used MP2 to establish
baseline data and develop metrics for measuring the progress and effectiveness of the
programs that were being implemented. A metric is j ust a measurement tool that is
used to track progress and performance. Two of the metrics that the Reliability Team
uses for pumps are “Mean Time Between Failure” (MTBF) and “Equipment Repair
Cost”.

The MTBF for South Arkansas pumps were calculated initially using a 180-day scale.
The purpose of this was to allow us to tell early on if the tools and training that were
being provided were having the desired effect. Since our initial improvements in
reliability, we have gone to measuring MTBF on a continual, rolling basis going back
to January of 1998 (when we first started inputting data into our C.M.M.S.) to
calculate our MTBF.

MAPS & REQUIREMENT SHEETS

The question asked during the analysis step was not only what caused the failures to
the equipment that appeared at the top of the list, but what were all the possible
causes of failure for that particular equipment type. Only by identifying all of the
possible causes of failures can steps be taken to reduce or eliminate failures due to
those causes. The analysis and control steps of the “maintenance proj ect” consisted

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 of the development of equipment “maps & requirement sheets”. The purpose of the
sheets is to identify and “capture” all of the information relative to the equipment.
The sheets are separated into four distinct categories.
1. Application
2. Installation
3. Operation
4. Preservation
The Reliability Team has developed requirement sheets (for each of the above
categories) for pumps, fans & blowers, compressors and AC motors, and are
continuing to develop requirement sheets for other equipment types based on overall
cost or criticality. A “map” sheet precedes each requirement sheet. The purpose of
the “map” sheet is to provide a set of detailed instructions (such as who needs to be
involved in the decision making process, responsibilities of involved persons, etc.) for
the person completing each of the requirement sheets.

Application
One of the first steps to achieving maximum equipment reliability is to make sure that
the equipment that is being put into service is the best option for the application.
Equipment that has not been properly specified initially is one of the biggest causes of
repeated equipment failures. The intent of the map and requirement sheet for this step
is to make sure all of the questions relevant to the application are addressed prior to
the equipment being purchased.

Installation
The reliability of the best equipment available can be seriously compromised during
the installation stage. The best pump set on a substandard base can send mechanics on
a wild goose chase when trying to perform root cause failure analysis. Issues such as
proper foundation mass, alignment, pipe strain, etc. are addressed on these sheets.

Operation
It is a fact that the most successful, “world class” reliability programs have achieved
that level of success by gaining the support and “buy-in” of their production
departments. Production personnel, well trained in the operation of the equipment
that they are responsible for, can make the difference between a piece of equipment
with a low failure rate or a “bad actor”.

Preservation
The word preservation is used by the S.A.R.T. to describe all of the activities relating
to the maintenance and/or rebuilding of a given piece of equipment. The information
gathered on these sheets during equipment maintenance can provide the answer to why
a particular piece of equipment may be experiencing repeated failures. These sheets
contain a great deal more detail than normal work order histories and are maintained
in an equipment file for reference purposes when questions arise during equipment
rebuilds.

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 TRAINING
Part of the improvement step of the “maintenance proj ect” consisted of providing
training on all of the new tools that were developed or purchased to the personnel that
would be using them.

To help the technicians in their new role, training needs were assessed and programs
developed which helped to further the reliability cause. Since pumps were one of the
first equipment types to be targeted for improvement, many of the initial training
programs have centered around pump related training. An investment was made in
laser alignment equipment for each of the maintenance departments in South Arkansas
and training was conducted for all maintenance technicians who would be using it.
Next came Precision Pump Maintenance training to introduce all of the maintenance
technicians in South Arkansas to the new expectation that had been set with respect to
equipment maintenance.

In addition to the initial training programs, quarterly training continues to be

conducted and to date has included:
• Precision Pump Maintenance
• Laser Alignment Systems
• Introduction to Vibration Analysis
• Bearing Failure and Analysis

Future training programs that are being developed for maintenance personnel include:
• Mechanical Seal Basics
• Seal Failure Analysis

The role that the maintenance technician plays at the GLCC-South Arkansas facilities
has undergone a tremendous change in the past few years. The old school of thought
was to get the equipment up and running as quickly as possible with little or no time
taken to access the cause of the equipment failure. Increased competition in the
marketplace has driven all areas of our company and many others to work smarter.
The role of the maintenance technician has gone from being a “parts changer” to
becoming a highly skilled craftsman who is capable of performing root cause failure
analysis on the equipment that he or she is charged with maintaining. The craftsmen
in our facility today are capable of not only repairing equipment when it fails, but also
work to implement long term solutions that help to achieve maximum equipment life.

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 In-house training geared toward operations personnel and conducted by reliability
personnel was one of the next programs to be implemented. The first training class
for operations personnel consisted of basic principles of pump operation. To
accomplish this training, S.A.R.T. members got together and designed an acrylic
training pump unit (shown in Figure 2), which proved to be a very powerful teaching
tool. With the training pump the instructors are able to replicate many different types
of operating conditions and show the relationships of those conditions to
instrumentation readouts (such as flow, pressure, temperature, etc.).

Figure 2

The next phase of operator training is also being developed based upon an assessment
put together by the S.A.R.T. to determine where training needs lie. Based upon the
results of this assessment, this training will include basic pump diagnostics and
troubleshooting, basic seal information, and a review of proper pump operation.

PREVENTIVE/PREDICTIVE TOOLS
In addition to the equipment maps, requirement sheets, and continuing training
programs, the GLCC-South Arkansas facilities also utilize a number of preventive and
predictive tools. The preventive tools for pumps consist of periodic tasks (oil
changes, gauge checks, etc.). The predictive tools currently in use are:
• Vibration Analysis
• Oil Analysis
• Infrared Thermography
• Ultrasonic Devices

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 Vibration Analysis
The vibration analysis program was one of the first predictive programs implemented
at the South Arkansas facilities. The idea that a technician could record and interpret
vibration signatures and use this information to determine the condition of the
equipment (bearing problems, misalignment) was met with pretty strong skepticism. It
has slowly gained acceptance over the past couple of years after repeated successes
and is now a trusted tool for condition monitoring, especially for larger equipment or
equipment in critical services.

Oil Analysis
Oil analysis has seen limited use on larger equipment at the South Arkansas facilities
for a few years but is beginning to develop into an organized program. With limited
resources to devote to the program (both human and monetary), each of the sites in
South Arkansas has had to be creative in their approach to setting the program into
motion. One of the first steps in this program involved enlisting the help and
expertise of our oil supplier to conduct site lubrication surveys. This information
helped us to get an overview of the different brands and types of lubrication used
throughout South Arkansas. Once this was completed, we consolidated our lubes
where possible. The next step was to help eliminate the confusion that was present
when it came time to add or change out lubricants (i.e., What lubrication goes into
what equipment?). This problem was solved by the use of color coded lube containers
from the supplier paired with color-coded tags attached to the equipment. This system
is currently working very well for us. These initial steps, along with the identification
of equipment requiring periodic oil analysis and the installation of a proper oil
sampling port on these pieces of equipment, appear to be cost effective steps in the
right direction with this program.

Inf rared Thermography

This program is relatively new to our sites and hasn’t become well established yet.
We currently have two cameras being used in our South Arkansas facilities and a
number of technicians have been trained on the operation of thermal cameras. To date
the cameras have been used for a variety of applications such as determining liquid
and solids levels in tanks, finding bearing “hot spots” in pumps and motors, finding
pluggages in piping, and finding “hot spots” in motor control center panel boxes.

Ultrasonic Devices
Ultrasonic condition monitoring technology is j ust beginning to be explored at our
sites. Currently we are working with a hand held “gun” and headphone setup, which
displays a decibel readout over an adj ustable frequency range. In addition, an
ultrasonic listening device that attaches to a grease gun has been utilized when the
need has arisen to grease bearings. This equipment appears to be promising, but no
organized program has been established for it so far.

SUMMARY

The reliability program at the GLCC-South Arkansas facilities has covered a lot of
ground in the past two years. There has been a great investment of time and money for
the purposes of training personnel and purchasing equipment. Without question the
maintenance and operations technicians are now better trained to perform their j ob
duties, but the true measure of success for our program still comes down to one thing

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 – “Have the changes made with respect to the application, installation, operation, and
preservation, result in a decrease in maintenance dollars spent and an increase in the
MTBF of the equipment?”.

The answer to that question for Great Lakes Chemical Corporation’s South Arkansas
facilities has to this point been a solid ‘YES’. Since the beginning of the reliability
“Team” effort early in 1998, pump costs have seen a 36% decline, while the MTBF for
those pumps has improved by 6% and the MTBF for the worst 20% of the pumps has
improved by 41%, as can be seen in Figures 3 & 4. In addition to further
improvements in these numbers, the S.A.R.T. fully expects to see similar results for
other equipment types as they are addressed.

The road to building a successful reliability program in any company regardless of

size can be difficult at times. Good programs require the dedication of the people who
are charged with administering them, and the support and “buy-in” of all of those who
are involved with them. No one department acting alone can effect a lasting change.
It takes everyone working toward the same goal to build a strong and successful
program. Management, purchasing, supervision, mechanical, electrical, and
operational support are all vital parts of a program capable of withstanding the test of
time.

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 Average Time Between Failures
Pumps Across South Arkansas
Days for
Days top 20%
170 160

165 145

160 130

155 115

150 100
145 85

140 70
Au g-9 8

Au g-9 9
M ay-9 9
N o v-9 8

D ec-9 8

Ju n-9 9
M ar-9 9
Sep-9 8

Sep-9 9
Apr-9 9
O ct-9 8

Jan-9 9

O ct-9 9
F eb-9 9
Ju l-9 8

Ju l-9 9
A TB F To p 2 0 %

Figure 3

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 $K$

140
190
240
290
340
390
440
490
Ju l-9 8

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Au g-9 8

Sep-9 8

O ct-9 8

N o v-9 8

D ec-9 8
Trend

Jan-9 9

F eb-9 9

Figure 4
M ar-9 9

Apr-9 9

M ay-9 9
Repair Costs

Ju n-9 9
Pumps Across South Arkansas

Ju l-9 9

Au g-9 9

Sep-9 9

O ct-9 9

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