Augusta Newsprint Saves Thousands with Predictive Maintenance Program:

Augusta Newsprint Company has been in operation since 1966, and uses pine logs and recycled paper as their main fiber furnishes. Two paper machines produce 12,000 tonnes of newsprint every day and approximately 400,000 tonnes of newsprint each year for distribution all over the world.

A vibration program has been in place since 1993, and the plant embraced emerging IR technology when thermography became a part of its predictive maintenance program in 2001. The plant loses $60 for every minute one of the paper mills is down, so every second counts. Detecting a loose connection is a symformer exhaust fan saved the company at least $7,000- in the past the repair had taken between two and six hours, depending on the extent of the failure.

Augusta’s program, with help from FLIR instructors, has developed into an efficient, cost effective way to prevent equipment failures and pin-point process problems. With regular surveys of equipment the company is able to keep their newsprint running hot off the presses, and their customers content.

Camera Used: Flir 695

Courtesy of Larry Baird and Russell Bushee, Augusta Newsprint Company, in Inframation Proceedings 2003