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Keep assembly lines running – By implementing Bosch Rexroth’s replacement program, called REMAN, production engineers can largely predict their associated service costs and minimise downtimes dramatically.
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Downtime equals lost revenue – for a production line, unplanned downtime is not an option. Richard Smith explains how Bosch Rexroth’s REMAN program is already helping to keep Ford Motor Company’s Bridgend Engine Plant running.
As leading suppliers of drives and control equipment, Rexroth delivers reliable and long-lasting components that guarantee high availability during the machine’s useful service life. When the component approaches obsolescence, original new replacements are in limited supply and therefore unit costs can become unpredictable – necessitating the need for additional stockholding. Furthermore, during this wear out phase, the component failure rate can also increase significantly.
To reduce the effects of higher unit replacement costs and lost revenue due to unplanned and frequent downtimes, Rexroth offers a replacement program, known as REMAN. Under this program, Rexroth supplies refurbished units with a new warranty and offers fair compensation for each returned unit. This arrangement enables both Rexroth and the customer to largely predict the associated service costs and minimise downtimes.
One particular production plant that is already feeling the benefits of employing Rexroth’s REMAN program is Ford Motor Company’s Bridgend Engine Plant. This facility, which opened in 1980, spreads across an area of 60 acres (1.5 million square feet) and currently builds around 700,000 petrol engines per year.
The DDS (Digital Drive Servo) technology, which has over 900 installed drives, keeps the gantries and component placement equipment moving. Historically, when the warranty agreements ended between Ford Bridgend and Bosch Rexroth, an all-encompassing repair contract was sufficient to support the plant. Most product was still supported by Rexroth through its service centres, and stock and repairs were sufficient. In addition, product was generally still within its predictive failure phase and therefore relatively easier to plan and cost for both parties.
The current engine programs were expected to finish, making way for new technologies and projects. But, with the global rise in fuel costs and the ever increasing push towards zero carbon emissions, popularity of small, more fuel-efficient engines grew drastically. As a result, Ford Bridgend’s 1.25/1.4/1.6 engine programs had to be extended significantly, making the repair contract less tenable.
Rexroth firmly believes that customer support with the application and use of its products should be offered for the entire lifetime of a production plant. As the original OEM at the Ford Bridgend plant, Rexroth has the advantage of maintaining its products to the latest specification. Engineers at the engine plant were satisfied with the DDS system, installed originally by Indramat, a company Rexroth acquired several years previously, and keen not to go through with a system retrofit.
Retrofit or modernisation options have varying levels of complexity, and range from single axis solutions to complete machine upgrades. Nevertheless, at any level, the required investment required to retrofit such a system isn’t just the initial outlay of new equipment; there are also the costs associated with downtime during system optimisation and normally a bedding in period, as well as system training.
The major obstacle was that as the components were approaching maturity, they were becoming increasingly difficult and more costly to obtain. Nonetheless, engineers at the Ford Bridgend facility were confident in Rexroth’s products and services, so alternative suppliers were never considered – also the risks associated with the installation of counterfeit or sub-standard components were far too high.
It was agreed to omit DDS technology from the repair contact and instead implement a remanufacture program, or REMAN. The goal of this REMAN service is to bring the components back into a serviceable state and by Rexroth’s commitment to support these products inline with engine program life expectancies.
The tangible benefits of using Rexroth’s REMAN program are also self-evident – greater machine up-time represents reduction in lost production and fewer repairs means less expenditure. REMAN, as the alternative solution to retrofit, also offers significant costs savings since there was no investment in new technologies and no requirement for staff training.
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