core sector communique

Maintainer Award 2011 goes to ThyssenKrupp Xervon

Renowned maintenance prize for full-service concept at Chemiepark Marl

ThyssenKrupp Xervon GmbH, Düsseldorf, was presented on March 22 the Maintainer Award, the Oscar for maintenance work, in the course of MainDays 2011. The summit is organized by TA Cook for eleven years, and has since become an independent meeting place for experts from maintenance and technical support from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In the category of the "best service provider," the independent jury of experts were impressed by the maintenance program provided for the Marl location of Vestolit GmbH & Co. KG. Reasons given by the jury were the special complexity due to having to rebuild the infrastructure, the absence of a takeover option for standard parts as well as the rapid provision of key employees.

Since 2007, ThyssenKrupp Xervon has had a regular operation at Vestolit and takes care of maintaining the production facilities of the PVC producer at Chemiepark Marl. At the time, Vestolit and Xervon had agreed on a full-service contract comprising the planning and execution of maintenance or repair work, the purchase and storage of parts and the purchase and coordination of all contractor services. Moreover, both parties agreed on criteria for measuring and evaluating the technical availability of the facilities as a decisive value-adding factor generated through maintenance services.

Meanwhile, a full-service location has evolved, entirely integrated into the customer processes and encompassing a complete range of maintenance trades as well as others including scaffolding, insulation, corrosion protection, pipework. In five newly erected or renovated workshops, around 120 skilled workers are employed. Annual sales from maintenance work amount to around €15 million. The location's performance has been constantly improving since maintenance implementation, with neither any reportable accidents nor any lost days. The throughput times of the maintenance jobs carried out in the workshops as well as the processing speed of the reports have accelerated by more than 50 percent. The agreed plant availability has been achieved.

Vestolit and its ThyssenKrupp Xervon service provider have agreed on pushing ahead with a continuous improvement approach. This is also emphasized by Vestolit manager Dr. Michael Träger: "ThyssenKrupp Xervon had to cope with several Herculean tasks at the same time here at Marl. Apart from the input of resources, the interaction and confidence building measures between the team of maintenance and plant employees were of prime importance for success. Now we can work more intensely on further improvements. My thanks and congratulations to the team for the results achieved!"

ThyssenKrupp Xervon GmbH ranks among the foremost providers worldwide of technical services for the setting-up and maintenance of industrial plants primarily in the (petro)chemical industry, the energy, building and construction sectors. The lineup extends from one-off jobs such as scaffolding, insulation, coating and pipework via all-in upkeep of process plant (assembly, installation, maintenance, inspection, and repair of rotating equipment, instrumentation and control units, fittings, chemical apparatus) to comprehensive site management services including budgeting, maintenance scheduling and performance, infrastructure services and the operation of auxiliary plant. Another Xervon specialty is shutdown management, skills in which the Company commands over 30 years of international experience in successfully organizing and executing countless megaprojects.

At Chemiepark Marl, VESTOLIT GmbH & Co. KG operates the largest integrated PVC production facilities in Europe and is market leader in PVC for producing window profiles, floorings, tarpaulin materials and underbody protection for motor vehicles. Integration means that, from the starting point of energy and the raw materials ethylene and rock salt via the intermediate products EDC (ethylene dichloride) and VCM (vinyl chloride), the production of PVC all takes place at one location. Nowadays, the company employs around 600 people at Marl and has 56 representatives around the globe.