Capital Equipment News December 2015

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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS DECEMBER 2015 14
INGERSOLL RAND CLIENT DEDICATION
reflected in commitment to Eskom’s Majuba Plant
In 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
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.
To facilitate smooth running of the service
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.
CONSTRUCTION