Installation of Unicast trunnion head at Cemex Philippines
Unicast improved the design and alloy of the ball mill head to optimize its life cycle.
Kelowna, British Colombia (PRWEB) November 25, 2015
Last week, the APEC Philippines 2015 concluded a yearlong summit in the Philippines which has been growing faster than most countries in the area. In 2014, Unicast, a trusted wear parts manufacturer from Kelowna, BC, Canada, opened a new office in the Philippines. Since opening, the experience has been exceptionally positive. Unicast has developed a strong relationship with local customers as well as across South-East Asia who count on Unicast’s expertise to get the most life out of their heavy equipment. Below an illustration of the role of Unicast in a long-time customer recent expansion in the Philippines.
Unicast President Gerry L’Esperance recently learned from his local engineer in Manilla that his customer, Cemex Philippines, had suffered weeks of downtime and consumed 1 ton of welding rod to keep their ball mill in working order.
L’Esperance knew what Unicast had to do. "Using Unicast’s engineering and manufacturing capabilities, Unicast improved the design and alloy of the ball mill head to optimize its life cycle", said Efren Ignacio, Unicast Philippines General Sales Manager (http://www.unicast.com.ph).
“Unicast has the expertise and technical strength to reverse engineer the ball mill head,” L’Esperance says. “Our team is able to make performance improvements that will increase the part’s wear life.”
Engineering a ball mill head is a complex process. The finished product uses about 25 tons of steel, stands about 4 meter diameter, and needs to be precise within 1/1000th of an inch. The ball mill is an integral piece in the cement manufacturing process; without it, a plant can lose days of production that will cost major loss of revenue and potential loss of customers.
Here is a brief breakdown of the entire process:
- Meeting with Cemex maintenance supervisor, Ronald Queral, for design discussion to reduce fatigue cracks and improve material performance (alloy choices)
- On site measurements after emptying the mill and removing inner liners – this includes outside dimension to obtain trunnion details;
- Proposal (including CAD drawing, quality assurance plan and quotation) sent to the customer for review and approval;
- Purchase order received with a 5 months delivery date requirements;
- Inspection at the foundry and machine shop during manufacturing process to ensure compliance to the 25 step quality control plan;
- Final inspection by L’Esperance and customer inspector prior to shipping;
- Product released and shipped directly to the Philippines.
Maintenance and engineering staff requiring information on precision casting such as ball mill head, gear and pinion should contact Unicast at wearpartsolutions(at)unicast.ca for a detailed proposal specific to their plant.
About Unicast
Unicast designs and distributes quality cast replacement wear parts for the cement, mining, aggregate, and coal industries worldwide. We supply superior castings from chrome moly, manganese steels, heat and corrosion resistant stainless steels, high chrome white irons and low alloy steels.
Our core wear part solutions include diverter valves, apron feeder pans, grinding mill liners, hammers and blow bars, grizzly panels, and cooler grates. Our cast wear parts have been the reliable, hassle-free choice for maintenance engineers around the world since 1994. http://www.unicast.ca