SPOT Safety Case Study
Safety Training Increases Product Efficiency
CHALLENGE:
The Southern U.S.-based operations of a global industrial supplier to the energy market experienced high abrasive usage during the manufacture of its business towers and flanges for wind turbines. Operators were using flap discs for only a portion of the product’s life when grinding tubes for the towers, resulting in increased downtime for disc changeover and higher abrasive inventory and costs. For certain applications, the flap discs didn’t provide aggressive enough action, which increased grinding time.
SOLUTION:
Several hundred employees participated in S.P.O.T. training (Speed & Size, Pressure, Orientation, Time), learning the proper, most productive, and safe way to use the flap discs. In addition, an assessment of the grinding operation revealed the opportunity to implement consumables offering higher removal rates for key applications. This led the industrial supplier to convert to Tiger® Ceramic Resin Fiber Discs
RESULT:
The industrial supplier reduced its abrasive usage by approximately 30 percent and increased production from 8 to 14 tubes per week for the wind turbine towers.