Albany International maintains high standards with help from
Sometimes you can just feel the electricity in a relationship right from the beginning. Such is the case with Albany International (AI), the world’s largest producer of paper machine clothing and high performance doors. AI has 37 facilities in 14 countries and produces $1 billion a year in revenue, notes Tim Golden, corporate risk manager for AI. AI depends on Matco Electric’s proactive maintenance program to keep its facilities safe and cost effective.
Matco began the relationship by exploring Albany International’s Homer, New York, facility, doing energized work and checking control panels and electrical routing. “We did thermography studies to see heat sources and checked grounded and loose connections and arc flash potential,” says Golden. As a result of the proactive maintenance, Matco Electric brought the Homer facility
to meet the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) arc flash standards, notes Golden.
After working on the project in Homer, Matco’s Bill Newman and his maintenance engineering group, along with insurance firm FM Global, produced a seminar on electrical safety for Albany International’s engineers from the Northern United States and Canada. “Bill’s group informed them of the safety requirements needed to protect the employees,” says Golden. Training in the proper use of safety equipment such as face shields and arc flash coats followed for managers and supervisors.
“Insurance companies want testing because electrical systems are the number one cause of interruption,” says Newman. “As businesses become more automated and dependent on their electrical systems, they realize that they need to become more proactive,” he says. “They reduce the costs and risks for their insurance companies but also for their own employees’ safety.”
“Our job is to make sure that the employees and the facilities are as safe as possible and to reduce the business interruption and safety risks,” says Newman.
Proactive Prevention
Tom Spicer, Matco’s TEGG maintenance foreman for AI, describes the TEGG testing program for AI. “We are their eyes in the field. We look at their equipment, test all of their main switch gear, and do arc flash studies to conform to NFPA 70E. Their profession is producing fabrics; ours is electricity, and we do it well,” he says. Spicer notes that the testing helps to eliminate downtime and lost production. “They need to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he says, recalling that the electricians worked between Christmas
and New Year’s to avoid lost workdays when the firm was in operation. At one time, 15 electricians were working at six locations in Menands, New York. “We try to plan it out and decide what equipment needs to be repaired or replaced in the future to minimize
downtime,” he says.
The recent arc flash requirement document, from NFPA 70E, is a national document tied into the National Electrical Code required by OSHA. When something goes wrong with electrified conductors and they can no longer withstand the applied voltage, an arc flash can occur, resulting not only in a bright flash of light and loud noise, but also temperatures that can reach more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The radiant energy exploding from the electrical equipment can cause injuries to eyesight and hearing as well as severe
burns. The resulting pressure wave can transform equipment, metal tools, and other objects into flying projectiles.
Regulations require the calculation of the “flash protection boundary,” an imaginary sphere surrounding the potential arc point, within “which a person could receive a second degree burn if an electrical arc flash were to occur,” according to the NFPA 70E standard. It has been reported that from 5 to 10 times a day, an arc flash explosion occurs in electric equipment somewhere in the United States that sends a burn victim to a special burn center.
“Most people are hurt due to electrical burns from arc flash rather than shock while working on a panel,” says Newman. The people who work in areas prone to arc flash “need to know what protective equipment needs to be worn to sustain a potential blast and walk
away,” he adds. Matco’s goal at AI was threefold: to protect Albany International’s employees and reduce downtime costs and risks; to provide preventive maintenance information for the insurance company; and to produce information regarding the incident energy level regarding arc flash at every panel.
Golden adds that FM Global also required a one-line diagram schematic of all of the electrical distribution. “Matco has a software
program for that. If a fuse blows out, we can look it right up on the master wiring program on the computer and see exactly which one it was.”
Cutting Costs
Besides the safety aspect, the testing saves money on lost time due to repairs. There is a five-to-one ratio for every dollar for business interruption, notes Newman. “That means that if an interruption takes place, for every dollar it costs to get the business back online, it takes $5 in costs incurred.” Besides that, he suggests, “If a facility goes down you don’t know if you will ever get those customers back. That’s immeasurable.”
AI’s safety and maintenance program with Matco will continue across the continents. In January, training will begin for AI’s European facilities in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Italy, France, and England. “We plan to finish up the United States and Canada in 2007 and 2008 and then continue to maintain our facilities up to compliance,” says Golden. “We not only want to meet industrial standards but to get ahead of them,” he says. “The bottom line is to protect the employees. Safety is permanent.”