The Situation
A manufacturer of confectionery products has a total of thirteen machines which require metal working coolant. No formal fluid management program was in-place, which meant that the factory was not compliant with health and safety standards. The current coolant being used was spoiling within days, creating a bad odour due to the bacteria thriving within it. This presented a serious issue with the production area being tightly controlled for health and safety risks. Operatives were also being put at risk from inhaling coolant mist. The HSE gave the site two weeks to implement a program, leading to HAYLEY DEXIS being contacted for urgent assistance.
The Solution
The team at the customer’s local HAYLEY DEXIS branch contacted FUCHS for support and a site visit was arranged for the next day. Over the course of the following two days, work was conducted to sterilise, empty and, finally, refill the machines with FUCHS ECOCOOL GLOBAL 20 coolant while implementing a digital fluid management tool, FLUIDS CONNECT. On day one, the machines were sterilised with ANTICIDE 14 sterilising agent and cleaned with RENOCLEAN FXM 4005 system cleaner. All machines were run for a number of hours to flush them before they were emptied and thoroughly cleaned the next morning.
On day two, the machines were refilled with ECOCOOL GLOBAL 20 from FUCHS, and a dose of ANTICIDE 14. Before being set to run as normal. Details of all machines including make, model, sump size were uploaded to the FLUIDS CONNECT portal, enabling effective fluid management, moving forwards. FUCHS also trained the Site Manager on the use of the new platform before training was also delivered to the HAYLEY DEXIS personnel now responsible for managing the metal-working fluids on-site. FUCHS will visit the customer on a quarterly basis to ensure everything is running as planned.
"IMPROVED FLUID MANAGEMENT HAS REMOVED SAFETY CONCERNS ONSITE."
The Result
The intervention by HAYLEY DEXIS and FUCHS has removed concerns surrounding compliance with health and safety regulations, preventing fines and temporary shutdown action from the HSE. Engineers and operatives are no longer at risk of inhaling infected coolant mist. If the HSE had forced the machines shop to stop operations, the customer would have lost production worth in the region of £40,000. A cost-saving of around £3,000p.a. has been achieved due to a reduction in waste disposal costs. Other cost-savings have also been secured with the FUCHS coolant being less expensive than the product it has replaced. Thanks to HAYLEY DEXIS staff now being trained in the management of the metal-working fluids, a chargeable visit from FUCHS is only required on a quarterly basis, rather than weekly. This alone, has saved the customer £14,400 per year.