Availability up, costs down

To provide even better assistance to customers using our plants, BMA has restructured its After-Sales department (formerly Assistance), now offering maintenance, inspection and repair services, optimisation, spare parts and training.

In the cost analysis of a plant, what counts even in the medium term is not the initial investment but operating costs throughout its service life. Which is why BMA offers its customers a wide range of preventive maintenance and repair services.

The benefits are clear: lengthening a plant’s service life has a positive effect on its operating costs. Preventive maintenance of a plant helps lengthen its replacement period as well as reducing downtimes – which in turn eliminates the need for unscheduled repairs during operation. These are detrimental to production output and often require costly immediate action.

Such costs can be avoided – with preventive maintenance and repair services from BMA. Maintenance and repair times can be scheduled and production targets met. Our new service strategy also focuses on upstream and downstream processes. We improve the reliability and availability of sugar production, not just individual plants.

Our service professionals look after all BMA-built plants. Such as with inspections for extraction towers, which form part of our standard range of services: they ensure plant availability and help prevent factory downtimes during the campaign. In addition, we assist our customers with company-specific inspections, tailored to their particular requirements. Customers can rely on us during upgrades or the relocation of plants, during production starts or process optimisations.

And during maintenance work, our service teams train the machine operators, enabling them to carry out simple maintenance and repair tasks themselves. To ensure the plants from BMA are used safely and efficiently.

The BMA After-Sales team relies on around 30 centrifugal service technicians worldwide. They meet once a year at BMA’s head office in Braunschweig, for knowledge sharing, learning from others, and training. These events help both new and experienced colleagues maintain their knowledge at a high level. 

State-of-the-art upgrades can also improve the performance of plants that have been in use for some time. BMA offers a comprehensive portfolio of upgrades and service products, particularly for our whole range of centrifugals: to improve the plants’ productivity, lengthen their service life, enhance their safety, and adapt them to today’s production environment.

Upgrades for the B and G-series batch centrifugals permit maximum throughput thanks to the improved discharger systems. Discharge losses and cycle times are reduced to a minimum. The charging process and wash water application are optimised with the help of inline sensors. Highly energy-efficient drive systems that are designed for process optimisation help boost performance and lower energy consumption. 

State-of-the-art centrifugal control systems enhance usability, offering fully automatic operation with diagnostic features and integration with a process control system. Combined with safety-related drive technology, they comply with current safety standards. BMA eddy current testing for centrifugal baskets makes an impressive contribution to plant safety and service life; it is performed with the basket installed.

New distributor and basket technologies for continuous centrifugals improve sugar quality and reduce sugar losses, while also offering greater operational reliability. Additional benefits of upgrading baskets to the latest models from BMA include lower energy consumption, higher throughput and less wear. With less maintenance work and easy replacement and assembly – resulting in minimal downtimes – such a technology upgrade pays off quickly.

Viewing windows improve visual feed monitoring during operation, allowing operating staff to control the process to perfection. Overflowing is prevented and the plant can be operated safely. 

The rubber buffers, too, contribute significantly to a longer service life and better availability. Low-vibration running is gentle on the anti-friction bearings and reduces maintenance work. Thanks to their state-of-the-art design, the buffers are easily replaced. 

Customers can also benefit from BMA’s upgrades for centrifugal mechanical parts or the drive and control systems.