Success Stories
Fertilisers and Road Building
Lime Process Blower
The art of machine monitoring has come a long way over the years.
And, thanks to modern technology, today’s high-tech sensors and systems seem alien to the fault-finding methods of old.
What once required familiarity with a piece of equipment—and a keen ear—is now supported by interconnected technology, AI trend analysis, and visualised data dashboards.
Yet, while monitoring technology has improved, the aim remains the same:
To avoid costly breakdowns, last-minute repairs and risky emergency jobs.
With help from MOVUS, Aglime Fertilisers has entered a new era of planned, controlled, and data-driven maintenance schedules.
Founded in 1938 in the NSW Tablelands, it’s fair to say that Aglime is a ‘seasoned’ business.
It’s a testament to their importance that they continue to supply premium crushed and processed lime to Australia’s agriculture sector.
Aglime relies on high-end British-made machines and uses traditional maintenance practices to keep them running.
That was until the team decided to trial a couple of MOVUS sensors on their hard-working mill and blower gear.
Nick Levy, Aglime’s GM, said although the team initially resisted trying the new condition monitoring solution and moving on from ‘physical feeling’, the move to MOVUS paid off quickly.
“Our mill pulverises down to 10 microns, and the blower transfers fine powder into silos. If it goes down, our operation shuts down,” Nick said.
Shortly after installation on the factory blower, one of the MOVUS sensors picked up a temperature spike.
Aglime’s maintenance team then verified the spike with handheld temperature devices.
“The problem was real, not fiction,” Nick said.
“We chose to replace it with a refurbished blower we had on the shelf.”
If the problem progressed, a seized motor or metal shard throughout the system could have resulted.
“It was one day of downtime versus possibly weeks, which would have been very expensive for us,” Nick said.
“We sent the blower away for refurb, and it’s back. The MOVUS system detected problems early. It was doing its job.”
Once an alarm was triggered via the MachineCloud dashboard, Nick liaised in person with the MOVUS team to verify the fault and go over the recorded data.
During joint dashboard calls, Nick went back in time and heard some highly concerning metallic noises coming from Aglime’s blower machinery, which the MOVUS sensor picked up.
“Access to the MOVUS team made me happy,” Nick said.
“They were excellent, regularly talking to me, scheduling a weekly meeting and sending alarms to my phone.”
As an old machine with ‘no smarts’, MOVUS gave Aglime the early warning they needed to avoid a six-figure breakdown on process-critical machinery.
“We’re just seven blokes in the bush, Nick added.
“A few grand has saved us $100,000. For a small team, that’s big!”
Early Fault Detection
Minimised process downtime
Avoided catastrophic failure
Enabled planned preventative maintenance
MOVUS condition monitoring gives you the power to avoid unplanned downtime, take preventative action and reduce the risk to your people on the ground.
© MOVUS Australia Pty Ltd
ABN 91 612 415 611
Contact MOVUS today to discuss a condition monitoring package tailored to support your critical assets and end-to-end operations.