CaseStory AlfaLaval en Low

8/6/2019 CaseStory AlfaLaval en Low

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Case Story. Alfa Laval Moatti – for when only completereliability will do.



Case Story. Alfa Laval Moatti – for when only complete

reliability will do.

Lube oil filter.



Within the Alfa Laval Group, the French company AlfaLaval Moatti is the specialist for the development andproduction of large self-cleaning lters. Alfa Laval Moat tihas around 50 employees. In its modern factory in Elan-

court, to the south-west of Paris, it manufactures auto-matique oil lters for use, on board ships, on railways, inmines, in generators and in large rolling mills for paper andsteel manufacturing, and lters for coolant systems. Thecompany’s main focus is on the production of oil lters forship engines and Diesel generators. Alfa Laval Moatti ltersare used by customers all over the world.

Downtime costs money“Our customers generally run their ships or machinery24 hours a day,” explains Julien Gennetier, President of

Alfa Laval Moatti. “For uninterrupted operation 24 hoursa day, seven days a week, it is essential that they haveperfectly functioning filters. A defective oil filter can bringa ship to a standstill or make it impossible for a mine tokeep running. These industries are characterised by highcapital expenditure. If ships or conveying systems grindto a halt due to a faulty f ilter, earnings are lost while pro-duction costs continue to be incurred. If a ship cannotsail due to a filter defect, that means idle capital for theoperating company. Therefore our customers must beable to rely 100 % on the operational reliabilit y of ourfilters. As well as offering exce llent reliability, our self-cleaning filters also massively reduce maintenance costs.”

From 236,000 to 40 0,000 filter elements per year The core of these specialised lters is formed by lter ele-ments. The quality is of key importance for the reliabilityof the oil lter as a whole, which is why it is important to

Alfa Laval Moatti that it produces them itself. Every singlelter element consists of three meshes. Depending on thetype and size of the lter, an oil lter may require numerous

lter elements. Alfa Laval Moat ti produces around 236,000of these filter elements every year. The remaining com-ponents designed by the company are sub-contracted.In the production of the filter elements, the steel meshesare cast into an aluminium frame. This casting processrequires a very high degree of precision, because thequality of the filters depends on it. For 20 years now, AlfaLaval Moatti has sourced its die casting machines fromBühler. “When it was time to replace our die c astingmachine, we therefore opted for Buhler once again,” saysPierre Chambrion, Head of Production at A lfa Laval Moatti.“For us, the name Buhler has a lways been synonymouswith quality and reliability. And we don’t regret our choice!”

Target: increased out put“Our decision to replace our die casting machine wasmotivated by a desire to increase productivity and capac-ity,” explains Pascal Ehlen, project manager at Alfa LavalMoatti. “Above all we wanted to automate the entireprocess in order to reduce cycle times and increase ourcapacity to enable us to cast in 400,000 lter elements

Customers of Alfa Laval Moatti know that they can t rust entirely in the reliabilit y ofthe company’s oil filters. When replacing its own die casting machine – a key elementin the company’s production process – the French subsidiary of t he international AlfaLaval Group put its trust in the competence and support of Bühler D ruckguss.



annually. We also wanted to be capable of producinglarger filters than before.” In June 2008, Alfa Laval Moat tiordered an Evolution E34D die casting machine fromBühler Druckguss. The system also includes a smeltinginstallation with metering unit, a spray system, a filtermagazine, and a robot that feeds the machine with theraw meshes, removes the finished filter elements,removes burrs, marks the parts and finally depositsthem on a cooling section. Before, all of these proces-ses were carried out manually.

Simple solution Automating the entire process turned out not to be as easyto implement as had been thought. In particular, a specialsolution needed to be found to insert the metal filters intothe machine. However, on the basis of close cooperationwith project manager Pascal Ehlen and the engineers fromBühler Druckguss, it took just a month to find a simpleand cost-effective automation solution to meet Alfa Laval‘srequirements. Installation of the complete die castingmachine commenced in October 2008. Thanks to a newbuilding with an area of more than 2,500 square metres

Case Story. Alfa Laval Moatti – for when only complete

reliability will do.



constructed spec ially for the new system, the entirematerial flow also improved. After just a few tria l runs, itwas clear that the new system would easily satisfy thecustomer’s requirements. The automation of the processesinvolved meant that the new system had a daily output of 40 % more than the previous machine. The cycle time wasreduced to 30 seconds. Thanks to the robot, the machineoperator is now also able to concentrate on parallel pro-cesses such as furnace cleaning or preparatory tasks.On 17 Decembe r 2008 – in other words, just six monthsafter the order was placed – the new die casting machine

was handed over to the management of Alfa Laval Moattiin Elancourt. Its grand inauguration finally took place on11 March 2009.

Cooling conveyor with casted filters.



Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval was established in Sweden in 1883. Alfa Laval’s first product was

a centrifugal separator. Today, the Alfa Laval Group is a leading producer

worldwide of heat exchangers and systems and machines for the filtration and

transportation of fluids. The companies of Alfa Laval employ more than 11,000

people in 100 countries, and generate a Group turnover of around € 2.8 billion.

The Alfa Laval Group has its headquarters in the Swedish city of Lund.

www.alfalaval.com

“We felt good”Since it went into operation, Alfa Laval Moatti’s new diecasting plant has been functioning to the company’sfull satisfaction. Project manager Pascal Ehlen, who has

many years of experience in the field, says, “The newplant completely meets our expectations in terms of reliability, speed and qualit y.” And he adds, “But that isonly one of the reasons why we are so satisfied. We arealso very impressed by the way things proceeded in ourcooperation with Buhler. Bühler Druckguss was a strongpartner and a contact for all aspects of the project. Buhlerresponded helpfully to all of our questions and concerns.

Buhler dealt with all issues of concern to us, coordinatedcooperation between the various suppliers for the metalfeed system, the spraying unit, the enclosure and the

cooling conveyor, as well as with the robot supplier ABBand Marti Engineering, and subsequently combined theindividual components to create the whole. We werealso impressed by the commitment with which the BühlerDruckguss team dealt with our requests, even though weare only a small customer for them. We simply felt goodwith Buhler.”



left: Jean-Claude Bouillant, Operator / right: Pascal Ehlen project manager.



Bühler Druckguss AGCH-9240 Uzwil, SwitzerlandT + 41 71 955 12 12F + 41 71 955 25 8 [email protected]

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CaseStory AlfaLaval en Low