Reliable electrical maintenance is crucial for a corrugated cardboard plant – Adara Pakkaus chose Bravida

Adara Pakkaus produces corrugated cardboard and cardboard packaging at their factory in Valkeakoski, Finland. The company, which was founded in 1933, primarily provides cardboard packaging to the foodstuff and paper industries and POP and advertising materials to retail businesses.

In recent years, Adara Pakkaus has invested heavily in factory automation, especially for materials processing. They have also modernised the plant in other ways to streamline production processes.

The demanding workplace environment calls for in-depth expertise
Operations at Adara Pakkaus are divided into three shifts. The machinery and packaging lines on the two factory floors, which are about as large as two football fields, must be kept online to prevent any work slowdowns or stoppages. Whenever an error occurs, it must be remediated as quickly as possible to ensure high machine utilisation rates and prevent delayed deliveries to customers.

In 2013, Adara Pakkaus decided to outsource the factory’s electrical maintenance. They wanted to find a partner who not only had electrical industry expertise, but also in-depth maintenance know-how. The partner needed not only to be able to maintain, repair and service the machinery, but also to be capable of diagnosing problems, discovering their root causes, and remediating them to prevent any reoccurrence. The requirements for the workplace environment were extremely demanding since the machinery contains components and technology from several different eras.

Problem-solving skills are critically important
Bravida’s electrical maintenance experts ensure that the electrical and automation systems on the production and factory floors work like clockwork in Adara’s plant. This includes preventive maintenance, with modifications and upgrades, as well as repairs. Bravida has electrical maintenance staff on site during the morning and evening shifts and offers Adara 24/7 on-call service for emergency maintenance at night and on weekends.

The challenging workplace environment calls for electrical maintenance personnel with wide ranging expertise. They need to be familiar with programmable logic, electronics and mechanical engineering and must understand how an industrial facility’s processes and production lines work.

Bravida’s experts are experienced problem solvers. They follow up on the machines’ data output and communicate closely with the machine operators, who are often the first ones to become aware of any control indicators signalling a more significant issue. Adara and Bravida hold regular production line meetings where they discuss such control indicators and try to forecast any issues and find solutions to them.

The maintenance also takes into account the energy usage of the machinery and components. When the machines and equipment need to be replaced, Bravida’s experts recommend purchases that are as energy-efficient as possible and sustainable in the long run.

Communication is crucial for an effective partnership
The partnership between Adara Pakkaus and Bravida is based on constant follow-up, open communication and mutual development. First, Adara’s employees record any errors in the maintenance computer system, then Bravida’s experts investigate these and report back on any measures taken. Based on the maintenance system data, it’s possible to localise the root causes of recurrent faults, troubleshoot with the information in the device’s error log, and apply key indicators to help track maintenance progress.

The routine follow-up meetings allow the companies to learn from any errors whilst ensuring that information gets transmitted from the factory workers to Bravida and from Bravida back to the customer. Mutual trust and feedback are crucial in order for the factory to run efficiently.

– The partnership has been flexible and effective. Bravida has the ability to both respond to various challenges within the agreed time frame and to take proactive measures pursuant to the maintenance programme. It’s a huge advantage for us that both electrical and automation maintenance are handled by a single operator, regardless whether it concerns daily error remediation or a planned project. The personal chemistry is also good, and Bravida’s employees fit in well with our team, states Petteri Rekimies, Adara’s Production Manager.

– It’s possible that we’ll expand our partnership in the future.

FACTS / Electrical and automation maintenance 
Customer: Adara Pakkaus Oy 
Facility: Factory in Valkeakoski, approx. 20,000 m2 
Measures: 
-Repairs 
-Preventive maintenance 
-Modernisation and introduction of new machinery 
-Electrical maintenance in the factory facility 
Agreement term: Ongoing partnership