Wells and Young's pulls out the stops with services contract

Wells and Young's Brewing Co. Ltd has entered a maintenance contract with CompAir's High Pressure Division, to ensure the availability of its two 5236 air compressors used for carbon dioxide reclamation. The process enables the brewery to maximise CO2 recovery from the fermentation process for top pressure, saving up to £3000 a week on the cost of purchasing the 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide required.

Prior to the service agreement, the brewery used its on-site engineers to carry out minor repairs to the compressors. However, these engineers did not have the same specialist knowledge, technical support backup and access to genuine spare parts as CompAir technicians, meaning that the company would sometimes have to place an emergency call with the manufacturer to rectify the fault.

Driven by the merger of the brewing operations of Young's and Charles Wells and the subsequent need to increase production on the site, the company began looking at ways of minimising downtime to help improve efficiency and reduce cost, according to Graham Walker, engineering services administrator

"It became clear that the longer the compressors were out of operation, the higher our costs became as we would have to buy in the CO2 that we were unable to reclaim and store through compression," said Walker. "At £100 a tonne, costs could escalate rapidly, so we decided to invest in a preventative maintenance contract to ensure peak performance and extend the life of these two vital pieces of equipment."

During the first 6-monthly check, the CompAir technician discovered a fault on one of the valves, but was able to change the faulty valve straight away, avoiding equipment downtime and the potential for more serious damage to occur to the compressor.

The preventative maintenance contract includes two service visits per year in which the CompAir engineer undertakes a variety of performance checks, and the replacement of any consumable items. This incorporates a full inspection of all components and assemblies, checks on oil levels and filter quality and a full function test.

The brewery receives a report of the condition of the machines together with a quotation for any essential repair work required. Next-day priority delivery of breakdown parts is assured, as CompAir guarantees it can fulfill 85% of all parts orders from stock. CompAir also aims to respond to any emergency call out within 24 hours, to minimise equipment downtime.