When Greenpac Mill in Niagara Falls, NY, found that they were going to be shorthanded during a recent outage, they reached out to OASIS for assistance with changing two drive side dryer can bearings. OASIS regularly performs dryer bearing changes with the use of proprietary dryer lifting fixtures, however in order to support this task on Greenpac’s 6’ diameter dryer cans, the OASIS fixtures were going to require modification. Working with the dryer can design drawings, the OASIS project engineering group was able to modify the fixtures and fabricate special brackets to meet the specifications required for lifting the Greenpac cans.
While OASIS was onsite for this project, Greenpac Maintenance Planner, Nick Brumagin, approached Ted Grimbilas, OASIS Project Manager and Northeast Regional Manager, with a special request outside of the original job scope. Typically during dryer bearing changes, a separate mechanical contractor is responsible for handling the steam joint disconnections and reconnections. Greenpac found themselves in a bind due to the fact that there were no outside contractors available to perform this part of the project. OASIS offered to support the steam joint changes under the condition that Greenpac provide supervisory personnel with steam joint experience.
Working directly with the Greenpac personnel, the OASIS team of Ted Grimbilas, Larry Lee, Cristiano DeOliviera, and Gary Turgeon, completed the steam joint disconnections and reconnections, and dryer bearing replacements in a diligent and safe manner – all while not impacting any of the machine start-up requirements.
Not long after the project was completed, Ted learned that there were no issues associated with the work that was performed, and that things were running well in that area. Soon thereafter, OASIS received the following testimonial from Nick Brumagin:
“I want to commend you and your team on the fantastic work and commitment shown during this outage. I cannot say enough how much we appreciate you being able to arrive on short notice – it really helped us out. I also understand that steam joints are not something you normally work on. You and your team handled the change out very well though, and I’m happy to say that they are running fine, and nothing seems to be having any issues. It was such a long day for all of us. . .but it was truly a pleasure to work side by side with you all. I look forward to the next opportunity!
Your team is always on the top of my list for the tough jobs. Each OASIS employee always displays such aptitude towards the task at hand, it is hard to choose anyone else”.
—Nick Brumagin, Maintenance Planner, Greenpac Mill LLC
We wish to thank Mr. Brumagin and the team from Greenpac Mill for allowing OASIS to publish this story. Greenpac Mill manufactures a variety of lightweight, 100% recycled linerboards and is a leader in sustainable development. For more information on the linerboard products manufactured by Greenpac Mill, please visit www.greenpacmill.com.
On-site industrial services have reached a new level of excellence with In-Place Machining Company‘s acquisition of OASIS Alignment Services and Exact Metrology. By combining the on-site field machining and custom engineered solutions of IPM with the 3D scanning and machine alignment services of two top providers of precision measurement solutions, customers now benefit from ONE team that can solve even their most challenging issues. For more information or to schedule a site visit to learn how YOUR facility can benefit from these solutions, please contact us today!
