Author Archives: Carlos De Sordi

Case Study: Optimizing a Lubricant Program for Coca-Cola

When Great Lakes Coca-Cola Bottling in Eagan, MN needed to streamline their lubricant program, they reached out to several potential partners to help them meet the challenge. PetroChoice was able to quickly identify their issues and optimize their operations

The Challenge

It all started with a challenge from the Vice President of Supply Chain; build out a best-in-class lube room as part of a plant-wide 5S initiative. But for the folks at Great Lakes Coca-Cola, that was easier said than done. Their current situation was certainly less than ideal.

“Essentially, it was a disaster,” Production Operations Manager David Sanvold said. “There were tools and supplies everywhere, it was a mess. We looked at what we had and we really wanted to standardize everything.”

All of that clutter led to confusion. Figuring out what lubricant was required for what machine was a hassle, especially with 27 different products coming from 10 different suppliers.

The Solution

The folks at Coca-Cola reached out to several different companies before they came to PetroChoice. Sales and Service Manager Jeremy German and Territory Sales Manager Rich Limpert, based in nearby Lakeville, MN, jumped at the opportunity to help. After visiting the plant, the duo began working on a plan to help optimize not only Coca-Cola’s lube room, but their entire lubrication program.

“We were getting different lubes from different suppliers and we realized it was a problem early on,” Sanvold said. “Rich and Jeremy understood what direction we were moving in and what challenges we had and they helped us put together a plan to standardize all of our lubes and created a lubrication legend.”

The PetroChoice team created a wall chart that assigned each lubricant in the room a color. They created corresponding tank labels and magnets for each machine. This helped streamline the lubrication process, eliminating uncertainty about which product was which and greatly reducing the risk for a product integrity incident or an early breakdown.

“The lube chart allows us to communicate and ensures that we are putting the proper lube in the proper location,” Sanvold said. “If you don’t apply it to the proper location it’s going to cause premature failure. It creates alignment and cohesiveness across the board, everyone understands what goes where and its very simplified.”

Coca-Cola is now able to store its excess product in the Lakeville warehouse, allowing for less clutter at their facility. Instead of having to work with 10 different companies, Coca-Cola can now turn to PetroChoice to supply any of the products they need. They will also be able to cut down from 27 different products to 20.

They were also able to upgrade their equipment, adding a new Oil Safe Lubrication Work Center and Lincoln lube skid. All of this was set up in just three weeks.

“They really supported us and really understood what our needs were,” Sanvold said. “It turned out to be a one stop shop that really helped us close some gaps. It was a win-win.”

The Results

It’s still early, but Coca-Cola believes its new lubes program can be a benchmark for other bottling facilities in the area and beyond. Having a streamlined lube chart and process is already making day to day business easier.

“As we work to close this off, we are going to use this as our benchmark,” Sanvold said. “Other plants are going to see what we have done and there are going to be opportunities across the board.”

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In addition, Coca-Cola has found a partner in PetroChoice they can rely on to provide them with proven support and products.

“The guys are local, they communicated effectively and they were more than willing to come into the plant,” Sanvold said. “We were all aligned into what the end goal was and it has been a great partnership.”

Photos, Video Courtesy of Rich Limpert

Ex-CEO Ghosn Indicted for 4th Time

Prosecutors in Japan have indicted former Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn for a fourth time, accusing the former executive of misappropriating another $5 million in funds.

According to the reports, the latest accusations involve the former CEO of funneling $5 million through a third-party company for personal use. He is currently awaiting trial in Japan on three other indictments. Ghosn was initially arrested in November of last year and was held in detention until early March. He was released on bail but arrested again on April 4. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Ghosn is not the only former automotive executive facing new charges. German prosecutors announced last week they would press fraud charges against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and four others. The charges are related to the ongoing diesel emissions scandal, in which the automaker manipulated emissions numbers to pass U.S. standards.

Uber’s Autonomous Vehicle Unit Could See Large Investment

A group of investors are preparing to sink a $1 Billion into ride sharing giant Uber’s autonomous vehicles unit.

According to reports, potential investors include international conglomerate SoftBank, automaker Toyota and auto parts supplier Denso. The investment accounts for a sizeable portion of the division’s $7.25 billion valuation. The report comes as Uber prepares for its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

Japan-based SoftBank is already Uber’s largest shareholder, with its $8 billion investment giving it a 16 percent share of the company. Uber’s much anticipated IPO comes on the heels of rival Lyft going public in March.

ASTM Proposes new Aerospace Industry Standards

ASTM International has proposed new standards aimed at parts manufacturers in the aerospace industry.

Reports indicate that ASTM, which sets international standards across a variety of industries, wants to further establish quality and safety requirements for the growing industry. The proposed standards relate to additive manufacturing within the industry and would cover feedstock materials (WK6745), system performance (WK67484), qualification principals (WK67485) and finished part properties (WK67461). The standards were proposed by ASTM’s manufacturing technologies committee.

The standards will certify that parts are manufactured in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements. The standards would be applied to parts for a range of applications, including, commercial aircraft, space exploration and military aircraft.

San Francisco the Most Expensive Place to Build According to International Construction Market Survey

San Francisco is now the world’s most expensive spot for construction, according to the recently released 2019 International Construction Market Survey.

According to the latest survey, the average cost of construction per square foot in San Francisco rose to $416 per square foot, an increase of 5 percent from the previous year. That average cost was significantly higher than its closest competitor, New York City, where construction averaged $368 per square foot. London, Zurich and Hong Kong rounded out the top five internationally. Seattle, Chicago, Vancouver, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston and Toronto were the top ten North American cities.

Experts believe the increased cost in San Francisco is tied to the growing technology industry and increase steel prices. According to the report, prices for steel beams increased 30 percent year over year.

Controlling Fleet Costs Starts with Minimizing Repairs

Controlling fleet costs can be difficult for owners, as keeping so many vehicles in top shape can get very expensive, very quickly.

Whether you manage a fleet of passenger vehicles or commercial trucks, breakdowns are inevitable. While it is difficult to plan for worst case scenario situations and once in a lifetime events, preparing for more common issues can go a long way in reducing repair costs.

Common repairs tend to be seasonal: batteries in cold weather and AC repairs in the warm months, for example,” George Survant, Senior Director of Fleet Relations for the NTEA, said. “Tires can be a common problem, off-road driving and exposure to significant road debris are common contributors to tire issues, along with driving on underinflated tires. The last big category can be brakes. An extreme example is waste trucks. With so many short start-and-stop trips, the brake systems have short lives.”

It might be easy to dismiss these common issues as insignificant, but the cost of fixing them can add up. Preventative maintenance is critical in keeping cost down. It is also important to consider long tern costs when designing new vehicles.

“The best way to manage cost for common repairs is through thoughtful truck design and preventive and predictive maintenance,” Survant said. “Changes in routine maintenance performed won’t prevent part failure, but they will reduce fleet operators’ costs in making the replacement. Making systems more robust in the design phase by building strength into the truck components will also reduce repair frequency. For example, specify ‘run-flat’ tires on trucks exposed to high amounts of road debris.”

Improving vehicle support systems can also help reduce the frequency of repairs, leading to reduced costs.

“Another way to reduce repair frequency is to improve support systems and ancillary features,” Survant said. “Engine block heaters and battery plug-in features on trucks reduce the strain on starting systems in extremely cold operating conditions. Beyond the support aids, a robust process of root cause analysis and pattern detection in your maintenance will often identify vehicle sub-systems that need improvement.”

Technology is more prevalent in vehicles than ever and it has led to a substantial increase in repair costs for fleet owners.

“Much of the new technology comes with built-in diagnostics but if built-in sensor features fail, it compounds challenges to effective diagnostic processes,” Survant said. “These new systems also have expensive components to replace upon failure, which drives up repair costs.”

Many of these new systems are so complex that they aren’t properly fixed the first time, leading to increased repair frequency.

“Many of the new generation features are delivered through electronic devices with multiple cards, or electronic components attached to a plug-in substrate, in the system,” Survant said. “Common repair techniques often involve ‘card swapping’ until the problem goes away. The flawed assumption here is that the problem is isolated to one card in the file when it can be a combination of two marginally operating cards in the file interacting with each other. This is compounded when you realize the technician swapping the cards continues the process until the problem goes away, which can result in returning marginally operating cards to the spares supply.”

USMTO Report Shows Decline in Machine Tool Orders

Machine Tool orders dropped significantly in February according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) Report.

Orders totaled just over $337 million in February, a 15% decline from the previous month and a 7% decline year over year. According to the report, the decrease was driven largely by a substantial decrease in orders from the aerospace and turbine industries. That, combined with only modest order gains in the automotive industry, was enough to offset gains elsewhere.

While the monthly decline was substantial, USMTO officials did stress that January 2019 was a record month for orders. At a little over $735 million, the year-to-date order total is down less than 1% from 2018.

Top Automakers Team Up on Self-Driving Safety Standard

A group of top automakers are teaming up to create safety standards and regulations for self-driving vehicles.

Ford, Toyota and General Motors released a joint statement announcing their partnership in drawing up standards for autonomous vehicle rules and regulations. According to reports, the trio of automakers will also partner with SAE international. The group will be called the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium. The group aims to “work to safely advance testing, pre-competitive development and deployment.”

As automakers pour more time and resources into autonomous vehicles, officials still struggle with how to regulate the new technology. Current NHTSA rules prohibit vehicles without any human controls like steering wheels or brake pedals.

IGU Reports Trade Increase for Fifth Consecutive Year

Global trade of liquified natural gas continues to boom, as the International Gas Union (IGU) reported increased volume for the fifth consecutive year.

According to the IGUs 2019 World LNG Report, trade volume reached 316.6 million tons in 2018. That marks 28 million ton, or 9.8%, increase from 2017 levels. It’s the third larges annual increase in history, trailing only 2010 and 2017. The biggest increase in exports came from Australia, which upped its contribution by 12.2 tons. Substantial export increases by the United States and Russia were also major factors.

Demand for LNG increased substantially in Asia. China’s demand grew 15.8 million tons, while South Korea saw a 6.4 million ton increase. India and Pakistan also increased their demand. Two new import markets, Bangladesh and Panama, also helped to drive increased demand.

Study Shows Substantial Number of Bridges in Need of Major Repair

A new study of federal data shows as many as 38% of all bridges in the United States are in need of major repair or replacement.

According to a new report by the American Road & Transport Builders Association (ARTBA), as many as 235,000 bridges need to be fixed our outright replaced. Rhode Island leads the way in percentage, with 23.1% of its bridges in need of repair. Iowa had the highest number of deficient bridges with 4,675, good for just over 19% of the state’s total. Of the ten most commonly used bridges named in the study, nine are in California.

The ARTBA has been conducting the study for five years. They estimate it would cost around $171 billion to repair all the bridges identified as deficient in 2018.