Reference Customer | Case Study

OXEA relies on the GS-Service operations management system with the GS-Touch mobile solution at its Ruhrchemie plant.

Reference Customer | Oxea

The Right Chemistry

Safety is the highest priority in the chemical industry and is firmly anchored in the corporate values of many companies. This is also the case at the OXEA Ruhrchemie plant in Oberhausen. Since 2007, the globally operating producer of intermediates and derivatives has relied on a new software component in its maintenance management. With the GreenGate AG operations management system GS-Service, OXEA combines the protection of people and the environment with compliance with legal requirements and improved productivity of its process plants. In 2017 alone, OXEA managed more than 89,000 inspection and maintenance tasks with GS-Service. The GS-Touch mobile app provides additional flexibility across its widely distributed infrastructure.

Key facts of the case study: GS-Service & GS-Touch in use at OXEA’s Ruhrchemie plant

OXEA at its Oberhausen site uses GS-Service in combination with the mobile solution GS-Touch to make maintenance and servicing processes in chemical production digital, seamless, and efficient. The goal is to ensure occupational safety, regulatory compliance, and environmental standards while optimizing the productivity of its complex process plants.

Industry: Chemical Energy

Software used:

GS-Service – GS-Manager; GS-Touch

Supported processes:

Planning, control, and documentation of maintenance and servicing tasks
Scheduling of inspections, maintenance, and equipment tests
Integration of measuring devices for machine condition monitoring (shock pulse and vibration measurement)
Mobile work order processing via GS-Touch, including on-site feedback
Defect recording, rescheduling, and independent processing on site at the object
Central management of master data for facilities, equipment, and assets
Creation of analyses, reports, and audit documentation
Support for legally required inspections (lifting equipment, ladders, measuring instrument calibration)

Challenge:

High standards of safety, health and environmental protection in chemical production
Complex and sprawling process plants with significant travel times
Previously inefficient stand-alone solutions and paper-based processes
The need to manage maintenance and repair tasks efficiently and utilise resources optimally
Ensuring valid data for audits and regulatory requirements
Coordination with partner companies on the plant site, some of which still use paper-based processes

Approach:

Introduction of GS-Service from 2007/2008, with gradual expansion to mobile use cases through GS-Touch; integration of external measurement technology for condition monitoring; digital planning, scheduling, and processing of around 80% of all maintenance and inspection tasks; training of maintenance staff; establishment of valid master data structures; implementation of mobile work orders and feedback reporting via smartphones or tablets.

Result:

Efficient, seamless management of maintenance, repairs and equipment inspections
Significant reduction in travel times and faster on-site response times
Transparent documentation and a reliable database for audits and compliance
Improved planning and utilisation of maintenance resources
High user acceptance thanks to the intuitive user interfaces of GS-Service and GS-Touch
Integration of mobile devices enables paperless workflows within the plant’s own areas, with real-time feedback on tasks and defects
Foundation for continuous process optimisation and safe, cost-effective plant management

Product Portfolio

OXEA products are used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, adhesives, cosmetics, lubricants, plasticizers, and polymers, among other things. OXEA chemicals are important components in everyday products. With a production capacity of more than 1.3 million tonnes per year and around 1,400 employees worldwide, the company manufactures more than 70 oxo chemicals, both intermediates and derivatives, at plants in Germany, the USA, China, and the Netherlands.

OXEA was founded in 2007 through the merger of business units from two internationally active chemical groups: Celanese and Evonik. Since 2013, OXEA has been part of Oman Oil Company. Its headquarters, with more than 100 employees, is in Monheim am Rhein. At its long-established site in Oberhausen, the company operates the Ruhrchemie plant on an area of 1.2 km². Around 900 employees there produce both intermediates and derivatives: aldehydes, alcohols, and esters (oxo intermediates), as well as polyols, higher aldehydes and specialty derivatives, acids, specialty esters, and amines (oxo derivatives).

Centerpiece of Process Plants

The product portfolio is extensive, and the technical infrastructure on site in Oberhausen is just as complex. The process plants are the most sensitive link in the value chain, both from an economic perspective and for reasons of safety.

In fact, these highly sophisticated plants are so complex that efficient and effective inspection, maintenance, and repair must necessarily meet the goal of “operational optimum”: “No compromises on safety, environmental protection, health, and occupational safety – safety has top priority!”, says the company. Around 170 employees work in the Technical Workshops department, with another 25 in the Technical Maintenance Planning segment.

Open, respectful dialogue

Even at the company’s restart in 2007, the team around Daniel Nolte (56), Head of TIP Maintenance Planning, began searching for an integrated software solution for the control and management of maintenance. The legacy system was “too cumbersome.” Moreover, for historical reasons, the team partly worked with isolated solutions, which always carry the risk of data inconsistencies and inefficient data handling. The days of “phone-book-thick stacks of paper” were also to come to an end, so that process efficiency and the utilization of both people and machines could be increased.

The choice fell on GS-Service from GreenGate. “In the end, it was the dialogue on equal footing that convinced us. Other providers made it clear to us that only their software offered the optimal solutions, whereas GreenGate listened, addressed our requirements in the various areas of application, and so together we were able to develop solutions that suit us,” says Thomas Malon (51), also a member of the maintenance planning team.

Measuring Technology Integrated

The introduction at the OXEA site in Oberhausen took place in 2008/2009, including the integration of external measurement technology into GS-Service. This technology consists of measuring devices and software for recording machine conditions based on shock pulse and vibration measurements. Today, GS-Service is used to control and manage around 80 percent of all maintenance and inspection tasks in a seamless, end-to-end manner, without media discontinuity. This applies to analytical equipment, HVAC systems, fire alarm technology, and the extensive mechanical equipment with its pumps, compressors, gearboxes, and agitators. GS-Service generates the tasks according to schedule: What needs to be done, when, by whom, and where? Thomas Malon: “For several months now, we have also been using GS-Service for various equipment inspections, such as the legally required inspections of lifting equipment, ladders, and steps, as well as for calibration records for measuring equipment.”

Tasks

Oxo chemicals

Employees

GS-Touch at the Pump

Whether it’s an oil change on Pump 11, an inspection of Agitator 12, or a check of the bearing value on Compressor 13, OXEA consistently relies on the advantages of portable devices. Instead of working on site with a clipboard as they once did, OXEA’s maintenance technicians now carry the latest generation of explosion-proof smartphones. Using the integrated GS-Touch app, they scan the NFC chips installed on every asset. But the touchscreen offers far more than precise, reliable information, such as the list of maintenance tasks to be completed or details about the asset.

GS-Touch also allows technicians to report completed activities promptly, record defects spontaneously without entering tasks, and reschedule appointments in the calendar on their own. In addition, maintenance technicians receive an up-to-date daily overview of their tasks, an advantage not to be underestimated, especially in large process plants with considerable travel times.

Properly documented

At OXEA, the flexibility of GS-Touch is a very effective complement to the broad range of functions offered by GS-Service. “In GS-Service,” explains Thomas Malon, “all the required master data for installation locations, equipment, and operating resources is mapped in the associated plant structures.” By checking the master data and comparing it with the actual situation at the site, it is possible to determine reliably and promptly whether, and what, will soon need to be inspected, cleaned, maintained, or repaired.

Streamlined administration and effective order processing based on GS-Service have proven their worth. However, OXEA still relies on the tools and methods of conventional maintenance. This is due to six other companies, the site partners at the Ruhrchemie plant. Here, the “postman principle” applies: when the OXEA teams work as externally commissioned maintenance providers for one of the site partners on the plant premises, paper and pencil are in some cases still used on site in the traditional way. In OXEA’s own areas, however, defect recording, processing, and management, the creation of reports and analyses, and the documentation of completed work are once again handled with GS-Service. This is indispensable, at the latest when another audit is coming up.

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