Mechanical seals manufacturer and supplier John Crane secured a contract last month to assist petrochemicals company Sasol in identifying the reasons for equipment failure through conducting root-cause analysis at its Sasol Solvents plant in Secunda.

John Crane MD Aziz Sallie notes that this will ensure improved reliability at the facility, resulting in reduced outages of rotating equipment.

In view of a past positive experience in partnering with John Crane in what is referred to as a managed reliability consultative programme, Sasol Solvents has again entered into a new agreement with John Crane.

This is a structured fixed fee agreement with specific key performance indicators for both parties, which stipulates availability and reliability of rotating equipment as key drivers.

“It is in the interest of both parties to reduce the number of [incidents of] equipment failure. “Sasol benefits as it reduces production losses and downtime and John Crane benefits because it will supply fewer mechanical seals,” he explains.
Sallie adds that the company has more than R7-million in stock held at its Secunda service facility, specifically for the Sasol Solvents plant.

“We have also employed dedicated staff on site at that plant. John Crane provides monthly reporting in the form of failure rates and modes and conducts pump and process analy- sis and offers on-site training for artisans and operators,” he points out.

“Sasol is our largest customer and we put a lot of emphasis on quality, service and improving mean time between failures and reliability. We also work closely with Sasol’s commercial and technical teams to improve alliances between the two parties,” he notes.

John Crane, Sallie says, has an ongoing supply and service agreement to provide mechanical seals for rotating equipment at all Sasol’s plants. This contract was initially signed in 2008 and is valid for another two years.

“There are four companies, including John Crane, that provide mechanical seals to Sasol. “We are responsible for around 3 400 pieces of equipment – the bulk of the allocation – for the supply and repair of mechanical seals,” he highlights.

Sallie points out that John Crane also has a 100% allocation at the Sasolburg-based National Petroleum Refinery (Natref) and the Sasol Nitro plants in Secunda. At the Nitro business, the company has an ongoing reliability improvement agreement contract that was renewed this year.

“The 3 400 pumps that we stock and supply mechanical seals for all form part of a service exchange agreement contract that is in place. “It is structured so that we stock the mechanical seals for every pump that is allocated to us. “Therefore, there is never a time that Sasol will be vulnerable and not have stock,” he says.

After the repair of a faulty or damaged mechanical seal, it is returned to the stocking facility as new, says Sallie. In accordance with the service exchange agreement applicable to the allocation, Sasol pays a percentage of the new seal price as a replacement every time it is issued.

“If we improve our reliability by an agreed percentage, Sasol allows an increase to our pricing structure or pays us a bonus based on the savings we provide for Sasol,” he adds.

Sallie notes that it is in the interest of both companies to repair the mechanical seal instead of issuing Sasol with a new seal.

“The reliability contracts and warranty agreements stipulate that if a seal is repaired at a John Crane-approved repair shop, it holds the same warranty as [a new John Crane seal],” he notes.

Industry

Sallie states that John Crane is the largest seal supplier within the oil and gas and petrochemicals markets in Southern Africa.

“We have the majority market share at oil and gas refining companies Engen, Sapref, Shell, Natref and Chevron, 85% market share in Nigeria and 80% market share in Angola, with dedicated people travelling in and out of Angola and Nigeria weekly,” he points out.

Sallie says the company has a fully equipped manufacturing facility in Springs, South Africa, where it selects, manufactures, supplies and commissions mechanical seals as well as provides training for its customers.

Fully equipped service facilities to service the industries in their respective areas are situ- ated in Cape Town, Durban, Secunda and Sasolburg.
Currently, the company is working on strategies to establish service facilities in Namibia and Ghana.

“The company also has an international master agreement (IMA) with Chevron globally and, therefore, all Chevron sites within Southern Africa use the IMA to provide the services and supply requirements associated with the procedures to these sites in terms of the agreement.

Challenges

A major challenge for John Crane with regard to working in Africa, notes Sallie, is localisation.

“When a company starts trading in countries north of our borders, like Angola, it must form a partnership with a separate, local entity. “This involves sharing profits with a local company to sustain business,” he says, adding that this policy is applicable in most African countries.