Covid-19 Update April 15, 2020
Businesses all over the world are being impacted by the effects of COVID-19. Many have grinded to a halt while others have needed to accelerate. Whatever may be your status, keeping your equipment running smoothly remains the topmost priority for us. Our uninterrupted support continues. Some important points for your reference can be found below:
(1) Is your office open? Is your sales & service team available?
Our office is open and our team is working from home. They are available for calls or video conferences and over email. Some specific engineering data, drawing or quotation may take slightly longer than usual but can be arranged. Our sales and service team is available 24×7 as always. We have temporarily replaced face to face meeting with Video Conference till lockdown is lifted .
(2) Can you supply spare parts, new upgrades & complete equipment?
We have applied to the local authorities to allow operation of our factory. We are expecting that by end of this month (April end 2020) we will be able to start supply of goods.
(3) What new can Megatherm offer to improve profitability / margins and productivity once my operations restart?
Induction Furnace:
To assist our clients in the hour of need we are launching Dual Inverter System and new earth leakage OCELD System before the launch date. Launch event has been postponed.
(a) Dual Inverter System (Return 3 – 5 months; 15 kwh/t saving; 3% – 4% increase in productivity): For plants where low frequency green coil upgradation has already been implemented. Changes to panel, coil and interconnections with addition of PLC can enable us to implement dual panel system. It will give power to coil only where and when it is required while not allowing power to flow through entire coil all the time. Big gains in energy expected especially for sponge iron use.
(b) Offline Crucible Earth Leakage Detection (OCELD) System: New system has been developed which can detect crucible specific earth leakage when furnace is in off condition or when furnace has been tripped by existing GLD system. It will greatly help in prevent accidents. It will also give clarity and confidence to production team in cases of nuisance tripping.
(c) Green Coil (Return 4 – 5 months; 30 kwh/t saving; 5% to 8% increase in production): We have already upgraded 200+ furnaces with low frequency Green Coils of higher capacity (i.e. 16.5T coil in place of 15T coil, 750 kg in place of 500 kg coil). This along with addition of capacitors and change of some cards will reduce energy consumption by 30 kwh/t and improve production by 5% to 8% .
(d) Voltage Booster Circuit and Super Stretch Card: Small changes to panel can enable increase in voltage limit from existing (above 2000v / 3000v / 4000v / 5000v) reducing energy consumption and increasing productivity to the tune of 100 – 150 volts. The load factor is improved by 2% to 3%.
(e) Digital Module: Digital display of all line and fuance parameters; trends and data logging; trends analysis; continuous temperature and pressure monitoring with pre-emptive alarms; alarm logging and device health monitoring.
Induction Heating & Hardening Machines:
(a) Energy Efficient Coil Box (13% – 15% energy savings): Coil box has been redesigned across products to improve energy efficiency by 13% – 15%.
(b) Redesign of skid rails and lining: Skid rails and lining has been re-engineered. It will increase coil life by 25%.
(c) Digital Module: Digital display of all line and panel parameters; trends and data logging; trends analysis; continuous temperature and pressure monitoring with pre-emptive alarms; alarm logging and device health monitoring.
(d) SMD Cards: Our PCBs have been replaced with SMD cards and in sometime old PCBs will not be available anymore. SMD cards do not have human element in production process thereby eliminating panel breakdown and reducing panel noise. With SMD cards the electronic tuning of the panel is not affected like old PCBs. Hence, the energy consumption is not affected over time.
(4) What is the outlook for the industry?
After discussing with various stakeholders we feel that demand will definitely be hit in the short term. However, unlike other structural/cyclical recessions this demand slump will behave more like a natural disaster. Demand will start to pick up from 2nd quarter of lifting of lockdown and by 3/4th quarter demand should be back to pre Covid-19 levels. Steel sector will recover first followed by railways, pipes and electrical distribution. Auto sector will take slightly longer to recover (3rd quarter onwards) including forging & metal working.
In geographic terms, Africa & China will recover first followed by Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia. Situation of Europe and United States is still uncertain.
(5) What measure can I take to ensure equipment is safe and can be restarted without any issues?
Maintenance manuals are available with our sales & service team; also can be downloaded from the links below:
Maintenance Schedule Required During Long Shutdown for Induction Furnace
Maintenance Schedule Required For Heating and Hardening Equipment
