AVEVA (Schneider Electric) > Case Studies > AVEVA Maintenance Management Solution pays off for CF Industrial Fertilizer Plant

AVEVA Maintenance Management Solution pays off for CF Industrial Fertilizer Plant

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Avantis.PRO EAM
Avantis.DSS

Tech Stack

IBM System/36
IBM AS400
Windows-based system

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Asset Management Systems (EAM)
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Chemicals

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance
Asset Lifecycle Management

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

CF Industries, Inc. is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer products in North America. Its operations are organized into two business segments: the nitrogen fertilizer business and the phosphate fertilizer business. Principal products in the nitrogen fertilizer business are ammonia, urea, and urea ammonium nitrate solution, or UAN. Principal products in the phosphate fertilizer business are diammonium phosphate (DAP), and monoammonium phosphate (MAP). The company recognized early on that structured maintenance could have a significant, positive impact on both operational reliability and its bottom line. In the 1980s, CF Industries developed a powerful maintenance planning and tracking application on IBM System/36 computers and gradually migrated the application to the IBM AS400 platform.

The Challenge

CF Industries, one of North America’s largest agricultural fertilizer producers, had been using a homegrown maintenance planning and tracking application developed on IBM System/36 computers and later migrated to the IBM AS400 platform. This system was effective in managing maintenance activities but keeping it in pace with CF Industries’ growing business was proving to be expensive, with investments already well over $1 million. Management reasoned that migration to a Windows-based system would enable them to continue and expand their automation-driven maintenance process improvement, while providing a familiar, easy-to-navigate desktop environment, and a standard, Internet enabled platform on which to build future enhancements.

The Solution

CF Industries set out to find software that would deliver the maintenance planning functionality they had been enjoying in the IBM environment while providing the flexibility they needed for growth. They located the required software in Avantis.PRO Enterprise Asset Management, an enterprise asset management software system. CF Industries has now standardized on the Avantis.PRO Enterprise Asset Management software as its core platform for collection and storage of data on MRO inventory, procurement, and maintenance activities. They also use Avantis.DSS decision support software to analyze this data for continuous process improvement and have supplemented their system through adoption of standard catalog descriptions and categories for all MRO items, completed with the help of catalog management solutions provider I.M.A. Ltd. This system is designed to automate maintenance planning and tracking activities on nearly 50,000 asset entities, including vessels, pumps, rotating equipment, and electrical motors. It also helps manage and analyze MRO inventory and procurement on more than 60,000 inventory items in the four CF Industries manufacturing locations.

Operational Impact

Improved operations and reduced costs due to automation of facility operations.
Achieved successful integration with multiple systems as well as consolidation of visualisation dashboards and KPIs resulting in a streamlined business workflow.
The Avantis.DSS software component has proven particularly beneficial in analyzing and improving inventory and spending activities.
The new solution provides a platform on which they can grow and expand. Using the AVEVA applications interface, the company has already added a custom workflow automation tool that generates inventory pick lists from work orders and purchase requisitions. They have also added a B2B vendor portal, which minimizes email, fax, or mail of purchase orders and other communications with vendors. They have plans for continued innovation and expansion across the business.

Quantitative Benefit

Potential revenue improvement of up to 5%.
Reduction in operating costs by up to 10%.
Reduced inventory by several million dollars by enabling CF Industries to analyze inventory activity, such as ordering frequency, number of turns, and inventory value.
Contributed to savings of approximately $2 million through improved sourcing and contract negotiations.