The steel industry is one of the most energy-intensive out of all heavy industries, as energy is consumed at all stages of production. Reliable electricity and assets are mandatory to ensure operations remain up and running as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible.
Identifying the failure and restoring production
In steel manufacturing plants, where the equipment is subject to continuous dielectric, thermal, and mechanical stresses, it’s fundamental that key components of electrical energy supply networks, like transformers, are protected and running.
Although these components have high reliability, failures can occur due to external factors such as short circuits in the grid or due to the aging effects of the active parts of the transformers themselves or of their components. In case of failure, the first action is to identify the type of failure. The aim is to localize the failure and its root cause to be able to fix it in the most cost-effective and timely way.
In these situations where production is threatened and the loss of money is a tangible risk, it becomes clear how crucial it is to have a reliable partner who can support a fast and responsive service team.
SSAB, Scandinavia’s largest steel manufacturing company, experienced an unexpected hurdle that suddenly disrupted their production in the middle of the Christmas holidays on December 18, 2023. A tap-changer failure occurred on the transformer at their Borlänge facility.
Having a Christmas holiday stop was not planned in the production schedule, so resolution time became decisive in getting the production back to normal. Complicating matters, there were no spare transformers available, which was putting SSAB’s Borlänge site’s holiday operations at risk.
The team in the components factory in Ludvika excelled in producing the on-load tap changer (OLTC) in record time just a few days before Christmas Eve.
Hitachi Energy's Transformers Service
Hitachi Energy Service team in Sweden intervened promptly on the very day of the accident to carry out an inspection and identify the fault: two cracks in the tap-changer’s active part.
Hitachi Energy’s components factory in Ludvika, Sweden, sprang into action, starting the manufacturing of a new on-load tap changer (OLTC) on December 19, 2023. Remarkably, within just two days, the factory team delivered the critical component, prioritizing the production due to the emergency status. Typically, the delivery time for tap changers is around 6-8 weeks from the purchase order.
Simultaneously, the transformer service team efficiently managed the removal of the broken tap changer, followed by the meticulous and precise process of oil draining off the transformer.
“The impact was profound. With the swift delivery from the components factory, our Service team was able to complete the job ahead of time. We are happy because the result well exceeded the customer expectations” commented Magnus E. Karlsson, Service Marketing and Sales Manager in Sweden, Business Unit Transformers.
Our commitment towards being a trusted lifecycle partner
Hitachi Energy Service team’s efficiency allowed SSAB to restart production on December 29, 2023, with immense gratitude and satisfaction from both parties.
As a transformers manufacturer, Hitachi Energy is committed to being a solid long-term partner and collaborator for our customers. We leverage our experienced teams worldwide to deliver exceptional service solutions that cover the entire life cycle of our customers’ assets, ensuring resilient operations.
We aim to offer over a century of experience with a proven track record, to address our customers’ present and future needs to achieve together a sustainable and secure energy future for all.
Beyond the technical success, the customer representative, Jennica Simesgården, Head of the Energy section at SSAB expressed appreciation to the Hitachi Energy Service team for allowing production to be swiftly restored.
The support we got from Hitachi Energy was fantastic, and it was incredible how well this problem was solved. We are very grateful to have a partner like them.
