Fire at a Door Production Facility

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INCIDENT

A company based in the Nordic region that specializes in producing a wide variety of door types suffered a loss when a fire broke out in the bottom of one of its CNC machines, causing damage to the technical production installation. The machinery's operating area was encapsulated, concentrating the damage within the production installation.

CHALLENGES

Wood dust, shavings, and chips can easily catch fire when they come into contact with very hot operating equipment. This risk is particularly high in production lines where tree products are continuously cut and treated, as well as in paper mills where a large amount of flammable material gathers in and around the operating machinery.

As a result of the incident, the company had to switch from their usual automated operations to manual operations due to an essential piece of machinery going offline. The equipment that was affected suffered from significant heat damage and was contaminated with chlorides and corrosive fire extinguishing powder, which posed a challenge for the AREPA technicians tasked with repairing it.

OUTCOME

AREPA successfully restored the CNC machinery, enabling the door producer to resume operations at a significantly lower cost. The estimated cost of replacing the affected machinery was 1.2 million USD, while restoration was only 10% of that amount. However, if preventive maintenance had been carried out quarterly each year, the cost would have been a mere fraction of the restoration and replacement costs.

MITIGATING RISKS

A conveyor system located at the bottom of the installation was designed to eliminate all wooden shavings and debris through a vacuum system. However, the system got clogged around the drives, which could not cool down properly. This caused a buildup of heat, which eventually led to a fire. To prevent such incidents, it's crucial to perform regular preventive maintenance and decontamination to eliminate hazardous materials. This significantly reduces the risk of internal fires in the production equipment.