Proactive Maintenance
Industrial Adhesive is a general range of adhesives used in various industries including OEMs, MRO, Automotive, HVAC, General manufacturing & etc. This article on MRO adhesives and sealants encompasses the following:
- What is MRO
- Industries
- Common maintenance issues & proactive maintenance practices
- Technologies, products and applications
What is MRO?
The MRO acronym is used to refer to the maintenance, repair, and operations used by a company to create an end product.
MRO may include spare parts, equipment such as pumps and valves, consumables such as cleaning supplies, plant upkeep supplies such as lubricants, and activities completed to restore or maintain the functioning of needed equipment. Anything used in the manufacturing of, but not employed in, a final product may be considered MRO.
The three main types of maintenance that fall under the MRO umbrella.
- Preventive Maintenance. This type of maintenance is done regularly before issues arise in order to keep equipment and processes running smoothly.
- Corrective Maintenance. This refers to maintenance completed after a problem has occurred, whether dealing with general wear and tear or a complete breakdown.
- Predictive Maintenance. Predictive maintenance is done based on the data obtained from monitoring processes that track historical trends, allowing for reliable failure predictions.
MRO industries serviced with Industrial Adhesive & Sealants
For every industry maintenance activities are essential for effective functioning of the organisation. However, for some segments MRO activities is the core functional role of management, staff and associates. Their final product is directly dependent on the quality of MRO performance of the company. Eg : Power plants output is electricity.
- Power generation – Thermal, Nuclear, Hydel
- Paper & pulp industry
- Sugar plants
- Steel manufacturing
- Wastewater & sewage treatment
- Fertilizers
- Oil & gas refineries
- Mines and quarries
- Railways -Locomotive, coaches, tracks, signalling, civil
- Aircraft MRO
- Bulk Chemical manufacturing
- Ship Maintenance
Why Industrial maintenance is so challenging
- Lack of structure and schedule
- Similar assets, similar duty, different strategies
- Operational focus
- Reactive routines
- Over-reliance on past experience
- Failure to address infrequent but high consequence failures
- Inadequate task instructions
- Assuming new equipment will operate without failure for a period of time
- Missing opportunities to improve
- Doing what we can and not what we should
Here’s the good news: An optimized maintenance strategy, constructed with the right structure is simpler and easier to sustain. By fine-tuning your approach, you make sure your team is executing the right number and type of maintenance tasks, at the right intervals, in the right way, using an appropriate amount of resources and spare parts. And with a framework for continuous improvement, you can ultimately drive towards higher reliability, availability and more efficient use of your production equipment.
Industrial Adhesive applications
Supex offers a complete line of high performance Industrial adhesive & sealants. They consist of epoxy, silicone, polyurethane formulations. These products are designed to provide solutions to problems caused by wear/abrasion, chemical attack, mechanical damage, fatigue and erosion/corrosion. Common uses include repairing pipes, engine blocks, chutes, splines, fan housings, rubber, aluminum and stainless steel parts.
Recurring Maintenance problems and permanent solutions
Nut, Bolts, fasteners loosenening 
Problem: loosening of fasteners, corrosion of threads- opening also difficult.
Solution: Anaerobic threadlocker 
- Fills the gap.
- It cures to SOLID, rigid , thermoplastic polymer.
- Assembly becomes ‘ONE’ !
- Even during vibrations – complete assembly vibrates as one.
- Therefore ‘No relative motion’ in between Nuts & bolts.
Leakage, seepage from hydraulic, pneumatic threaded joints. Gas/Oil/Chemical lines 
- Not 100% metal to metal contact
- Damage in the thread
- Weak tightening torque
- Thermal cycle
- Not sufficient sealant
- Vibration, Impact
- Excessive internal pressure
Benefits of anaerobic thread sealing.
- It gives 100% sealing – Cures to tough thermoset plastic.
- Instant Sealing – 3000 psi.
- Allows adjustability – Positioning is possible
Leakage from Flanges, How to seal flanges
Solution: Use anaerobic liquid gasket sealant for machined flanges, Silicone sealant for sheet metal, casted flanges.
Benefits: 100% leak free assembly, increase in structural strength, inventory of solid gaskets not required- one tube can make all types of gaskets.
Assembly of cylindrical parts
Anaerobic Retainers – Benefits
- Ease of Assembly
- Insite Application
- 100% Contact
- Eliminates Fretting
- Proven Assembly Method
Silicone Sealants
- Seal flanges, gasketing
- For the sealing between metal parts.
- It is an essential product to use during the creation of gaskets that need to be heat resistant.
- Finds large use in heating systems and kitchen machinery where heat resistant sealing is a very crucial affair.
- Gaskets in pumps and motors also require the use of a heat sealing sealant.
MS adhesive & sealants
Quick Steel epoxy paste
Features:
- Sets steel hard within 15 to 30 minutes, even under water, achieving a full chemical cure within 60 minutes. It is impervious to petrol, diesel, and oil – even battery acid.
- Permanently bonds to aluminium, brass, copper, steel, PVC, fiber glass, plastics, glass, wood and more.
- Repairs leaking fuel tanks, kerbed alloys, and stone damaged radiators, cracked sumps, stripped threads, and exhausts. Around the home it can fix anything from leaking guttering to a leaking central heating pipe.
- Is 260°C (500°F) temperature resistant.
- It is drinking water safe – NSF 61 certified.
Benefits of Metal repair epoxy putty stick
- Efficient – use exactly what you need and no more
- Designed for serious repairs – anywhere anytime!
- No messy mixing (pre-measured)
- Shelf life of more than 2 years
Suggested Industrial Use: Leaking Transformers, Filling of Cracks & Gaps in Metal / Stone / Wood, etc.
