Covia is a leading provider of diversified mineral solutions to a variety of industrial markets, providing essential ingredients for a wide range of everyday products and materials. In our pursuit to better serve our customers and build a safe work environment where Covia Team Members can thrive, we continually search for ways to improve our processes. We “Deliver on Promise” by utilizing our decades of experience and technical capabilities to support our customers and create value through product development and innovation.
To give recent innovations the attention they deserve, we’re pleased to highlight a few important achievements of Team Members from across our North America and Mexico footprint. Read on to learn more about the key contributions and how they have allowed us to better serve our customers.
Predictive Maintenance at Roff, Oklahoma
Covia's Roff, Oklahoma, plant has been focusing on predictive maintenance for quite some time. Predictive maintenance is a process that helps the plant prevent equipment from failing and causing downtime – which can cause critical delays in providing high-quality minerals to customers. This process also provides crucial information that helps us improve operations moving forward.
The Roff plant’s equipment features bearings that are subject to extreme wear. Jonathan Wright, Continuous Improvement Engineer at the Roff plant, began investigating the plant’s bearing failures and why they were occurring. Bearing failures are extremely common, especially at high speeds, but when they fail suddenly it can be hazardous to nearby Team Members.
Jonathan took action and began searching for a solution. Based on his research, the plant implemented a condition-based monitoring system that notifies Roff team members when bearings require attention.
The system relies on sensors to collect real-time data for monitoring the bearings’ health and detecting faults and anomalies. As a result, the team is now able to proactively identify needed maintenance before the bearings fail. Since installing the sensors, the plant has been able maximize the life of the bearings – improving operational safety and avoid downtime, enhancing our ability to serve our customers.
Energy Efficiency Audits in Chardon, Ohio
As part of Covia’s commitment to “Act Responsibly,” we strive to ensure we are using energy efficiently across our operations and sites. It’s critical to measure and monitor our energy use to help make better decisions about where to focus our efforts. To accomplish this, we frequently work with third-party energy auditors to identify savings and provide cost analyses of practical energy efficiency measures.
Recently, auditors conducted a Level 2 energy audit at Covia's Best Sand Chardon plant. The energy auditors identified a variety of opportunities at Chardon, including installing programmable thermostats throughout the facility, upgrading lighting, replacing windows with double-pane windows, and other best-practice recommendations.
Overall, the energy auditors were very impressed with the Chardon team and how they manage their energy consumption. They noted that over time, Chardon has installed variable frequency drives (VFDs) on most pumps, replaced lighting with LED lights, and most importantly, has a culture of conserving energy wherever possible. While these improvements don’t directly impact mineral production, they directly impact plant performance and the team’s ability to “Deliver on Promise.”
Covia’s San Juan, Mexico Plant Exceeds Customer Expectations
The commercial glass team at the San Juan plant stepped up to help one of the plant’s primary customers.
Team Members from sales, customer service, geology, operations, and research and development at the San Juan location collaborated to explore possibilities for meeting the client’s updated specifications for its desired product. After a thorough examination, the team determined that by adjusting the levels of certain minerals in the sand produced at the plant, they could meet their customer’s needs and extend the mine’s reserves.
This development not only helped the individual customer but gave the San Juan plant new energy to pursue other innovative ideas that will benefit other customers in Mexico.
Discover Innovative Solutions with Covia
Manufacturers in the industrial and energy markets need an innovative mineral supplier who can find unique solutions to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. Covia can be your reliable, long-term partner who can keep up with your demand and deliver top-quality solutions.
We’ve been around for more than 80 years and will continue to deliver innovative solutions for years to come. We’re uniquely positioned to consistently “Deliver on Promise” by sustaining your projects and building the infrastructure to grow with your needs.
Ready to learn more about our mineral and mineral solution capabilities? Contact us today to talk to one of our experts about how we can support your operation.
