INTRODUCTION
Flint Hills Resources is a refinery and pipeline operator headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. They manufacture and refine a wide range of petroleum products, such as jet fuel, gasoline, and asphalt.
Explosion relief doors are a critical safety component of the refinery process, and Flint Hills Resources needed to replace several of them as quickly as possible to limit production downtime.
THE CHALLENGE: ULTRA SHORT LEAD TIMES
Flint Hills Resources has several refineries throughout the U.S. Their Minnesota location needed to replace seven blast doors and order a few spare blast-resistant doors. A short lead time was of the utmost importance to keep downtime to a bare minimum.
The refinery also needed to have an older door refurbished and checked to ensure the correct calibration for its application. This required a very tight timeline of receiving the door in one day, refurbishing it, and shipping it back the following day.
The refinery set out to find a company capable of a quick turnaround time but could not get timely responses from partners they had procured products through in the past. Therefore, Flint Hills Resources contacted Smart Machine Technologies (SMT) for a quote.
SOLUTION: REASONABLE PROMISES AND A QUICK TURNAROUND TIME
Flint Hills Resources were so pleased with SMT’s rapid support, precision engineering, and reasonable promises that they ordered several more doors than originally quoted. As promised, SMT refurbished the one door and shipped it back to the refinery the next day. The entire project took around three months to complete.
Results: On Time and On Budget
Thanks to SMT’s rapid turnaround time, the Minnesota refinery was able to get back up and running in record time after installing SMT’s replacement blast-proof doors. They also now have several spares to ensure as little future downtime as possible.
The project came in on time and within budget, and the team at Flint Hills Resources was delighted with the results.
DO YOU NEED REPLACEMENT EXPLOSION RELIEF DOORS?
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