SKF has signed a performance-based IMS, Integrated Maintenance Solutions, contract with Valero Energy Corporation, the largest refiner in North America, for the Valero Paulsboro Refinery, situated in Greenwich Township, New Jersey, in the United States. With this agreement, Valero extends the application of performance-based contracts from mechanical seals to pumps in an effort to reduce significantly its annual expenses to maintain these assets.

 With this contract, Valero aims to reduce the cost of spare parts consumed for pump repairs as well as spare parts inventory and associated carrying costs. Other objectives include increasing pump availability and Valero engineering resource availability.

Valero’s Paulsboro Refinery is contracting resources from SKF for one full-time, on-site reliability engineer, two full-time, on-site reli-ability technicians and demand resources equal to half a man-year of labour that will be used as needed for reliability-related projects such as training, engineering, root-cause failure analysis and reliability centred mainten-ance. The scope of the contract also covers a one-time investment in condition monitoring hardware and software technology.