Four days of downtime at CLASSEN: an extraordinary achievement

Baruth. Downtime at CLASSEN: The production lines at part of the world's largest connected laminate plant were at a standstill for four days. The entire production facilities at Fiberboard GmbH's HDF (high-density fiberboard) plant were serviced from 13 to 17 June 2021.

Behind this is a remarkable logistical achievement. A total of 600 external fitters, including electricians, mechanics and cleaning staff from a wide range of service providers, had to be coordinated on the factory premises at the same time. CLASSEN provided 60 containers on its premises for changing rooms and showers.

At the same time, compliance with hygiene regulations during the coronavirus pandemic was the top priority during the preparation and planning stages. Access for employees of external service providers was only possible after a corona test and with a special digital access card. CLASSEN provided an online portal in several languages to ensure that everyone had been instructed about the health and safety and hygiene regulations in advance. Round-the-clock support was provided by nurses, paramedics, firefighters, safety and health and safety personnel.

Many conversions and modifications were already prepared in the weeks before the shutdown in order to save time during the shutdown period for the installation itself. In addition, regular meetings were held in the months before the overhaul, mostly by video conference due to coronavirus, to coordinate all work from shutdown to the heating-up and start-up phase so that the fitters did not interfere with each other and dangers were avoided.

André Trebuth, Technical Manager at Fiberboard, coordinated a large part of the inspection. He reports: “Our Managing Director also wears a boiler suit during such an operation and takes a look at the main points of the system from the inside! Afterwards, my phone usually rings. In the end, we are proud to have completed such an operation as planned in a record time of 96 hours. And without a single corona case! I would like to thank my entire team and everyone involved.”

Every hour of extended downtime would have meant that CLASSEN would have had to interrupt the production of its laminate flooring throughout the plant. For example, the defibering system with a 10-megawatt drive motor for the production line was serviced and modified, and the bearings of all the large machines were also replaced. Heavy-duty cranes for loads of up to 300 tons were also used. Such a maintenance interruption is necessary every 1.5 to two years. This enables Fiberboard to operate its production facilities with an average availability of 95 percent. At the Baruth plant, the CLASSEN Group produces 80 million square meters of laminate flooring per year.

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