Career Episode 1 VIKRAMJIT SINGH AULAKH, MECHANICAL ENGINEER

COMPETENCY DEMONSTRATION REPORT

DECLARATION:
All statements of fact in this report are tre an! correct an! I ha"e
ma!e claims of
ac#ire! competencies in $oo! faith%
The report is all m& o'n 'or( an! is a tre representation of m&
personal competence in 'ritten En$lish%
I con)rm that I n!erstan! that mem*ers of the en$ineerin$ team in
Astralia are re#ire! to !ispla& a commitment to e+ercisin$
professional an! ethical responsi*ilit& in all aspects of their 'or(
I also n!erstan! that !ocmentation s*mitte! in spport of m&
application ma& *e referre! to the Astralian Department of
Immi$ration an! Citi,enship -DIAC. for inte$rit& chec(in$/0%

Printed Name : 1I2RAM3IT SIN45 A6LA25
Signature : _________________________
Date : _________________________
Career Episode Report 1- Vikra!it Si"#$ A%&ak$ 'a#e 1 o( )
Career Episode 1 VIKRAMJIT SINGH AULAKH, MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Career Episode Report 1- Vikra!it Si"#$ A%&ak$ 'a#e * o( )
Career Episode 1
Punjab Porcelain Ltd, Plant Operations Para%
No% Dates of Career Episode: A$st 7889 : Ma& 788;
Geographical Location of the Experience Gained : San$rr< Pn=a*<
-In!ia.
Organisation Name: Pn=a* Porcelain Limite!< San$rr
Title of Position : Plant En$ineer
>AC24RO6ND
This career episode includes the plant engineering work and duties
performed in the production and operations of Punjab Porcelain Ltd,
an S! "##$, %&'()& *('T)S and &+)S certi,ed, S- .roup
/Sangrur ndustrial -orporation0 -ompan1 which manufactures and
supplies Porcelain nsulators up to 23 +*, pin and post insulators,
4T and LT %ush nsulator for use in electricit1 transmission s1stem
and Transformers5 completed m1 graduation in 6echanical
(ngineering from Sant Longowal nstitute of (ngineering and
Technolog1, Sangrur in 7##85 started looking for a job in
mechanical engineering and with the assistance of one of the
professors9 was able to initiate contact with the S- .roup, which
was operating three manufacturing facilities in the cit1 outskirts5
was inter:iewed for Porcelain 6anufacturing ;acilit1 and after
successful performance in the assessment9 started with the
position of Plant (ngineer in the Punjab Porcelain Ltd5 directl1
worked with the Plant 6anager and Plant Super:isor, who guided
me to gain through understanding of the plant production and
operations5 Punjab Porcelain is pri:atel1 owned compan1 with multi
state go:ernments and pri:ate transformer manufacturing
companies as their ke1 clients5
The insulators /porcelain product0 manufacturing process <ow
included raw material grinding and mi=ing in ball mill, agitator
tanks, dewatering, ,ltering and cla1 cake forming in ,lter press,
blank shaping in De>airing pug mill, blank shaping to insulators on
manual machine, ,nal shaping, pre>dr1ing in hot room and under
natural sunlight, dr1>,nishing on machine cutter, gla?ing /coating0,
,nal baking in shuttle kiln, sorting, electrical testing, assembling
with metal parts, mechanical testing, packing, inspection and
dispatch operations5 The plant production was in continuous and
%atch mode depending upon the order and re@uirements and was
the responsible plant engineer managing production, maintenance
and engineering tasks on account of small si?e of the plant with the
appro=imate capacit1 of 3# 6etric tonne production per month5
OR4ANISATION STR6CT6RE
$5$
$57
Other
Vendor/Contractors
Other
Vendor/Contractors
Plant
Manger/Director
Plant
Manger/Director
Mechanical/Electrical
/Civil Fitters
Mechanical/Electrical
/Civil Fitters
Plant Engineer
(Vikramjit Singh
Aulakh
Plant Engineer
(Vikramjit Singh
Aulakh
Plant Su!ervisor
Plant Su!ervisor
Plant
O!erators/"a#our
Plant
O!erators/"a#our
Administration
Administration
PERSONAL EN4INEERIN4 ACTI1ITY
nitiall1, during the induction period with the assistance of plant
super:isor, went through the a:ailable plant documentation
including process <ow chart, description of :arious process
e@uipment and machiner1, testing and inspection facilit1 and roles
and responsibilities of :arious personnel in the plant5 !n account of
m1 keen interest and pre:ious e=perience gained during campus
internships in the automobile components manufacturing
operations, was able to relate to the production planning and
control re@uirements5 4owe:er to understand the operations and
design parameters of :arious e@uipments, studied the a:ailable
information in the plant documents and then utili?ed the :arious
:endorAs product information on the internet resources and ceramic
industr1 handbook and plant engineering handbooks from the
librar15 6oreo:er with the plant director support, was able to
perform site :isits of other major production facilities in the state,
which reinforced m1 technical understanding of the e@uipment
operations5
n da1 to da1 operations, discussed and planned dail1 production
targets considering the complete order and deli:er1 schedule, and
in order to perform eBecti:e planning, used the .antt chart tool
approach5 &sing the plant process block <ow diagram, calculated
the loading at each of the machines and used the speci,c
assetCmachine register to monitor the in>process production and
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$58
$5D
in:entor1 at each machine5 Since the block <ow diagram onl1
represented the process <ow rather than actual number of
e@uipment, therefore prepared a detailed manual sketch of each
t1pe and number of machines in the plant to perform e@uipment
a:ailabilit1 studies corresponding to machine loading as per the
ma=imum production re@uirements5 n this e=ercise, anal1sed the
:arious scenarios and probabilities of a:ailabilit1 of the e@uipment
and obser:ed that Shuttle +iln was the critical e@uipment in the
conte=t of production se@uence and product @ualit1, the downtime
of which directl1 caused loss of production and waste of the in>
process products because we were operating the both shuttle kilns
to ma=imise the production5 6oreo:er, the improper operation of
the burners and hence the inappropriate temperature pro,le
caused improper sintering and hence product failure in the @ualit1
assurance tests5 -oncerning these issues, brainstormed on the
defect elimination methodolog1 and put forward together the plan
to closel1 monitor the kiln process and operating parameters to
in:estigate root cause5 discussed the approach with m1
super:isor, gathered his re:iew and charted>out the detail acti:ities
for the operation parameters mapping and maintenance strateg15
commenced e=amining shuttle kiln details, estimated and
assumed process heat balance and components capacities while
managing the dail1 production coordination acti:ities5 The shuttle
kiln si?e was appro= 8mE7m with si= burners installed on both side,
and one blower to circulate the air and de:elop the pressure pro,le
necessar1 for better product ,ring and sintering5 discussed the
burner issues encountered with the ,re>man and the mechanical
,tter who attended the continuous operation and performed
fre@uent o:erhauling and maintenance of kiln operational failures5
used the ;ailure 6ode (Bect )nal1sis /;6()0 framework to ,nd out
each failure mode and corresponding root causes and defects
causing the operation failure5 6oreo:er, established and prepared
a register to continuousl1 monitor the operating parameters of
shuttle kiln, which included temperature, blower pressure and
pressure pro,le, and retention time inside the shuttle kiln b1
directl1 measuring the thermocouple and pressure gauges
readings, and inlet and outlet pressures on the burner5 de:ised
the diesel fuel consumption +Ps with relati:e to the production
numbers so as to optimise the product loading and fuel
consumption in the kiln5 The proacti:e continuous mapping of
:ariations in +iln operational parameters and product rejection
pro,le using statistical modeling pro:ided me the opportunit1 to
measure process capabilit1 and impro:e the reliabilit1, a:ailabilit1
and maintainabilit1 of the shuttle kiln5 discussed the idea of
pro:iding e=tra blower for the shuttle kilns as part of correcti:e
actions, and worked on the no??le spare>part in:entor1
management strateg1, which was the critical on account of
recurring issues with burners especiall1 for one of the shuttle kiln,
which was more aged compared to the other5 The maintenance cost
and rejection pro,le was continuousl1 increasing for that kiln and
the refurbishment cost as per m1 cost bene,t anal1sis was @uite
$53
$5F
e=pensi:e5 n the coming months, we had a forced breakdown for
that kiln and the management decided to use the parts from that
kiln to use and increase the reliabilit1 of the other5 Therefore,
prepared a refurbishment strateg1 and worked with our ,tters and
specialist :endor representati:e to install the e=tra blower for the
kiln in operation, which increased the reliabilit1 of the kiln5
regularl1 maintained asset register and pre:enti:e maintenance
register for each e@uipment in the plant and recorded monthl1
audit and inspection results, and moti:ated the permanent staB
,tters to look proacti:el1 for inspection of especiall1 ke1 rotating
e@uipments such as the ball mills, agitators, slurr1 pumps
transferring the cla1 slurr1, diesel forwarding pumps to kiln
burners5 ;or one of the three ball mills, Ge obser:ed fre@uent
bearing failure while maintaining pre:enti:e maintenance, in order
to resol:e that performed a root cause anal1sis using :arious
bearing failure models and included plant super:isor and
maintenance personnel in the discussion5 researched :arious
bearing and ball mills failure modes using the :endor resources,
research articles, and plant engineering and maintenance
handbooks5 To troubleshoot and in:estigate the root cause matri=,
worked with the maintenance ,tters, checked the ball mill loading
and operation comparing with other ball mills, mapped the bearing
failure pattern and damage, lubrication and greasing schedule, and
checked the soft spot and shaft alignment, where had the
reser:ations5 coordinated for an e=ternal contractor to check and
correct the shaft alignment and kept close inspection track and
resol:ed the issue ,nall15 also disseminated the theoretical
knowledge to the maintenance staB in conte=t to the real issues
which we faced5
diagnosed and troubleshoot :arious rotating e@uipments
mechanical failures and recurring problems and recorded correcti:e
action and ensured implementation of the maintenance work
orders especiall1 for the cla1 forwarding and diesel forwarding
pumps5 Ge fre@uentl1 faced problems with the cla1 slurr1
forwarding pump, speciall1 the reduced discharge <ow to the ,lter
press5 performed pressure drop in:estigation calculations for the
pump where used theoretical densit1 :alues with rheological data
assumptions based on the particle si?ing and slurr1 mi=ture, static
head directl1 measured, and d1namic head calculated using
suction and discharge con,guration5 took assumptions on motor
eHcienc1 and then calculated iterati:el1 relationships between the
a:ailable power and pressure head to estimate for :arious
operation conditions5 ;or most of times, performed mapping for
the replacement fre@uenc1 for wearing of seals and bushes, and
calculated mean time between failures to compare with the :endor
recommendations to anal1se an1 defects5
proacti:el1 worked on :alue engineering initiati:es with e1e on
reducing cost and impro:ing e@uipment functionalit15 kept track
on the <uid and lubrication schedule for the machines, pumps and
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gearbo=es and ensured the oil cleanliness to reduce the wear inside
the bearings5 Gith the guidance of plant super:isor and plant
e=perience, produced the maintenance strategies for the rotating
e@uipment and performed criticalit1 anal1sis to ,nd out critical
spares and prepared a register to manage the in:entor1 of critical
spares such as ball mill bearings, pumps mechanical seals and
burner no??les so that parts a:ailabilit1 reduces e@uipment
downtime in case of sudden failure5 Ghile working and super:ising
mechanical and electrical ,tters, also worked on maintenance
method statements so that in absence of ke1 ,tters, an1 e=ternal
contractor shall be able to perform the work5 )s part of @ualit1
management plan, worked towards managing the documentation
as per S! "### re@uirements, coordinated with the laborator1 as
per the schedule for calibration of the instruments5 managed
strong discipline on house>keeping eBorts and super:ised the staB
to follow the e@uipment operating instructions in order to mitigate
an1 ha?ards5
S6MMARY
61 role as a plant engineer in the Punjab Porcelain manufacturing
operations pro:ided e=cellent production and operations support to
deli:er the re@uired order with the @ualit1 assurance, and m1
approach towards asset management pa:ed the wa1 for more
reliabilit1 and a:ailabilit1 of the e@uipments5
Signature of -andidate:
-andidateAs *eri,erCs Details
Name: )shok
.o1al____________________________________________________________________
Phone? email:
__________________________________________________________________
Position: Plant Director
_______________________________________________________________________
Relationship to Can!i!ate: Direct super:isor
_______________________________________________________
En$ineerin$ @ali)cations: ___________________
:erif1 that the abo:e narrati:e is a true account of the candidates own work5
Si$natre:______________________________________________________________________