SKF has assisted S-OIL, a large South Korean oil refinery, to increase productivity and reduce potential production downtime. The project has resulted in a payback for S-OIL in less than 11 months.

SKF was awarded a contract in 2009, in which S-OIL wanted to increase mechanical availability from 96.2% in 2008 to 98% by the end of 2014. Part of the project goal was also to make better use of their Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) system through improving operation and maintenance practices and business processes.

- We help our customers increase their productivity, by making their assets become more reliable and efficient. We also help them fulfill the Health, Safety and Environment Standard (HSE) for refineries, says Vartan Vartanian, President SKF Service Division.

- SKF has helped us to meet our business goals and have transferred their expertise and knowledge in asset efficiency to our operators and maintenance personnel in a very effective and professional way, says Mr. J H Han, S-OIL project leader.

The SKF solution included the development of asset strategy, defect eliminations and operator driven reliability. It also included setting work priorities, work planning and scheduling, job performance profiles and setting up key performance indicators.

S-OIL refinery corporation is the third largest oil refinery in South Korea and delivers approximately 560 000 barrels per day.