A food processing plant optimizes its maintenance thanks to Acoem Sparrow

Country: Hungary
Application: Vegetable Oil Manufacturing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A leading European vegetable oil manufacturer partnered with Acoem Reliability to modernize its maintenance strategy and monitor a wide range of rotating assets. With the deployment of 140 Sparrow wireless sensors and the NEST Industry 4.0 solution, the site now benefits from real-time insights and centralized data management via the cloud.

The Challenge

The facility operates across several production areas—including extraction, refining, and utilities—with numerous rotating assets such as pumps, vacuum pumps, fans, mixers, and conveyors. Monitoring these machines manually was time-consuming, prone to human error, and ineffective in predicting early failures. Undetected anomalies threatened to disrupt production and affect supply to the animal feed sector. Energy waste and unexpected downtimes were persistent concerns.

The Solution

The customer implemented 140 Sparrow wireless vibration sensors and the NEST Industry 4.0 cloud database management platform.

They chose Acoem for its replaceable sensor batteries, adjustable dynamic range, excellent communication options (Bluetooth, WiFi, LAN), compact sensor design with broad frequency coverage, and flexible deployment options (on-site or cloud).

A long-standing relationship based on past alignment solutions, combined with a scalable platform ready for future upgrades like Eagle and Falcon with Accurex™ AI, made Acoem the trusted partner.

This solution enabled full remote condition monitoring of essential machines, reduced manual inspections, and laid the foundation for predictive maintenance.

The Results

Immediate Benefits:

Full-time monitoring of 140 critical assets
Improved equipment availability and operational continuity
Simplified, centralized data access via the cloud
Fewer emergency interventions and reduced unplanned downtime

Quantified Outcomes:

Increased asset uptime
Expected savings on maintenance costs and energy efficiency
Early detection of potential failures in pumps and fans

The Impact

This implementation helped the customer shift from reactive to proactive maintenance. The successful deployment not only optimized current operations but also reinforced a trusted partnership with Acoem. Following this success, the company is now considering expanding its condition monitoring strategy by deploying additional Sparrow sensors and Eagle systems in ATEX zones, further enhancing safety and predictive maintenance capabilities across hazardous environments.