In 2017, our client was hired to transform a paper machine into a board machine for a large North American paper manufacturer. Some parts of the machine had to be modified and others refurbished. It was a major project that required several subcontractors and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to work together.

Several companies were solicited to work on different sections of the machine, including FAB 3R, which was hired to refurbish the dryer section. 

Throughout the project, the construction firm dismantled the parts at the paper company and sent them to the FAB 3R facility. That’s when the clock started ticking for FAB 3R: we only had six weeks after receiving each part to refurbish it and return it to the paper maker.

To complicate matters, the scale of the work at the paper company made for limited space. So it was out of the question that a piece of equipment be sent back before it was needed, and simply impossible for it to be late and hold up the rest of the work. Everything was synchronized down to the day with the various contact people, and FAB 3R had to carefully keep track of the order in which the parts needed to be refurbished and sent back to the paper mill.

In these circumstances, even the smallest delay could cause significant consequences and compromise the project’s entire schedule. And when parts covered in rust and grease were damaged while being taken apart, FAB 3R didn’t have the luxury of ordering new ones from the manufacturer: the transport time would have gobbled up precious time. There wasn’t any alternative. We had to make new parts, even if, in some cases, we didn’t have the original drawings, which were inaccessible, or even the part itself when it was too damaged to recognize. FAB 3R had to pool all its skills and expertise to create drawings of the components, so we could recreate them and redo the part’s entire mechanical assembly.

For FAB 3R, missing a deadline is never an option. That’s why our team invested themselves completely, working night and day to deliver all the parts on time, just when they were needed.

Thanks to the exceptional contribution of FAB 3R and the other companies involved, the paper maker was able to start its board machine on the exact day it had planned to, despite the magnitude of the project and its considerable logistical challenges.