When the day comes ...

Who spares a thought for the eventual major overhaul when buying a new engine? “Actually, more and more customers do,” says Daniel Ramoli, head of Service Sales for mtu marine engines at Rolls-Royce. He goes on to say that the service proposition is just as important to many customers as the new engine itself, which is why he and his team have developed just the right service offering for every application. 

“Our first priority was to extend service intervals,” he explains. In a marathon detective operation, a Rolls-Royce service engineering team has analyzed and evaluated over 50,000 data records of engines with a wide variety of load profiles as a result of which they have adjusted the maintenance intervals of individual engine components – in some cases by a significant margin. An mtu 16V 4000 M65L engine now only requires a major overhaul after 54,000 hours. 

But whether it's 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 hours, or even more, the day will come when the engine needs a major overhaul, and when this time comes around, Rolls-Royce has the right proposal up its sleeve for every customer and for every challenge:

Insitu for tugboats

Tugboats tow the world's biggest container ships into port. They have is an incredible amount of power on tap, but what they don't have is space. The engine compartment at the bow is amazingly cramped and has no hatches large enough to get the engine out, which has meant in the past that engines have often literally had to be cut out of the vessels – an expensive and time-consuming affair. With Insitu this is a thing of the past. A phrase originally from Latin, in situ means 'in location', and the major overhaul can now be performed in situ, right there in the engine compartment.  There is a standardized process for this, which Rolls-Royce subsidiaries across the world can also perform. 

Reman for ferries and crew vessels

Space tends not to be so much of a problem in ferries. These vessels are large, and a major overhaul in situ would not pose too many problems. The issue is that this overhaul takes time, and time is the very thing ferry operators don't have. A ferry plying a certain route regularly simply cannot afford downtime. The Rolls-Royce solution to this is a Reman (re-manufactured) engine. These can be supplied and delivered all ready on the quayside, and be installed within a day. Reman engines are engines overhauled by Rolls-Royce using a standardized process. They offer the same properties as new units, plus a full warranty. “Reman doesn't just make good economic sense, it also makes sense for the environment,” says Marc Goldschmidt, Vice President Remanufacturing & Overhaul & Technologies. This is because as many components of an engine as possible are overhauled instead of being disposed of, thus saving money and resources. 

These figures show clearly just how important maintenance is when it comes to avoiding carbon emissions. Daniel Ramoli's service team doesn't focus solely on the Reman process. The team wants to use remote digital fault diagnostics to optimize – or even avoid – technician visits aboard. Indeed, a visit where a technician goes aboard a vessel only to discover that a part needs servicing or replacement often ends up being an unnecessary visit because parts health is something that can also be monitored remotely under a ValueCare agreement. 

“Maintenance of an engine is critical to its lifespan, so we want to offer all our customers the right option for maintaining their engines and keeping them up to date with the latest technology,” explains Daniel Ramoli. So they really are ready when the day comes ...