AstraZeneca

The Client

AstraZeneca is a biopharmaceutical company that was founded in 1999 after a merger of the companies Astra AB, and the Zeneca Group. Since the merger in 1999, AstraZeneca has continued to grow and become one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. AstraZeneca manufacturers and sells pharmaceuticals that treat diabetes, cardiovascular complications, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, and many other areas of medicine. Their increased investments into research and development have made them one of the most innovative pharmaceutical companies.

In addition to the commitment to being a leading company in the development of pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca has made sustainability and environmental protection a part of their mission, while continuing to change the lives of 200 million patients.

The Steam System

The AstraZeneca Waltham facility uses steam for both heating and process. As a result, a significant portion of their facility operates at over 100 psi, which increases the financial impact of even the most minor steam leak. Also, since steam is used for process, it is imperative for the staff maintaining the steam system to proceed as efficiently as possible to limit their impact on operations.

Well integrated projects deliver impressive results

APM was first contracted by AstraZeneca back in 2003. On that initial survey, our crews surveys a little over 100 traps and found that about a fifth of the traps were leaking or blowing, resulting in estimated losses of over $100,000. Shortly after that survey was done, the AstraZeneca team called us back to perform the repairs, and we established a schedule to come back periodically to make sure that we keep their failure rates within single digits. The commitment to preventative maintenance paid off: on every survey for the past 10 years, our team has found the failure rate to be in the single digits. After all these years working together, the APM is as familiar and knowledgeable of the AstraZeneca facility as their internal staff, which allows us to provide timely and effective recommendations on how to maintain their steam system.

APM’s recurring steam trap surveys and repairs have kept failure rates under 9% for the past 10 years.

Given the success of the relationship, AstraZeneca has increased the scope of the survey to include other buildings in their campus, increasing the total number of surveyed traps to about 250 traps and having our team perform cleanings on their Clean Steam Generators for the past 3 years.

The team at APM understands that steam may not be only used for comfort, but as an integral part of your manufacturing processes. If your facility needs the best-in-class service for your steam system, please do not hesitate to contact us for a quick consultation.