February 12, 2009

Fueling the Future with Ethanol

Mapcon Technologies, Inc. has formed a partnership with ICM. ICM designs, builds, and installs innovative technologies for producing ethanol. As new plants are constructed and come on-line, they have the opportunity to utilize MAPCON to ensure the equipment is maintained and remains operational.

The layout and construction of the ethanol plants are very similar. ICM provides each site a database of the equipment, spare parts, and preventive maintenance procedures pre-loaded into MAPCON. The time (and cost) savings from a data entry standpoint is significant. MAPCON also wrote a custom interface to the Great Plains accounting software package which greatly enhances the marketability of the ICM/MAPCON system to future sites. ICM has further enhanced the capabilities of MAPCON by producing a "Top-Ten Costs" report for material/labor costs, a PM item condition scale, and a method for determining equipment ratings. Routes are used to document V.O.C (volatile organic compounds) emissions detection and repairs. It is very important for plants to maintain compliance with state and federal regulations pertaining to volatile organic compounds, and MAPCON provides an effective means for doing this.

The ICM plants that have been using MAPCON the longest are realizing a 20% increase in maintenance productivity. MAPCON allows ICM to further distinguish themselves as a leader in the ethanol industry. In addition to design/build technology, safety, environmental, and insurance programs, ICM can now offer a comprehensive maintenance and spare parts inventory system to ensure the long-term viability of the industry. As of August 2005, 11 plants are already successfully running MAPCON CMMS. MAPCON would like to extend a special "Thank You" to some key ICM representatives who have been instrumental in developing this partnership, specifically Mike Crawford, Joe Amos, and Neil "The Man" Havran.