While catastrophic machinery failures may be caused in extreme cases by foundation problems, such as earthquake damage, major cracking of the inertia block, or sub-soil subsidence, it is the less obvious damage inflicted on the foundation by the machine itself that is the primary cause of mis-alignment, vibration, high energy consumption, and reduced output. In particular, it is the interface between machine and foundation - the grouting material, and its complement, the anchoring system - which is most responsible for alignment problems.
You can't rely on maintaining alignment if the interface is suspect.
At least four categories of costs may be considered: 1) Repair costs, 2) Downtime costs, 3) Performance costs and 4) Energy costs.
1) Repair costs
Includes, in addition to labor costs, replacements of bearings, seals, shafts, couplings, stators or impellers, anchor bolts and other replacement parts. A typical repair will cost thousands of €uros per machine.
2) Downtime costs
The costs incurred by not being able to produce due to the unavailability of the machine. Most compressors, pumps, turbines, generators, etc. will seriously reduce production capabilities to the extent of thousands of €uros annually.
3) Performance costs
The costs incurred due to reduced production capability. A recent customer was running its' electrical generators at 53% of rated Kilowatts due to the inability to keep its generators aligned. The ability to increase output once the foundations were repaired and the machines realigned allowed this customer to payback its investment in less than four months.
4) Energy costs
Misaligned motors generate more heat and consume at least ten percent more electrical current than well aligned machines. Annual energy savings of several hundred €uros per machine are not uncommon.
A realignment can add over 40% to Mean Time Between Failures. To estimate your costs of misaligned machines, click here.