Pumps & Systems, January 2008
Critical Issues
Our current expectation is for global growth in emerging markets to continue, driven by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as well as the Middle East, Eastern Europe and segments of Latin America. Infrastructure expansion in these emerging markets is likely to drive growth in our core market segments over the planning horizon.
The picture in the mature markets of North America and Western Europe appears quite different. Global demand, coupled with strong local economies, has fueled growth in these mature markets for the past three years, but this run may be coming to an end. As the U.S. economy begins to soften at the same time emerging market capacity comes on-line, mature industrial market business will again come under pressure.
Older process plants in mature markets are under increasing pressure to improve profitability and to create sustainable, globally competitive business models. The higher cost structure inherent in mature markets forces plants to outperform in productivity and innovation. Reductions in personnel, coupled with the attrition of highly skilled labor, make this job more difficult.
Solutions
We believe that our customers need much more from us than high quality, competitively priced equipment. As such, our focus is on expanded services and technologies that enable customers to achieve meaningful cost reductions in maintenance, operations, downtime and energy. On-site reliability and maintenance services focus on the following areas:
Maintenance Economy
The easiest way to begin realizing maintenance economies is to perform a plant audit. These audits can be performed by outside service providers or trained internal personnel. An audit will uncover opportunities to extend equipment life, reduce energy consumption and eliminate unplanned downtime. Inventory management and optimization alone will lower carrying costs and help you identify excess inventory for disposal.
By employing these recommended tactics, industrial operations can reduce costs without increasing prices and jeopardizing their competitiveness.
Downtime Reduction
Unanticipated downtime caused by equipment failure is costly in maintenance and lost production. This problem can be avoided for the most part through installation of predictive monitoring, which continuously monitors rotating equipment in your plant.
Unlike the expensive monitoring employed in years past, today's technology employs inexpensive sensors, equipment mounted data acquisition, wireless transmission, and Web-enabled reporting and data analysis. . . and this monitoring even alerts you via cell phone, PDA or e-mail. Now, plant operators can be remotely stationed monitoring multiple plants. Monitoring will also lower the total cost of ownership and extend equipment life. Improvements in equipment reliability fall right to the bottom line.
Energy Reduction
Up to 50 percent of the power consumed by pumps can be saved through variable speed operation. If a 100-hp pump/motor consumes $10,000 in energy annually, the savings would be $5,000. Now multiply that times the hundreds of pumps found in the typical paper mill, chemical plant or refinery and you have some eye-opening savings. Why isn't there more action being taken to capture these savings?
Opportunities to improve pump performance are often overlooked for the following reasons:
There is low awareness of motor energy-efficient technologies.
Financial and operational benefits are often not well understood.
The initial capital cost to employ motor-efficient technology may be higher (purchasing decisions are typically made on initial cost).
Energy-saving projects are often ranked below other process-related capital expenditures.
By delivering services that are tangible and actionable for our customers, meaningful improvements in plant profitability can be achieved. Our industry will achieve long term success by focusing on the customer's bottom line.