When stator wear was an issue, a custom-made replacement part was the solution.
When a global adhesive and sealant manufacturer needed a maintenance and equipment solution for frequent and premature stator wear, a specialty rubber stator was the solution. Collaboration with a distributor and pump company helped the manufacturer save money and reduce downtime due to maintenance operations.
The Company
Based in Ohio, the adhesive manufacturer is among the world’s largest, privately held manufacturers of adhesives and sealants.
The company integrates its core competency, emulsion polymerization, offering a broad portfolio of products, including: adhesives, glues, hot melts, binders and sizing compounds for use in construction, wood furniture manufacturing, millwork, paper converting, pressure-sensitive paper products and fiberglass reinforcement. The manufacturer markets an array of products to customers worldwide.
Customer Challenge
The Ohio-based manufacturing facility operates a fleet of progressing cavity (PC) pumps. These PC pumps are applied in the transfer of raw materials and shear-sensitive adhesive fluids to different parts of its manufacturing process throughout the facility. One of the company’s flagship global products is a pure-white adhesive that requires very gentle, low-shear pumping action.
In addition, the manufacturer had two additional critical objectives:
- The company’s process requires a high cleanliness standard to ensure the exceptional quality of the end product.
- The company required high reliability and low operating costs to improve financial performance.
A Need for a New Stator
The adhesive manufacturer was experiencing problems with premature stator wear. On average, its original PC pump stators would wear out within three months.
That meant that it had to replace hundreds of stators every year. With the downturn in the global market for adhesives and tight budgets, the Ohio manufacturer needed a way to cut its maintenance and operating costs.
In search of a solution, the company looked to a technical distributor to collaborate on its critical needs. The sales manager from the distributor partnered with a PC pump solutions company to offer special rubber compounded stators to address these challenges.
To meet the customer’s needs, this pump company developed and tested its own rubber formulation in its Manchester, U.K., research and development facility. The solution was a special white stator for all the manufacturer’s PC pumps, instead of the traditional black, which also helped maintain the adhesives’ pure-white color.
Results
The first shipment of pure-white stators was delivered to the adhesive manufacturer from the pump company at approximately 50 percent of the cost of the original OEM supplier. In addition, the stator life has been twice the life of the OEM supplied stators. This additional stator life saved the company more than 200 stator change-outs during the year and approximately 1,600 hours of maintenance upkeep for the same period.
Future Changes
With a change in global demand for adhesives and a shrinking maintenance budget, the manufacturer needed a significant cost savings solution within its manufacturing facility.
As a result of the distributor’s and pump company’s efforts in designing, supplying and stocking white stators, the company has been able to realize quick lead times and competitive pricing for its pumping needs.
Moving forward, the manufacturer is considering a change to a transfer pump with white stators in the future expansion of its facility. With the transfer pump technology, the manufacturer will be able to maintain a PC pump in place without removing the pump from the pipe work.
Pumps & Systems, February 2012