Use this assessment tool to evaluate any pump repair shop with which your operations are currently working, or any that you are considering for future work.

This article is the third in a series based on a presentation delivered at the 2007 NPRA Reliability & Maintenance Conference in Houston, TX. Here, as with the previous installments (which ran in the July 2007 and September 2007 issues of Maintenance Technology), the authors discuss how to distinguish competent pump repair operations.

Part II of this series, published in September 2007, concluded by promising specific assessment criteria for those considering entrusting their pumps to a non-OEM pump rebuilder. Referring to competent pump rebuild shops, we coined the term “CPRS.”

CPRS assessment tool and matrix

The following information can be used as an assessment tool for any shop that you, as a pump user/owner, are considering for future work—as well as for those with whom you might presently be doing business.

Mergers and consolidations over the past decade or so have had a significant impact on both pump users and pump manufacturers. Given the consolidations in the pump industry and changing landscapes in terms of qualified workers/associates to effect a competent repair, it is strongly suggested that a pump user/owner use this tool and survey all the shops it is working with and/or considering working with, at least once a year. A lot of things can change—people come and go, improvements can be made or lost and financial performance pressures persist. These factors all have a direct impact on the capability of your outside repair shop.

Although this assessment tool is by no means complete, it can be the basis for assessing one’s in-house pump repair shops and those of your OEM, as well as any non-OEM facilities. Routine assessments of repair shops can avoid unwanted surprises and the ensuing aftermath of a poor repair on a critical piece of equipment.

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Two imperatives for many of today’s industrial plants are to reduce the cost of operations through the enhancement of rotating equipment reliability and enhanced energy efficiency of pumping systems.

One place to look for a significant, yet relatively easy “quick win,” is the seal flush water going to packing, single, and double seals. In many industrial plants water is being used to provide lubrication, cooling and/or as a means to exclude a harmful process fluid from the stuffing box or seal chamber.

The means for providing an external water flush or quench are generally described as API/ISO piping plans 32 (ANSI 7332), 54 (ANSI 7354) or 62 (ANSI 7362).

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The first installment of this series highlighted general guidelines regarding the selection of competent non-OEM pump repair facilities. This month, these guidelines are discussed in more detail.

You get what you inspect. That said, a pump user must have a repair specification. It may or may not be identical to the specification used by the non-OEM competent pump repair shop (CPRS). Where the specification or checklist of the CPRS differs from the one of the user/purchaser, the issues need to be explored and the ramifications of any deviations understood. At that time, waivers are issued and details of the understanding are documented.

In any event, unless a process pump manufacturer gives specific and different values or measurements for a particular make, size or model, experience shows the guidelines in this article to be useful”and valid. Even an in-house pump shop would benefit from making it a habit to use and apply the following assembly dimension checklist. Some of the listed diametral clearance and/or interference tolerances will be stricter than what certain pump manufacturers allow (for reasons of internal cost savings, perhaps). But, then again, this simply illustrates the opportunities to improve on some OEM products.

Best-of-Class user shops often make copies, laminate them and either hand them to each of their shop technicians or post them near mechanic/technician workstations. CPRS facilities use similar approaches to disseminate the information in Sidebar 1, Best-of-Class Pump Specifications, to their staffs.

Beyond the actual specifications listed in Sidebar 1, there are other Best-of- Class type guidelines to consider when rebuilding a pump. A CPRS certainly considers them.

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In light of so many consolidations across the pump industry, is it any wonder that legacy brand experience often is lost? These days, some OEMs may not be able to offer the same engineering competence they once had in the area of pump rebuilding.

Trying to rebuild a vintage process pump to original OEM specifications makes no sense, given current pump rebuilding capabilities and changes to system performance that occur over time. Thus, a qualified independent rebuild shop deploying highly experienced personnel and a full range of state-of-the-art technologies (including balancing and alignment, vibration analysis, ultrasonics, infrared thermography, oil analysis and non-destructive testing techniques, among others) can verifiably offer high-quality upgrades that improve both uptime and efficiency consistent with current system performance requirements.

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Observations on the changes, trends and challenges that both suppliers and pump users may face in the coming years.

Changes

Perhaps the most pronounced change we have experienced is that the customer we serve is no longer a “local” customer, but is increasingly a large national or global organization with locations throughout the world.

These global customers are interested in working with suppliers that can provide a comprehensive range of specialized services with a high degree of professionalism. Because they are interested in reducing the number of suppliers with which they work, they often prefer to deal with suppliers that can effectively service multiple locations.

Over time, this will change the landscape of aftermarket suppliers, with smaller, local organizations being reduced. The aftermarket providers that emerge from this period of change will be larger companies with broader capabilities and services, particularly those that are strong in engineering and technical services and in employing new technologies.

When industrial capital projects in the U.S. were in a slump during the 1980s and 1990s, a dramatic consolidation of pump companies resulted in only a few major broadbased OEMs dominating the industry. Today, the pump industry enjoys resurging demand – new power plants, major refinery expansions, oil sands projects in Canada and so on – that is straining productive capacity, with deliveries for both pumps and replacement parts often exceeding acceptable parameters.

This strain, in turn, creates opportunities for qualified aftermarket parts suppliers.

Trends

The focus of our business is no longer the “machine shop,” but rather technological improvements that continue to change and advance the way we operate.

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