News You Can Use

RTA NEWS YOU CAN USE
March 2, 2015

GREAT ARTICLE FROM RTA MEMBER INDUSTRIAL COMPRESSOR SOLUTIONS!
YOU MIGHT WANT TO SHARE THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE WITH YOUR STAFF.
IT IS WELL WORTH READING AND SAVING FOR FUTURE REFERENCE!!

COMPRESSED AIR: More Than Just Filling Tires!

How often do you consider the air around you? Most of us never give it a thought - unless of course, we are suddenly without it. How about the compressed air in your plant?

Nothing reminds you of your compressed air system like a chamber alarm! There are many questions to consider when evaluating the cost of compressed air. Is it the steep purchase price of your air equipment and piping? Or is it the electricity to run the big air compressor motors? Did you know that the power cost for 1 HP for 3 shifts, 7 days/week (8760 hours) at $0.10/kWh is $750/year? How about the price of oil, parts, and service required to keep it running?

And don't forget the cost of lost production and scrapped tires when it fails.
My name is Joshua Wamser. I own Industrial Compressor Solutions and have been in the air compressor industry for 15 years. About 8 years ago, I was servicing an air compressor in a retread facility and I was intrigued by the number of air compressors they were running, as well as by their unique utilization. After consulting with the manager, they opened up their plant and allowed me to spend a month working with the operators, learning the processes, and understanding the specific compressed air needs inside the facility. Since then, I have worked in multiple retread plants across the US, eagerly bridging the gap between my industry and yours.

In this article, I will be discussing what makes the Tire Retread Industry so unique in regards to how compressed air is used, the costs of compressed air, and how to make your facility more efficient. I will talk about common mistakes that we make utilizing air, and things that we can do to overcome them. I sincerely hope that reading this article will help to make your retread plant more efficient.

"Did you know that the power cost for 1 HP for 3 shifts, 7 days/week (8760 hours) at $0.10/kWh is $750/year?"

The compressed air system in a Cap Shop is extremely dynamic! From the chamber filling demand and its after-hours air usage, to the higher pressure and huge volume requirements of an efficient tire filling and cage operation, your air system is every bit as important as your electricity! Even the most well thought out air system design can have difficulties when it comes to varying pressure requirements and rather large intermittent flow spikes coming from different areas of the plant!

While trying to overcome varying pressure and flow requirements, the greatest piece of advice I can give you is to always try to split your air needs into three separate facets. In smaller shops, this might be achieved with valves. In larger plants, it might even make sense to separate the air systems completely with cross connects. Either way that you approach this, training will be key. If we separate our chamber(s), our plant, and our tire filling air systems, we can greatly reduce or eliminate many common compressed air issues indigenous to the Retread Industry!

Let's talk about the chambers first. Have you ever seen plant air pressure upwards of 125 psig? 145 psig? The chamber actually requires less than 90 psig. Reducing 25 psig in the air system will save you about 12.5% of the electrical consumption of the air compressors. So why is the pressure so high? There are a few things to consider. Does your air system pressure drop when the chamber is filling? Do you have multiple compressors with offset pressure bands to allow for the chamber fill? Are you filling the chambers faster than you have to? Fixing your chamber air supply could be as simple as installing an orifice in the air line, and isolating the supply from the rest of the shop.

What about the retread shop? This is relatively the easiest part of the facility's demand profile, but it's also the most abused! Over-pressurized tools and cylinders, as well as tubing, fittings, gauges, regulators, and quick disconnects in disrepair all are contributors. In my experience, 15-30% of the air demand in a retread shop is in leaks. Did you know that reducing your shop air pressure from 125 psig to 100 psig will save you 18% of your leak rate? How about the fact that supplying air pressure greater than 90 psig to your high-speed tools will cause them to break faster? If we separate the retread plant from the chambers and the tire filling, we will immediately start saving electricity and repair costs! Do you routinely run an overnight cure? By creating three separate air systems, we can completely isolate the plant and service air at night with a valve. One valve could reduce your overnight leak rate in your retread plant and cage areas to ZERO!

"If we separate our chamber(s), our plant, and our tire filling air systems, we can greatly reduce or eliminate many common compressed air issues indigenous to the Retread Industry!"

Cage areas are really fun for me because they are so versatile! The air usage in your cage areas differs across every single plant I have ever been in! There are many things to consider when it comes to lowering air costs for each unique cage area. How many cages do you have and how streamlined is your filling process? Do you fill tires for a couple hours on a Tuesday, or does one operator fill them slowly all week? Whether or not you utilize tire-filling machines or if you offer Nitrogen are also particularly important factors. How many different pressures do your customers require? And how sensitive are their air requirements? Independent to how you answered all of these questions, in most plants, the cage area maintains the highest pressure requirement in the whole building. By separating out the cage area from the rest of your plant, you will drastically and immediately reduce your operating costs in the other areas of the facility- simply due to the reduction in air pressure.

I have highlighted several means to bring about potential cost savings in your facilities – perhaps in ways that really add up! These are just a few of the ways you can cut costs, but there are a lot of other things that can also be done. The key to proper implementation is training. It is not expensive to install a couple of valves in your facility. It is, however, much more difficult to decide what part of your system could utilize more storage, a separate air compressor, or even a change in piping layout. I am not at all advocating for the complete redesign of your facility, I am simply trying to teach a better understanding of your air system requirements. Recognizing the three major air usages in your facility, and how they are so different, is paramount to this understanding.

In closing, I would like to thank you for reading this article. I am a huge fan of your industry, and I am very thankful for how welcoming all of you have been over the years. If after reading this you are interested in learning more, or would like to have your existing or proposed plant evaluated, I would be pleased to speak with you. I specialize in Consulting and Training Services, and most importantly, in Retread Plant Compressed Air Systems!

Josh Wamser, President
Industrial Compressor Solutions, Inc.
Taylors, SC
Tel: 864-399-0447
Email: josh@icsupstate.com
Web: www.industrialcompressorsolutions.com

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"It's fine to celebrate success
but it is more important
to heed the lessons of failure."
~ Bill Gates