User Success Story: Preventing failures and mistakes when replacing pumps with Smoothflow trial pumps and actual liquid evaluation tests.

A professional diagnosis and support system that can recommend pumps while also removing customer anxiety.

Food Manufacturer, Company M

Production Management Department

Company M has always had problems with the pumping accuracy of the pumps in their systems. They were considering reviewing the equipment, but careful selection was necessary due to numerous failures in the past.

Problems:

・“With our existing pumps, the flow rate is unstable and we are not satisfied with its performance, but…”

Food manufacturer, Company M, was using a rotary pump in their seasoning process and processed the liquid into powder using a spray drying method. However, since the existing pumps had large fluctuations in the flow rate and the accuracy was not stable, the size of the powder particles when dried was not consistent. As a result, it was an urgent issue as a big portion of the final products were defective and unusable.

“There was a big gap between accuracy of the pump that was explained by the pump manufacturer at the time of purchase and when I actually tried using it,” explained Mr. K, the person in charge who had to take responsibility for insufficient information collection and confirmation from several years ago.

・Concerns with contamination and liquid leakage due to wear.

In addition, a newly developed product a high concentration slurry liquid with suspended particles, and there was concerns about contamination due to wear inside the rotary pump which has many sliding parts.

Furthermore, to due wear of parts from extended use, liquid leakage from the mechanical seals had become a problem, and Mr. K received a request from upper management to replace the pumps from each work station.

“I had no choice but to consider a suitable replacement pump as soon as possible, but since I had failed in correctly replacing the pumps in the past, I had to be extra careful with the pump selection this time,” Mr. K explained.

Problem Points:

・The flow rate of the pump was not stable, and the products that were being produced were defective.

・There were concerns about contamination due to wear inside of the pump.

・They wanted to confirm the performance of the pump selection before implementing it to prevent failures and mistakes.

Solution:

・”Performing tests with the actual transfer liquid and a trial pump convinced us of the performance of Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps and allowed us to implement them with confidence.”

Mr. K, who was having a hard time making a decision, visited Tacmina’s booth at an exhibition he attended in order to gather information about possible solutions, and this is when he encountered Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps. Mr. K explained, “I wanted to decide to implement a new pump after thorough confirmation of its performance, so I decided to consult with Tacmina to hear more information about their current situation or possibilities.”

The salesperson who listened to Mr. K’s troubles recommended that, “Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps are high customizable and can be thoroughly verified with actually transfer liquid tests in our R&D Center or with a trial pump that we can rent to customers, so please feel free to use either of them until you are satisfied!” Mr. K took up his offer and sent a sample of the actual liquid he is handling to Tacmina and requested an actual liquid test.

Soon after, Tacmina performed various tests with the actual transfer liquid to grasp the problems caused by the characteristics of the transfer liquid and proposed a customized pump that specifically dealt with these issues. Tacmina provided complete liquid analysis data and test results to Mr. K, who was satisfied by the professional, detailed analysis. Mr. K still had a few concerns about the actual performance of the pump and wanted to verify it himself, so he put in a request and Tacmina lent him a trial pump to perform additional tests with on site in Company M’s actual factory.

・Completely eliminating contamination concerns with a pump without rotating or sliding parts.

Mr. K explained, “In the spray drying process, the flow rate of the Smoothflow Pump was considerably more stable than any of the existing pumps we had tried, and the particle size of the finished product could be kept constant with high accuracy. Also, since there are no rotating or sliding parts in the wetted-parts section, there is no abrasion inside of the pump due to the slurry liquid, and the concerns about contamination due to foreign matter were completely eliminated!” It was also attractive to Mr. K that there are no mechanical seals inside of the pump, so there is no risk of liquid leakage. Mr. K, who was pleasantly satisfied with the performance, decided to implement the Smoothflow Pump.

“Since we received professional advice from very knowledgeable engineers about pumps suitable for our process, and we were able to verify the performance until we were satisfied with a trial pump, all of our anxieties were dealt with and we were able to implement the Smoothflow Pump with confidence and peace of mind. Since implementation, we have successfully stabilized production. Our experience with Tacmina’s know-how and experienced staff was such a relief that we are currently working with them on another project and considering introducing another Smoothflow Pump,” Mr. K concluded gleefully.

Solution Points:

・With an actual transfer liquid test or trial pump, it was possible to propose a pump that rectified the problem and verify the performance of the pump before purchasing it.

・The flow rate of the Smoothflow Pump is stable and the particle size of their seasoning product can be kept constant.

・Since there are no rotating or sliding parts in the wetted-end section of the pump, they were able to eliminate the concern of contamination.

Seasoning Powder