Compressed Air Best Practices - February 2008 - (Page 7)

Compressed Air Industry BULK HANDLING | 02/08 | FROM THE EDITOR The Vacuum and Blower Challenge Greatness usually comes during times of great challenge or duress. Few have the discipline to achieve greatness when things are “ok.” Sports greatness often is realized when there is a demanding coach. Business greatness often requires a tough leader. Academic achievement sometimes requires a few of the famous “all-nighters.” U.S. industry has responded to the challenge of 2001 when many thought the “off-shoring” of manufacturing would never stop. Productivity indexes show that U.S. industrial efficiency has gone through the roof since then. Costs have been taken out of industrial operations while output has gone up — while maintaining or improving quality. U.S. manufacturing has stabilized and its’ future is bright (in my humble opinion). Compressed air systems have been heavily audited this decade and countless firms have stopped wasting the $100,000 to $1 million per year they had been throwing down the drain for years. The fight to keep the factory doors open made utility engineers and plant managers challenge everything to promote efficiencies. They challenged many historic notions with compressed air systems (like it’s free) to capture the savings. While much is yet to be done with “100 psig” compressed air, a growing opportunity exists with vacuum, blower and pneumatic systems in industry. Several auditor friends of mine, who have recently completed big audits of these types of systems, tell me that the inefficient vacuum, blower and pneumatic systems remind them of “100 psig” compressed air systems ten to fifteen years ago. kW CO2 O For this reason, Compressed Air Best Practices Magazine is challenging itself to expand the scope to include “Best Practices” in vacuum, blower and pneumatic systems. This month’s Focus Industry of “Bulk Handling” provides us with the perfect opportunity to look at vacuum and blowers. The challenging environments of cement plants, for example, require a sophisticated mix of vacuum, low-pressure blowers, and “100-psig” compressed air. Our thanks go to auditors Brent Ehrlich, Hank Van Ormer and Dan Bott, for sharing their experiences in these areas with us this month. Finally, does your company allow employees to have enough self-confidence to challenge themselves and ask themselves (or their manager), “What can I do better”? Does your firm encourage employees to push themselves out of their comfort zone? Or does the company culture reward employees who are very effective at documenting what they do well — or worse, does your firm reward and promote employees who are marvelous at documenting things that others do? We have included an article on this topic, by Don Schmincke, which we hope provokes some thought. ROD SMITH www.airbestpractices.com 7 http://www.belairtech.net http://www.belairtech.net http://www.belairtech.net http://www.airbestpractices.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Compressed Air Best Practices - February 2008

Compressed Air Best Practices - February 2008 Contents From the Editor Utility-Air News February Audit of the Month: Dense-Phase Transport System Wreaks Havoc on Compressed Air System Real World Best Practices: Material Conveying with Pneumatic and Vacuum Systems Industrial Vacuum Cleaners Use Compressed Air in Portland Cement Manufacturing Processes The Numatics Air Preparation Group The Ins and Outs of Vacuum Generators Dekker Vacuum Technologies Do Your Meetings Sabotage Your Profits? Resources for Energy Engineers Wall Street Watch Advertiser Index Job Market

Compressed Air Best Practices - February 2008

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