Mechanical Technology January 2015

Mechanical Technology — January 2015

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On the cover

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1. Xylem has taken delivery of its first mobile

workshop.

2. The mobile workshop is a complete, self-sufficient

vehicle kitted with everything required for onsite

pump servicing and repairs.

3. Repair and Maintenance is the basic TotalCare

offering, through which Xylem offers to improve

uptime.

pump reliability

Monitoring and Supervision is the

next package listed in the global

TotalCare offering: “We don’t yet offer

this package, but we are willing to im-

plement it should a customer express an

interest. This is a maintenance manage-

ment and plant optimisation package

integrated with monitoring and control

hardware and technology. We provide

basic alarms as well as optimisation and

performance benchmarking services,”

Havenga tells

MechTech

Extending this package, and also not

yet implemented in South Africa is Plant

Operation and Maintenance, an offering

to take complete control of big pumping

facilities. In the long term, Havenga

sees this offering as an ultimate solution

to local skills shortages and mainte-

nance capacity. “By allowing us to take

full management control of pumping

issues at a facility, clients can focus all

of their attention onto core business,

entrusting us with all plant operation

and maintenance responsibilities. This

makes best use of both their expertise

and ours,” he suggests.

An Inspection and Auditing services

package is available for operators seek-

ing to minimise downtime and maximise

profitability. “It involves regular inspec-

tions by our qualified service engineers

and includes audits for energy efficiency,

equipment condition and reliability,”

explains Havenga. “A big part of this

offering is energy efficiency optimisation,

where we do a condition audit and then

detail how we can improve a pumping

system to make it more efficient – by

replacing old pumps for more efficient

equivalents, for example or by right siz-

ing the pumps. The traditional pump se-

lection approach was to specify a pump

that was too big and then to throttle

it to the required flow. But throttling

wastes energy. Nowadays, we prefer to

slow the pumps down to achieve the

required flow or to switch them on and

off in cycles to achieve the necessary

average flow. Both these approaches are

more energy efficient than throttling,”

he advises. Other optimisation strate-

gies, according to Havenga, include:

using VSDs, trimming impellers, fitting

a smaller motor or, for sewage pumps,

installing sophisticated controls such as

SmartRun

Peace of mind for operators also

comes from knowing that equipment

and spares for scheduled maintenance

or emergencies are on hand and readily

available. Xylem TotalCare’s Parts and

Logistics offering is well established to

meet these needs. Also now an integral

feature of the local service offering is its

Rental and Onsite Services package,

which operates through Xylem’s dewa-

tering division. “Renting gives clients

access to best-in-class dewatering or

bypass pumping equipment without

having to justify capital expenditure.

Rental is ideal for short-term use to

cover downtime periods of the installed

units; for long-term ‘lease’ agreements;

or for clients preferring to ‘try-before-

you-buy’,” Havenga suggests.

Asset Refurbishment and Training

and Technical Support packages com-

plete the maintenance-related service

offering. “Asset management is about

protecting the value of ageing assets

and minimising capital expenditure,

and training helps to ensure that equip-

ment operators and service staff have

the knowledge and skills to optimise

equipment and plant performance. Our

engineers, with extensive expertise and

experience in Xylem products and their

applications, are in the best possible

position to provide training and techni-

cal support services,” he advises.

Globally, Xylem offers its Financial

Solutions package in response to

the trend towards utility-type billing

contracts such as those used by cell-

phone service providers. In the context

of pumping, the ultimate idea is that

pump operators are billed per litre of

product pumped. “We in South Africa

are not there yet, but it’s coming. As a

starting point for financial services, we

are talking about hire-purchase (HP)

agreements as well as rent-to-buy op-

tions, though,” Havenga points out.

“Philosophy wise, isn’t it better to

use maintenance specialists who can

properly meet a pump’s demands?

“We see Xylem’s TotalCare service

offering as a complete circle. Once

installed, preventing problems and

downtime should be the starting prior-

ity. This is followed by action to repair

and optimise pumping systems. Closing

the circle is savings, in terms of both

money and energy, which is the logical

priority of any municipal, industrial or

commercial pumping operation,” he

concludes.