Eluding the Inevitable Downtime Production LossAt least a few times a week, I run into a common thread among customers. They are in a rush to find a replacement pump because they are currently down and losing $$ every second their production line sits being, well, unproductive. I, of course, research all options available and present a myriad of solutions for the customer. We can expedite parts to the customer so they can rebuild the pump themselves; we can rebuild the pump in a few days with parts in our stock; or we can expedite a pump from the manufacturer.
Each situation yields similar options. All of them must be considered and weighed before determining the route to proceed. Usually, money is no issue. Why? Because time = money. And the more time spent down, the more money not being made. Some plants can lose thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars if their production halts for just a single day. Now add up a few days of downtime, extra cost of expediting parts/pump, and possible fees for not delivering a product batch when originally agreed upon. It very quickly adds up. It can get even worse if specialized parts aren’t available for weeks. It becomes a scramble to get the product moving through the pipes again.
This can be avoided with a small bit of foresight and the purchase of a spare pump and/or spare parts. In the event of a pump malfunction, a spare pump can be brought in to resume production. This then allows time to either send the original pump out for repairs or repair in-house with the spare parts that the forward-thinking customer purchased. Of course, having custom packages with specially engineered pumps might make it less economically feasible to have a spare pump lying around. That’s where purchasing repair kits would be valuable. Short of a catastrophic failure, the pump can immediately be worked on and be up and running in hours as opposed to days or weeks.
Viking Pump offers both rebuild kits and seal kits for their pumps. These kits are priced at roughly a 15% discount compared to buying the parts individually. They are shrink-wrapped and labeled for easy storage and identification. We highly recommend keeping one of each kit in stock. Not only can normal repairs be performed the day a pump goes down, the threat of costly down time is circumvented and product keeps on flowing.
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in purchasing spare pumps/parts for your current applications.
