Low Compressed Air Problems?

Question: When you have a low compressed air pressure often, do you buy a new unit to increase your plant capacity ?
No. Not yet!
There are certain things that you need to sort out under such situation, and one of these is for you to understand your problem. Meaning, you try to make your problem clearer by getting into the specifics. Some questions you need to answer are:
1.Where is the problem occurring?
2.What causes it? What are the circumstances, when such problem is observed?
3.When does it occur?
4.How often does it happen?
5.By how much is your capacity lacking in terms of pressure drop and cfm, and recovery time?
6.What can you afford to do in the interim? Can you shed off some loads?

You also have to do the following:

1.Lay-down the entire plant piping system in front of you.
2.Put pressure gages at strategic locations.
3.Tag your pressure gages with an identification number.
4.Have your people simultaneously read the pressure gages at specific intervals.
5.Tabulate all pressure readings, and compare all the readings.
6.Analyze the characteristic of each end user load.
7.Quantify your losses for a drop in air pressure.
8.Develop alternative counter-measures.
9.Define the cost of alternative counter-measures.
10.Define the pros and cons of alternative counter-measures.
11.Select and justify your solution.

The cost of buying a new unit may not be the only consideration in an evaluation like this. It may involve the construction of some building cover, additional pipings, some foundation works, electrical supply cabling, and some switch gears. These must be considered as part of the total cost. The project time table will also need to be established and considered.

When selecting new and additional units to operate, one also needs to consider the life cycle cost of the equipment being procured. This means, you have to know the relative efficiencies of alternative units and consider the electric power consumption cost, operating strategy to meet the base loads, and the cost of the spare parts and supplies in the long term. Some supplies have to be imported, and some support dealer -companies may not be situated nearby, so you need to consider availability. There are many more things to consider, when looking into expanding your plant capacity. It may be worthwhile investigating your selection and rationalized them according to your goals, and needed flexibility. You will be married to your choice for a good number of years, and flexibility you require, may not be there from the very start, if your choice is wrong.

The foregoing process steps had been applied and proven effective by the author in past projects, and in one particular case, the procurement of new units and capital investment was ably postponed for six (6) years, which at an interest cost factor of 20% already paid for the cost of the units, when procurement was finally made.
Should you need more advice in this regard, you can contact the author for some help. The author is within reach at http://www.linkedin.com/in/sannysuerte and http://businessmanage.sosblog.com .