Industrial Pumps Blog

Noise and vibration form a key side effect of almost any industrial application or process you can think of.  They are also negative factors for a number of reasons – they are pollutants, they may harm human operators and persons in the vicinity, they may adversely affect performance and indeed, excessive noise and vibration is symptomatic of energy and operational inefficiency involved in the process.

There are also instances where for operational reasons, noise and vibration must be minimized.  The French Navy has recently placed an order for ultra-silent industrial pumps to be fitted to its new class of “Suffren” submarines.  When a submarine is engaged on duty or operations, it is essential that the vessel can operate under the strictest standards of silence to evade detection by the enemy.

In such instances, there is no alternative but to deal with the noise and vibration issue.

Industrial pumps and fluid handling systems contribute a large portion of the noise and vibration associated with any industrial or military process (obviously this applies only in normal circumstances).  Traditional centrifugal pump technology utilizes techniques which are themselves, very noisy and contribute to vibration production.  By definition, greater part movement and friction creation is implicit in the operation of centrifugal pumps which makes them inappropriate for designs intended to meet high environmental and operating efficiency levels.

To this end, it is noticeable that positive displacement technology is increasingly being used by commercial and military operators seeking to deliver noise and vibration free side effects of their activities.  Positive displacement pumps and valves are also much more efficient in terms of consumption of energy and enjoy greatly reduced operating costs due to extended maintenance and replacement cycles.  The new French submarines for instance, are utilizing positive displacement pumps, rather than old-style centrifugal technology which cannot deliver the same operational standards of silence and reliability as the newer technology.

VT Shipbuilder was involved in delivering two shipbuilding contracts but it faced problems with a supplier list which was disparate and uncoordinated. Issues frequently arose when it came to sourcing industrial pumps which were not only the best choice for the immediate build, but would also continue to contribute to the bottom line of both the shipbuilder and its clients when it came to the maintenance and replacement cycles.

The issue was compounded with suppliers being unable to deliver a coordinated or broad product range which was interchangeable, resulting in considerable delays and costs involved with redesign and refit issues throughout the project.  It was impossible to get the agreement of Supplier A to handle pump and valve infrastructure handled by Supplier B, or at least with any meaningful SLA.

Relationships between suppliers was also not as strong as it ought to have been, particularly where contracts relied on strong relationships which would be capable of subsisting for years into the future if maintenance and replacement contracts were to be honored.

VT Shipbuilders embarked on a paring down of the supplier lists and in respect of industrial pump and fluid handling technology, it eventually chose to partner with one large supplier who owned a broad range of brands and products.  This allowed VT Shipbuilders to tap into the design and engineering resources of a partner who had a broad understanding of the differing application, positive advantages and negative aspects of each and every pump installation.  Both positive displacement and centrifugal technology could be employed without competing financial interest of differing suppliers who were more interested in getting a contract irrespective of the operational appropriateness.

By streamlining its industrial pump supplier, VT Shipbuilding strengthened its supplier relationship immensely which brought several advantages, not least the ability to negotiate better financial terms and higher SLA’s for delivery of a wide range of pump and valve technology.