Crown Roof Tiles manufactures concrete roof tiles sold throughout Florida for residential and commercial use. The company makes four different styles available in 27 colors, moving 80,000 pieces of tile through its 46,000-square-foot plant, according to the plant manager, Andrew Riseborough.
Unfortunately, Crown Roof Tiles had difficulty meeting its air demands with its two older compressors, a 75-HP and a 50-HP model. There were multiple instances of downtime.
“We had a lot of problems with wet air coming in and ruining some of our cylinders and equipment,” Andrew said. “And we had to wait for a service tech to come in and upgrade and fix our system.” Parts were taking days to obtain at high cost.
Then the larger unit blew its motor. When Crown’s distributor, Industrial Air Centers of Florida in Tampa, estimated that the repairs would cost more than a new compressor, Andrew decided to purchase a new unit.
Crown Roof Tiles requested pricing from several competitors. Because the company was planning some upgrades, it decided to get bids for 125-HP compressors. Estimates from the competitors all came in with a recommendation Andrew wanted to avoid.
“All of those units had proprietary parts in them. So if a component failed, you would have to get it from that manufacturer, and you’re at the mercy of that supplier.”
As a result, he purchased a Kaishan KRSD 125-HP direct drive compressor equipped with a variable-speed drive. They added a second, fixed-speed unit as a backup.
“The Kaishans use readily available components on the electrical side. The availability of those parts was a key factor, as was the overall expense of those units.”
— Andrew Riseborough, Plant Manager, Crown Roof Tiles
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