Hawkeye Preferred Tooling Group makes blow-molding tools and produces its own blow-molded parts for large original equipment manufacturers in the trucking, off-road and automotive industries. The company had two 100-HP screw compressors in one building and two 25-HP units serving another building. At least one of the units had 180,000 hours on it.
Aaron Hickle, engineering manager at Hawkeye, said he was “tired of working on the two piles of s**t we had.” He was frustrated by the downtime the units were causing. Maintenance and repair costs were easily running upwards of $5,000-$10,000 per unit annually.
If Hawkeye cannot deliver, the company would not only have an unhappy customer, but it also would face fines and penalties outlined in the OEM contract. Its OEM customers can incur costs up to $25,000-$50,000 per day. That’s over $2,000 per hour or $6,000,000 per year!
After consulting with its utility, MidAmerican Energy, Hawkeye started working with one of their approved trade allies, Iowa Pump and Compressor in Waterloo, IA. Fortunately, Aaron knew Iowa’s sales rep and service technician through their work with previous employers, so he trusted him.
Steve Rasmussen, president of Iowa Pump and Compressor, conducted a comprehensive audit and recommended that Hawkeye replace its two aging 100-HP “piles” with a single Kaishan 150-HP KRSP premium rotary screw air compressor equipped with a variable-speed drive. The KRSP is water-cooled, tapping into a chilled-water system the plant has for other uses.
“I looked at Steve square in the eyes. I said, ‘Are you going to service this thing?’” Aaron said. “You got to live the nightmare. I don’t want this to be an issue.” With Steve’s assurance that he would, Hawkeye quickly accepted his Kaishan proposal.
“We feel a lot more comfortable with our new compressors, that we won’t have maintenance breakdowns and issues like that. We can see huge savings with electricity.”
— Aaron Hickle, Engineering Manager, Hawkeye Preferred Tooling Group
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