Case Study:
KAISHAN USA AND PEAK COMPRESSOR DOUBLE EFFICIENCY, HELP HILLER CARBON CUT $15,000/HOUR DOWNTIME

Hiller Carbon
DAYTON, TX
The Situation

Hiller Carbon crushes, screens, dries, pelletizes and packages carbon and graphite raw materials into a variety of products for the steel, foundry, refractory and specialty markets.

 

“We have several systems that are reliant on a reliable and constant compressed air system,” said Eddie Hull, plant manager at Hiller Carbon. Downtime costs the company about $15,000 per hour. More, if it’s a busy day.

The Challenge

Admittedly, the carbon-manufacturing process and the Texas weather are a one-two punch for any compressor. But the units he inherited when he took the post two and a half years ago experienced constant failures, usually, heat-related shutdowns.

 

“It was difficult to keep them running, in all honesty,” Eddie said. “I was looking at the cost and the money that we were throwing at one particular machine to keep it running.” It was no longer viable economically, he added.

 

After talking to several potential compressed air consultants, he connected with Darren Cartney, manager of sales at Peak Compressor in nearby Webster, TX.

 

He explained the situation and asked if that troublesome compressor could be resurrected. “And he politely told me that I must be on medication. That thing was dead. It was dead in the water.”

 

Appreciating Darren’s honesty and directness, he asked for recommendations.

Kaishan’s KRSP rotary screw air compressor handles the blistering Texas temperatures, boosting efficiency and cutting downtime.

The Solution

Darren recommended Kaishan’s KRSP premium rotary screw air compressors, and Hiller Carbon now has three 50-HP units and a 100-HP compressor, all equipped with dryers. For Eddie, the financial package and the warranty were both attractive. They will add a similar lineup in a new facility currently under development.

The Results
  • EFFICIENCY DOUBLED: At one point, the company was down to about 42% operational efficiency due to the inconsistent performance of its compressed air system. It is now close to 90%.

    “It is tremendously rare for me to have an outage through a problem with the Kaishan,” Eddie said. He credits Peak with “matching the right machine to the environment we have.”
  • “DOWNTIME SLASHED: “The unplanned downtime that we incurred through having the older system, by nature, diminished.”

    However, because of the grueling conditions, downtime didn’t disappear completely. A motor on the KRSP-100 failed soon after installation.

    “But we had a marvelous response from Kaishan with how quickly they were willing to ship us the motor,” Darren said. “They had the motor in stock, and it was transported within 24 hours. So, overall downtime due to that failure was highly reduced.”

    “All of you guys that support Darren and his team made the downtime impact for me as short and as painless as it could have been,” Eddie said. “I’ve been in similar situations with different makes of compressors, and let me assure you that it’s not the norm to be looked after so well.”
  • “FLAWLESS SERVICE”: Hiller Carbon relies on Darren and his Peak team to perform service on the units. And what they do is “absolutely flawless,” Eddie said.

    “I prefer that Darren looks after the machine, and he does it tremendously well,” he said.
  • “NO-RESERVATIONS” RECOMMENDATION: “I would have no reservations about highly recommending that machine to anybody,” Eddie said. And though he was not familiar with Kaishan previously, he said, “I have to say that the Kaishan exceeded any expectations that I may have had.”

    “The filtration system that you have on the Kaishan is certainly, from the experience of other machines that I’ve had, it’s much more robust.”
  • A GREAT PARTNERSHIP: “I do not believe in supplier and customer,” Eddie said. “We’re all partners together. Our success can be attributed to Darren’s response to any problems. We like to align as a company with like-minded companies.”

    Too many companies today don’t care about their end user, Eddie said. “Darren cares, and you care about Darren. And that to me is the kind of triangle that makes it all the better for us.”

“I have to say that the Kaishan exceeded any expectations that I may have had.”

— Eddie Hull, Plant Manager, Hiller Carbon

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