Látex Occidental, the world’s largest balloon manufacturer, has 14 machines making its flagship product at subsidiary, Látex Mexicana. The machines rely heavily on compressed air at about 70 PSIG, each producing 2.5 tons of balloons per day, worth about $6,000 (100,000 pesos).
Látex Occidental’s compressor was experiencing frequent failures and damage. It might take months to obtain spare parts, so repairs took a long time.
When the compressor is shut down, four of the 14 machines stop making balloons, costing the company $23,000 a day, according to Néstor Ariel Flores Velasco, head of automation and maintenance at Látex Occidental.
“Our productivity really drops,” Nestor said. “There was also variability in how the equipment operates. They no longer work in the normal way.”
He explained that a loss of pressure causes the balloon’s extraction to fail, and the products are unusable.
To replace a unit that was costing $23,000 per day in downtime, Látex Occidental selected a Kaishan KRSP2 two-stage rotary screw air compressor because of its superior energy performance.
Néstor had worked with Energía en Aire Comprimido in a previous position with another company in the Látex Occidental group, so “We decided to go with them [Kaishan Mexico] because they’ve given us good service all these years,” Nestor said.
He asked Javier Ugalde, a sales representative from the independent distributor, for recommendations about what would be needed to meet their demand profile.
Javier recommended a 200-HP Kaishan KRSP2 two-stage rotary screw air compressor, because of its superior energy performance—specifically, that it was able to generate more flow (CFM) per kilowatt.
“We haven’t had air pressure problems anymore.”
— Néstor Ariel Flores Velasco, Head of Automation and Maintenance, Látex Occidental
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