Swaggerty’s Farm has been making premium pork sausage for nearly a century. The company operates at least two shifts per day, keeping its compressed air system in operation 24/7. “Seven lines and not a one runs without air,” according to Steve Douglas, who runs the maintenance and parts operation at Swaggerty’s. Compressed air is one of the company’s major expenses, he added.
Swaggerty’s had two aging 50-HP compressors that were not meeting all its needs and weren’t very efficient. Pressure drops slowed the lines down and cost $5,000 a minute.
That’s $300,000 per hour. Or $7.2M per day to you and me.
Plus, the company waited days or weeks for replacement parts, paying to rent units to keep the operation going.
“For what we were spending and losing, we were better off with a new compressor,” Steve said.
When Steve reached out to Rick LaFollette, general manager at Air & Hydraulic Equipment, an independent Kaishan distributor in Chattanooga, TN, he originally thought he needed a 100-HP compressor or even larger. But he asked Rick to perform an audit.
Rick’s analysis revealed that a 75-HP rotary screw air compressor could handle the workload. After pricing several well-established brands, Steve selected a Kaishan 75-HP KRSD direct-drive compressor with a variable-speed drive.
“I don’t know of another compressor that I could have put back there that would have done any better.”
— Steve Douglas, Maintenance Manager, Swaggerty’s Farm
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