The Situation
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.
The Challenge
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.
The Solution
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 Results
- PARTS ALWAYS AVAILABLE: The availability of spare parts was a critical factor in the decision. “The Kaishans use readily available components on the electrical side,” Andrew said. “The availability of those parts was a key factor, as was the overall expense of those units.” Kaishan’s industry-leading 10-year airend warranty also was important.
- A PERFORMANCE BOOST: The new setup has significantly reduced downtime and improved system reliability, Andrew said.
- “PERFECT” MAINTENANCE: “They did an awesome job setting everything up, running it and doing our PMs [preventive maintenance tasks]. And it was perfect.” In addition, based on IAC’s recommendation, the company replaced some legacy aluminum piping installed before Crown bought the building nearly 20 years ago. As a result, air leaks were reduced. And they reduced the pressure drop by using larger-diameter pipe.
- STAYING WITH A WINNER: “IAC has done a great job,” Andrew said. “The install guys, they do amazing work.”
- ONCE AGAIN, WITH FEELING: A few years later, the company decided to build a new plant adjoining the existing plant. And, because they were so happy with Kaishan and IAC, they bought almost the same compressor package for their new 47,000-square-foot plant. "I’m going to stay with IAC because they’ve done such a brilliant job in working with us and also in the service agreements and the availability of them coming out and having all the same equipment on site.”
“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.”
More case studies:
