Feb 26 2009
THE world’s largest and most diverse filtration, separations and purification company, saw Wheelabrator Group as the first choice when looking to install a new blast solution at its base in Portsmouth.
The established and extremely reputable business seeking Wheelabrator Group’s expertise provides innovative fluid management solutions and services that are all essential to industry. These sophisticated technologies involve extremely specialised stainless steel filtration equipment, which require a high cosmetic finish achieved via an airblast technique.
Having originally installed the customer’s first blast machine over 30 years ago Wheelabrator Group has forged a strong relationship with the business. This association meant there was no hesitation in approaching Wheelabrator Group once again to provide a replacement blasting solution and recommend an efficient machine to help the company achieve a quality blast finish for a further three decades.
Wheelabrator Group recommended a new airblast room to meet the company’s latest shot blasting needs. In order to minimise downtime during the replacement, a portable blast room available on hire agreement was installed to maintain capacity and production efficiency, without compromising on the quality of the blast finish.
Wheelabrator Group prides itself on providing excellent levels of client satisfaction, so throughout the project the two teams worked closely together, ensuring the correct solution was tailored to the client’s needs and keeping the project running to time and more importantly, on budget.
The new blast machine was delivered in three modules, with the Wheelabrator team working against the clock to ensure the machine was installed and operational within one day, minimising any downtime and allowing production to continue as usual. The installation was made even more complex by the confined space available, with only a 2m corridor to access the installation position adding to the challenge.
One of the many advantages of the new blasting solution is its size. Being compact and considerably smaller than the previous machine it allows a reduced footprint, freeing up valuable factory floor space providing the flexibility to accommodate more machines if required - showing size really does matter.
Additionally, the machine is now significantly more environmentally responsible. The previous machine had a dust collector (with abrasive recovery suction unit) operating on a 25kw motor, whereas the new machine has scrapers on the floor whose blades operate at only 1kw to push the abrasive to a collection point. A bucket elevator collects and recycles this abrasive while a dust extractor, operating at 5.5kw, captures all the dust generated - meaning a total consumption of just 6.5kw. This represents just a quarter of the power originally required, resulting in a leaner, greener machine with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
Rob Goodwin, UK field sales manager, Wheelabrator Group, said: “Our customer required a continuous manufacturing process and any downtime in this would have severely hampered their ability to service their customers. Therefore, we offered the solution of a portable blast room, which provided the same level of quality and service, without resulting in a drop in production capacity.
“We are continually developing our machines to ensure they are as environmentally responsible as possible. Not only has Wheelabrator provided a solution with sound environmental benefits, it has also managed to achieve all this within a smaller machine, significantly reducing the amount of factory space required.”