Redesign And Manufacture Of Vacuum Pump
The Problem:
A well-established North American oilfield vacuum pump manufacturer found itself grappling with declining sales and eroding market share, attributed to obsolete pump designs and quality issues.
Lodestar’s Solution:
- We undertook a comprehensive root cause analysis, employing the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) model, to pinpoint areas within both design and manufacturing where enhancements were imperative.
- We initiated a complete overhaul of the entire pump system, focusing on critical components such as the housing, rotor eccentricity, valves, and more. Employing cutting-edge design philosophies and leveraging advanced tools like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), we implemented a transformative redesign.
- We pioneered an ingenious design solutions to eliminate the risk of catastrophic pump failures caused by liquid ingress, a challenge that had remained unsolved by any other industry manufacturer.
- We meticulously engineered and precision-manufactured all castings and machined components to exact specifications, adhering to stringent tolereances. Subsequently, we assembled and shipped a meticulously crafted kit to our valued customer.
- We implemented a range of rigorous control procedures, encompassing foundry oversight, in-process inspections, and the creation of specialized gauges and fixtures essential for the final quality assessment.
Results
- The design & manufacturing improvement increased pump performances measured by flow-rate by over 50% from 310 CFM to over 452 CFM – Making it the best-performing pump in the industry with a Zero failure rate.
- Enabled customer to focus on growing sales and capturing market share given the confidence that they now has the best- performing pump in the market, that is not only fail-safe but also has the highest quality of parts
