"air compressors" Archive

This 128 page compressed air sourcebook is designed to provide compressed air system users with a reference that outlines opportunities for system performance improvements.
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How Buying Compressed Air Solved the Problems of a Tier 1 Automotive Supplier

Are you experiencing any of these problems with your current air compressors?

• High annual maintenance & repair costs (typically outsourced).
• Excessive down time caused by unexpected compressor shutdowns.
• High energy costs as a result of inefficient, modulating compressors.


DirectAIR - Compressed Air Utility Service

• Repetitive compressor problems.
• High condensate removal costs.
• Impending equipment replacement and/or major overhauls.
• Excessive maintenance on production equipment caused by intermittent water in air lines.
• Periodic need for rental compressors.
• Valuable plant floor space being taken up by air compressor equipment.

These are the problems one Tier 1 automotive supplier found themselves facing when they decided they needed to replace multiple air compressors that had major reliability issues and very high maintenance costs.  Since replacing just one air compressor was like sticking your finger in a dyke, it made sense to step back and evaluate a more encompassing solution, DirectAIR® compressed air utility service.

ManagAir - Air Technologies

With DirectAIR®, compressed air utility service, customers purchase compressed air just like any other utility. What is unlike other utilities is that Air Technologies guarantees 100% reliability with penalties. The Utility Services Group developed DirectAIR® 15 years ago and has been providing compressed air “over the fence” to more industrial customers in the U.S. than anyone else.  These unmanned compressed air generation sites are owned, operated, monitored and maintained by Air Technologies to provide 24/7/365 supply of 100% reliable, clean, dry air.

Air Technologies exclusive ManagAIR® control system monitors and controls the onboard equipment as well as compressed air pressure, flow, and dew point.  If any equipment or performance abnormalities occur, ManagAIR® automatically contacts the DirectAIR® Service and Operations Team for an immediate response.  The system is accessed remotely within minutes and the appropriate corrective action taken.

Benefits of DirectAIR Systems:

• Guaranteed 100% reliability
• Superior designs and operating expertise resulting in over 1.3 million hours of operation without a single continuous hour of low air pressure
• “Plug n play” compressed air system: Delivered pre-manufactured, ready to run.
• Secure facility to prevent tampering
• Engineered to provide an ideal operating environment through all four seasons of the year – hot, humid summer days to sub-freezing winter temperatures.
• Include the engineering, electrical, foundation, rigging, condensate drainage, and piping installation, enabling you to spend your capital investment in other areas that help drive your top and bottom lines.
• Very flexible with additional CFM capacity that can be added in very short order.

After quantifying all of the associated compressed air related costs, a thorough financial evaluation including a Net Present Value cash flow analysis showed that DirectAIR® was the obvious choice for this Tier 1 customer.  The monthly DirectAIR® cost is lower than all of the accumulated costs that the customer had been accustomed to paying for on an annual basis.

Once the system was approved and the agreement signed, it was fully operational in just two months and left the customer saying, “We are now resting easy when it comes to our compressed air supply.”

Learn more about how DirectAIR can help you get a 24/7/365 supply of 100% reliable, clean, dry air.

Air for Sale

Compressed air is industry’s fourth utility. Along with electricity, water and natural gas, compressed air is a resource that powers everything from handheld pneumatic tools to plantwide manufacturing systems. Most plants produce their own compressed air. Many, however, are treating compressed air like they would any other utility. They purchase compressed air, not compressed air equipment.

In simple terms, a third-party supplier produces compressed air on a user’s site and the user agrees to purchase the quantity and quality of compressed air required. A pioneer and one of the largest suppliers of air compressors in the United States is DirectAIR®, a division of Air Technologies (www.DirectAIR.com).

“In 1993, Air Technologies sold 20 compressors to a major gas utility company for filling their CNG vehicles, and we were responsible for maintaining the compressors,” explains Steve Schoeny, corporate utility services manager for Air Technologies. “They had PLCs that sent an alarm to a technician’s pager if a problem was brewing. When there was an alarm, a technician drove to the site, which could be hours away, to address the issue. Too often he’d drive all the way just to hit a reset button.”

“We have some very smart folks in-house who knew our machinery and could write software code,” Schoeny adds. “They designed and produced a control system to run compressors unattended 24/7 and to monitor them remotely. Just like that, we had something special.”

Air Technologies was already applying this remote capability for the utility company when it got a call from another business in Ohio. “A steel mill was shutting down one of its power houses,” Schoeny says. “They asked if we could supply them with compressed air – not air compressors, just compressed air.”

Building on the success of the steel mill installation, Schoeny’s team developed the concept into a separate business that evolved into DirectAIR®. It now operates 27 air-as-a-utility sites in the United States, mainly in the Midwest and Northeast.

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PAY AS YOU SAVE!

ManagAIR^® has been the #1 energy saving controls for compressed air systems for the past 14 years.  It’s a unique computerized system developed by Air Technologies^® that efficiently monitors and controls your compressed air system 24 hours per day.  Industrial plants can spend thousands of dollars each year on the energy that powers their compressed air systems. This energy represents approximately 75% of the total cost of compressed air, according to the Industrial Efficiency Alliance (IEA).

ManagAIR can save you up to 35% on your compressed air energy costs!

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