If the Answer Doesn't Have Dollar Signs It's Just Another Number

In the past two years I have had the privilege to be a member of two committees involving landmarks for evaluating fluid piping system. Engineered Software is an associate member of the non-profit Hydraulic Institute, the trade association for pump manufacturers. In addition, we are a full member of Pump Systems Matters™, an offshoot of the Hydraulic Institute, dealing with the importance of Energy Savings, Efficiency and Economics of pumps and pumping systems.

Pump Systems Matters developed a book entitled Optimizing Pumping Systems, A Guide for Improved Energy Efficiency, Reliability & Profitability. I had the pleasure of being one of the contributors of this publication, and had the privilege of working with some of the best engineering in the industry. The underlying theme of the book is that when you optimize a piping system you will not only save energy but the system also becomes more reliable, while reducing maintenance costs and capitol costs. The Pump Systems Matters group created Pumping System Optimization: Opportunities to Improve Life Cycle Performance, a one day seminar based on the content of the book. I also have the pleasure of being a certified instructor of this excellent PSM developed seminar.

In conjunction with the work done with Pump System Matters, I was invited to join the American Society of Mechanical Engineers committee that developed the Energy Assessment for Pumping Systems (ASME EA-2-2009) standard. This standard provides a framework for conducting energy assessments, with the primary objective being how companies can set up their own energy assessment groups to help them conserve power in their process systems.

As you can see, energy and system efficiency are pretty important concepts to me. I spend much of my professional efforts on getting the message out to the piping system industry. By having more reliable piping systems that reduce the total cost of operation companies in North America are able to better compete in a global market. I look it as an opportunity to help businesses save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on energy cost while reducing our reliance on imported oil.

To help get the word out Engineered Software has developed Piping System Assessment and Optimization, a three day seminar that takes the framework of the ASME standard and develops a step-by-step method for performing energy assessment on a wide variety of pumping systems. When an attendee returns from the seminar, they have all the tools needed to start conducting energy assessments within their plant.

As a result of this work, one thing I find very interesting about my fellow engineers is that we all have a tendency to look at answers in force, pressure, head, and similar engineering concepts that only we can understand. In an energy assessment, the objective is to determine how much an existing pumped system costs to operate, and see what can be done to reduce the cost of operating and maintaining the system. In our class the motto is "If the answer doesn’t have a dollar sign it’s just another number." By measuring everything by its associated costs, everyone can easily understand the expenses and what can be done in the system to reduce costs.

For example if you can say that by trimming a ½ an inch off an impeller you can reduce pump head by 40 feet of total head you have a number that means something to a fellow engineer. But, if you can say by trimming a ½ inch off an impeller you are able to save your plant $180,000/year in pumping cost for a $3,000 one time investment, everyone within your plant understands the value of your efforts.

The nice thing about performing an energy assessment is they typically result in high dollar savings and have a quick payback with little or sometimes no outlay of capitol cost. Second reducing operating cost results in a direct savings to the bottom line. Finally they offer very little risk, because you can see how the current system is actually operating, then see what can be done to make the improvements. Notice in this paragraph I didn’t use ft of head, psi, or pump efficiency to explain the advantages. Instead I used dollars, savings, low risk, low capital outlays, and Bottom Line the most over used yet powerful word in the financial lexicon.

We will be conducting our first Piping System Assessment and Optimization seminar in April of this year and I'll let you know how in future blogs how things go.

And remember the easiest way to get someone’s attention is to have a dollar sign in the answer.

And now it’s time to hear from you. Please share your experiences, or opinions on this blog entry or any other subject that is of interest. I can be reached at blogger@eng-software.com.