True story. Not too long ago, a company specializing in stamping and drawing made a decision to stop losing money.

How?

What they were facing was a common problem: They were stamping and drawing heavy gauge steel parts with a drawing oil that contained a large amount of chlorinated paraffin, and then, because their customer required that the parts be clean when they arrived at their location, were running the oily parts through their two-stage washer. The result was that the chlorinated paraffin, being heavier than water, would be removed from the part, and sink to the bottom of the wash tank, forming a sludge.

As this sludge layer accumulated, it would quickly reach the intake opening of the circulating pump and would begin to re-deposit the sludge back onto the parts being cleaned. At this point, which was usually within 30 days or less, the washer had to be shut down and drained, and the sludge shoveled out and disposed of, along with the contaminated washer fluid.

As a result of this process, the rejection rate for parts shipped to their customers was in excess of 50% due to the re-deposition of the sludge, causing the parts to not meet the cleanliness specification. Downtime on the washer was one full day which included:

• Draining the system
• Shoveling out the sludge,
• Disposal of materials
• Adding of compounds and starting up all over again
• Additional overtime as there was then a backlog of parts that needed to be cleaned

 

- and this occurred one day EVERY month! 

(50% Rejection Rate Never Returned!)

Their distributors couldn’t help them. No one knew how. 


The 50% rejection rate of parts, rejected for lack of cleanliness, really hurt this company as they also had additional freight charges and overtime returning the dirty parts (from Kentucky, back to Pennsylvania to be re-washed, then returned to Kentucky). They just couldn’t find a solution until one of our distributors contacted them.

Our representatives found the problem and brought them a customized solution – we now call it Power Clean 226, only one of several hundred products we regularly handle. That product, combined with a re-formulated oil that floats (instead of sinking), solved the problem.

Results: That Company NOW sees less than a 1% rejection rate for the parts, and has a downtime of one day … once every EIGHT months!