By Reinhard Seidel, Africa Client Services, Verder Pumps SA

I n any industrial setting, the balancing act between cost savings and profitability is a careful one. The mining industry for instance – and driven by a need for profitability, efficiency and yield maximisation – is one of the toughest industrialised working environments in which to achieve this balance.

Too often in such a competitive arena, companies are driven to keep purchase costs as low as possible and resort to fitting non-OEM aftermarket spare parts into sophisticated pieces of equipment. The approach undermines the company’s ability to keep up with tight production schedules and ensure minimal downtime, as the non-OEM aftermarket parts seldom stand up to the rigorous duty that the OEM part was designed for and, ultimately, ends up impacting on uptime, resulting in production losses.

In the recent case study at one of the largest copper producers in SADC, the discovery of the hidden costs of buying a “surprisingly expensive low-priced” peristaltic hose was realised. For commercial reasons the mining company chose to fit a non-OEM hose in a Verder peristaltic pump. Production bore the brunt of this commercial decision, as the “surprisingly expensive low-priced” hose failure rate was an average of three failures per week resulting in production stoppages, and increased maintenance and manpower requirements.

Due to the production stoppages Verder was asked to investigate the reason for the failures and present a solution, the remedy was simple – fit an OEM hose.

The exercise of buying and fitting “a surprisingly expensive low-priced hose” in an attempt to reduce inventory costs and minimise expenditure proved to be an expensive choice. While non-OEM aftermarket hoses may cost less on initial purchase, using hoses with incorrect dimensions and hoses of inferior construction leads to frequent hose failures, which in turn leads to the unplanned stoppages, production losses and unavoidable maintenance costs. These direct unavoidable costs will be the replacement of lubricant and premature gearbox failure due to the ingress of the pumped media into the gearbox caused by the burst hose, and the cost of another replacement hose.

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The OEM hose was fitted to the DURA Pump and run under the same operating conditions. Records have been kept over this time – to measure the conditions and timing until a potential failure of the Verder OEM hose – yet the results have been astonishing. The non-OEM hose had failed and been replaced on average three times a week. In comparison the Verder OEM hose (installed on 1 December 2021) is still in operation on the date of writing this article, without failure or loss of production throughput. The cost saving has far outweighed the cost saving of the surprisingly expensive low-priced hose.

Every Verderflex hose is manufactured to tight specifications for consistent wall thickness, to ensure that the fibre reinforcing is embedded centrally when the hose is constructed. With the precision manufacturing process, the need to carry out machining of the hose outside diameter is eliminated. The Verder hose has a signature textured finish, and this finish enhances lubricant adhesion to the hose, thereby reducing surface friction between hose and shoe. Lower surface friction leads to lower temperatures, but that’s a technical conversation for another time.

The importance of correct pulsation dampeners and other technicalities that affect hose life cannot be understated – just dimensional differences will have an influence on hose life which leads to costs associated with unplanned stoppages. The construction of the OEM hose plays an integral part in the life span of the hose.

One must consider that the OEM is here for the long haul and that their hoses have undergone extensive testing in their own equipment.

To be sure that you are fitting an OEM hose you will notice that all Verderflex hoses have a clear colour coded identification stripe and Verder branding along the length of the hose, indicating the material of construction. If the hose that you are fitting in your Verder peristaltic pump does not have these markings, you can be sure that while you may be saving upfront costs by buying cheap, you will most certainly be buying at least twice.