PRECISION VALVE MANUFACTURER IMPROVES PRODUCTIVITY
DRAMATICALLY WITH MODEL #315 SEPARATORS

Conval, Inc. (Somers CT), founded in 1967, manufactures high pressure globe valves used primarily in the power generating industry. The fact that Conval exports about 76% of its output is testimony to the worldwide reputation for quality and reliability its valves have achieved in this extremely demanding service. The valve bodies are machined from forgings, primarily steel plus some aluminum, bronze, and Stellite, on 20 CNC machines operating two shifts. Because the shop has been extremely busy over an extended period of time, Roger Poirier, shop manager, is constantly evaluating all areas of shop operation to find possible gains in productivity.

One source of continuing production problems was contamination of the coolant. High levels of tramp oil and solids in the coolant flooding the working part caused rapid tool wear. According to Roger, “The rapid tool wear required frequent machine adjustments during a run in order to maintain Conval’s tight dimensional specifications. Even with these adjustments, the amount of rework on out-ofspecification parts was bogging down our delivery schedules. In addition, we were pumping out and changing our sumps every six weeks.” The reduced throughput on the machines and the loss of machine time for pumpout convinced Poirier that he had to act to deal with the coolant contamination problem.

Roger was referred to Keller Products, Inc. (Acton, MA) by his coolant supplier. Keller Products is a leader in sump-side coolant cleaners, with thousands of units in service. The Keller salesman surveyed the shop and quickly determined that one of Keller’s five standard portable pump/separator units, Model #315, could be recommended to solve the Conval coolant

contamination problem. The cart-mounted Model #315 pump/separator unit can clean a typical 60 gallon to 200 gallon sump in a few hours and then can be easily moved and set up at the next sump. Keller recommends that each sump be treated once per week. Since the Model #315 can readily treat two sumps in an 8 hour shift, one separator can maintain the cleanliness of the coolant in 10 or more sumps. All Keller separators incorporate self-priming air operated pumps (no electricals), a bag filter to remove floating solids that enter the separator with the oily coolant, and patented permanent oil separator elements.

Roger Poirier purchased one Model #315, and the results were dramatic. He states, “On the first couple of machines, we removed 2 to 3 gallons of tramp oil in a few hours. The bag filter removes the fines associated with machining forged material. We are currently going on nine months with coolant in the sump, and there is no indication yet that the coolant will need to be changed any time soon. Tool life has increased substantially, the need to make machine adjustments during a run has dropped sharply, and rework due to coolant issues has been virtually eliminated. Not to mention the savings associated with eliminating downtine and disposal of coolant for pumping out 20 CNC machines every six weeks.” About one month after installing the first Model #315, Poirier purchased a second unit to ensure that all 20 Conval sumps will be kept free of tramp oil and floating solids. Noting that the dramatic improvements in shop operations were achieved with the modest investment in the Keller units and without interrupting normal operating procedures, Poirier says his only regret is that he did not address the coolant problems sooner.