Today, we learned that our critical sanitary high temperature Grundfos pump that was on order for our down skid, isn’t going to arrive for 4 months. Upper management isn’t happy. We are doing everything we can to get the related clean steam generator skid back up and running.
To do so, here’s the four things we are trying:
Going to the Skid Manufacturer
This is the obvious one. The skid manufacturer, Steris, should have a good vender relations with the pump manufacturer. They have a long order history and may have ones already on order or even in stock that may be reprioritized. Plus, they may have input on how to repair, adjust, or make sure the pump failure doesn’t happen again.
We found out that the pump isn’t necessary old, but due to low usage of the clean steam generator (or pure steam), the pressure and temperature was too great for the circulation pump. The pump tore itself to shreds and seized up.
We noticed this due to a “Circulation Pump – Overload Trip Alarm” on the Process Control System. Once we detached the motor from the pump, the pump was locked up and unable to move. The pump outlet had metal shavings and fine metal grit. It is never great to find any sort of foreign debris in a vertical discharged centrifugal pump on a clean steam generator.
Seeking Alternative Pump Distributors
Other pump distributions, such as a local pump repair shop, may have other options available to them compared to the skid manufacturer. They are used to order one-of-a-kinds and special orders, as this is. They may have knowledgable about the particular pump and what is needed to repair the pump, like a chamber shaft kit and a shaft seal kit. However, the repair kits could be delayed as well. The hope is, the repair kits come from a separated factory line and may not be the lagging part of the manufacturing process at the pump factory. The kits may arrive sooner.
Pursuing Alternative Pump Manufacturers
In some cGMP processes, replacement parts may be able to be swapped into the process if they are like-for-like in form, fit, and function. In this case, we were able to find another pump manufacturer of vertical discharge centrifugal pumps, Sulzer.
The benefit of figuring this out, is that Sulzer may not have the same supply chain or factory issues as Grundfos does. It would add a supplier redundancy to our process.
Unfortunately, it is not working out for us. They could not source us a replacement pump that could hand the 150 degrees C or 302 degrees F. This would be equivalent to 60 psi steam.
Trying Alternative Skid Manufacturers
Clean Steam, or Pure Steam Generators are made by several large companies. We checked with Meco, another large manufacturer of many biopharmaceutical processing skids. They utilize similar pumps on their skids. They may have a pump in a similar model number in stock, or may be able to source one faster than the original manufacturer.
Going down these four paths: Original skid manufacturer, alternative pump distributors, alternative pump manufacturers, and alternative skid manufacturers, may decrease the down time associated with a missing pump. Additionally, the relationships and alternatives found, may be nice to have in the future.