Rapid Drive Replacement Helps Industrial Filtration Manufacturer Clean Up Fast

• Swift action by Siemens engineers enabled Lydall to recommence operations promptly after unit breakdown
• Efficient Siemens drive swap-out brought more efficient performance

When global manufacturer Lydall Industrial Filtration experienced the breakdown of a drive unit on a key production line at its UK factory earlier this year, the manufacturer of the existing drive advised it would be some time before the unit could be repaired or replaced.

The existing drive was obsolete and the line had been stopped for three days when a late Friday afternoon call to Siemens brought a swift solution.

Rawtenstall-based Lydall is part of a global US manufacturer specialising in non-woven air filtration products for the aviation and other industries. Production was backing up fast and the delay was becoming costlier by the minute.

The existing supplier was unable to repair or replace the drive unit for at least another seven days, during which time production would be completely halted, as the drive was part of the essential equipment manufacturing the unique non-woven filtration material.

Lydall engineering manager Swainson Eckersley sought an alternative from Siemens with the late Friday phone call. By 10.00am on the following Monday a Siemens engineer was on site with the replacement Siemens drive, putting the customer back into production within three hours, and a minimum of seven days faster than if they had waited for the existing supplier.

Swainson Eckersley was delighted: “We didn’t even have an account with Siemens, so this was impressively fast service. We were able to resume production much quicker with the new Siemens 55kW G120 drive, and it’s proving more efficient, too.“

Mark Nield is business development manager with Siemens: “We were delighted to help Lydall out with a fast delivery through our partners Southern & Redfern, who hold stock for us and along with our own engineering provide a very high level of service. Losing production time can be very costly, so speed and efficient engineering mean everything in a situation like this.“

Lydall were so pleased with the rapid service that they now have a contract with Siemens.

The Siemens Sinamics G120 is a variable speed drive, designed to address a wide range of application needs, and with a modular, space-saving design and innovative cooling concept for a higher degree of flexibility. It is particularly popular in the automotive, textile and packaging industries, offering flexibility and cost savings with a reduced need for spare parts.