FKL Slices $100K in Maintenance Cost

An award-winning dairy manufacturer recently turned to Fristam when it sought a way to reduce its growing pump maintenance and parts costs, which had reached over $100,000 a year.

The Midwest-based company was using a competitor’s rubber rotor pumps in the production of its single-sliced, processed cheese. The pumps were transferring the product at elevated pressures. However they could not handle the high pressures, and, as a result, the pump shafts would deflect and cause the rubber rotors to regularly be destroyed. This led to significant maintenance downtime and replacement parts costs.

The processor turned to Fristam for a better solution. Fristam recommended their FKL positive displacement pump with stainless steel rotors, which can handle pressures up to 500 psi and easily accommodate the customer’s pressure requirements.

Fristam knew their FKL model size 150 running at 70 rpm for 25 GPM would pump the cheese with no problems. Due to its high viscosity, the cheese is auger-fed into a wide “rectangular” inlet on the FKL, which is an available option on all Fristam FKL pumps. Additionally, to ensure a homogeneous mixture, the end user installed a Fristam FS blender inline, after the auger. The result is a smooth, consistent cheese product.

The pumps have been in service since early 2014, operating perfectly with no wear. Today the satisfied customer is saving tens of thousands of dollars in rubber rotor replacement costs and lost production time. Additionally, they now have their sights set on replacing all their rubber rotor pumps with stainless steel FKL pumps in the future.