How Nitrogen Generation Accelerated Savings, Productivity, & Morale

A customer needed help with a project requiring nitrogen generation, and Motion & Control Enterprises (MCE) stepped in and created a solution that resulted in cost savings, increased morale, and faster growth in profits and market share.

A mid-sized electronics manufacturer was tasked with increasing production and reducing costs to gain the business of a new customer who builds products for the military. The new plan would double the production output and increase standardization in the production flow.

The process requires investing in selective soldering machines to complete multiple boards simultaneously. The customer was using Dewar's tanks at each workstation which did not leave enough room to store the number of tanks needed.

To meet the proposed demand, the company needed a centralized nitrogen system, which would pump double the volume of nitrogen directly to each machine.

The customer was dissatisfied with their current process not only because it took up so much space, but also because during the electronic soldering process, nitrogen gas fills the soldering cabinet to eliminate DROZ from forming on the electronics, which has a negative effect on the conductivity and reliability of the board.

The nitrogen purity necessary is 99.999%, therefore by calculating the required flow in CFM and pressure we can compute the required CFM of compressed air necessary.

THE SOLUTION:

MCE CALCULATED THE RIGHT COMPRESSED AIR SOLUTION FOR THE CUSTOMER & INTEGRATED SELECTIVE SOLDERING

Siemens Simatic HMI

Design Specification – MNG-US-450

The customer had two 30 HP compressors working to supply the plant air. They rotated weekly to even the hours as lead and lag. Combined, based on an air audit, they had over 150 CFM of additional capacity that was not being used.

The required compressor air flow was 50 CFM to produce 5.0 to 5.9 CFM of nitrogen @ 99.999% purity.

The investment was simply a nitrogen generator and storage tanks to buffer any spikes in purity during tower switching. The result was a price of $21.00 per day to generate the nitrogen needed versus $200.00 per day with the Dewar's tanks.

This translated into a complete payback in 30 weeks from the date of start-up!

THE RESULTS:

THE CUSTOMER FULLY RECOVERED PROJECT COSTS, ACCELERATED EMPLOYEE MORALE & MARKET SHARE GROWTH

ONE MONTH FOLLOW UP

The results were exceptionally positive, and the newer selective soldering equipment was going on-line for testing.

SIX MONTH FOLLOW UP

Cost savings have been realized and met the project costs as predicted. Employee morale is higher due to increased product quality and performance bonuses. With the increase in both productivity and quality, the in-house nitrogen generation solution has allowed for faster than anticipated growth in profitability and market share.

As you can see on the display, the customer was realizing a nitrogen purity of 99.9999% at start up. The consumption was at 24% capacity due to the new selective soldering machines that were not online at the time. Once fully operational, the purity levels remained the same and the results were much better than when using the Dewar's tanks. Not only that, but the labor hours of moving tanks around the facility ended.

Find your custom nitrogen generation solution, contact us today!