Episode 3: ABB's Jeff Bergman on predictive maintenance

On this episode of The Efficiency Point from Modern Pumping Today magazine, we look at market forecasts for rental pumps as well as VFDs. Jeff Bergman, ABB’s Director of Sales and Marketing for water and wastewater drives, joins us to discuss how smart technology and predictive maintenance are revolutionizing water treatment. Also, MPT's November case study leads J. and Richard into an ontological discussion over potato chips.

LINKS:

MPT magazine: http://mptmag.com

MPT on Twitter: https://twitter.com/modpumpmag

Technavio's rental pump market report: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40018&type=sample&rfs=epd&src=report

Fortune Business Insight's VFD market report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/variable-frequency-drive-market-100876

ABB's Water & Wastewater Drives division: https://new.abb.com/drives/segments/water-and-wastewater

Richard's favorite "potato" chip: https://www.doritos.com/

Transcript

spk_0:   0:04
Welcome to the Efficiency Point, a podcast from modern pumping Today magazine. I'm NPT editor J. Campbell, along with our producer Richard Council. Find us online at MPD mag dot com and you can rate review and subscribe to the show on any of your favorite podcast saps. We appreciate your support on this episode. Jeff Bergman, a Bee Bee's director of sales and marketing for water and moist water drives, joins us to discuss how smart technology and predictive maintenance are revolutionizing water treatment. Also, we dip inside the November issue of NPT. But first, some headlines. The rental market for industrial pumps is poised to grow by $1.5 billion worldwide during the period of 2022 2024 progressing at a compound annual growth rate of greater than 7% during that forecast period. Tech Naevia Market Research has been monitoring the market since 2017 and has found innovations and service delivery are anticipated to boost the growth of the industrial pump. Rental market volatility in the market often discourages companies in the oil and gas and automotive industries to make large scale capital investments. In addition, uncertainty in the global economy and growing emphasis on reducing operational costs is driving in users to rent equipment rather than purchase J. Do you think the increasing demand in the rental market is a good sign or a bad sign for the market overall? Well, that's a great question, Richard. Probably the easiest way to think about that is, uh, thing, but in terms of like real estate, like in Silicon Valley in San Francisco, Uh, there's a huge demand for real estate in that area, But there's also a greater demand and getting workers into the tech field. So you find a lot of people that are working for these companies having to share and replaces because they just don't have the funds and the capital to buy properties outright. So, you know, with a lot of rentals, the same is true of the pump. Markets, you know, was, as you will know, a lot of the companies that we do business with our manufacturers. Well, the pumps that they make are very costly high by and costs a lot of overhead. If you're saying a construction company or a mining concern, you may not have that kind of money to plop down for a purchase that you're going to use or five times a year. And that's where these rental market's really make up the difference. So your maintenance fields are gonna make a ton of money in the long term rather than short. Uh, you know, you hope so. You know, that's that's That's the general direction that they try to get into and, you know, like we've seen before and we've talked to some people over time. Once those large capital investments are made, their depreciated over, say, a 10 year period, 15 year period. And you know some of these bumps will run forever. It's cool stuff, man. Our next story. According to a published report by Fortune Business Insights, the global variable frequency drive market is projected to reach above $25 billion by 2026 2018. The market was valued at $16.5 billion. The impetus for this increase stems from a rise in the awareness among consumers to instill energy saver equipment, and we'll be adding to that awareness later in the show. Today, with our conversation with Jeff Bergman, a Bee Bee's director of sales and marketing for water and wastewater drives. The report highlighted 17 different global manufacturers to consider in its findings and found the largest growth segment is in oil and gas. Governments of several countries are taking in issues cause to construct new buildings with low energy consumption ratings, of which VF days can play a major role. Regionally. The Eva Asia Pacific v. FT market share is expected to grow at a rapid rate during the same forecast period, especially in Japan, China and India. With ongoing development of industrial infrastructure and a rise in oil and gas activities being the main stimuli I linked to the download link to download the report is available in the show Notes for this

spk_1:   4:18
episode. A B B is one the most recognized names and digital technology, and they're pretty confident about it, too. So much so that the company now offers an optional 10 year warranty on standard dedicated water and wastewater variable frequency drives, including a BBC 5 80 Siris. Joining us now to discuss what these and other a BB Dr products can offer customers is Jeff Bergman, director sales and marketing for a bee bees water and wastewater segment. Hi, Jeff. How are you doing today?

spk_2:   4:54
I'm doing great day. Thank you for the opportunity.

spk_1:   4:57
Now, Jeff, how long you've been working water and wastewater.

spk_2:   5:01
Oh, my gosh. You know, I started off my career most, 30 years ago working water and wastewater doing switchgear on power distribution equipment. So I guess you could almost say it's been in my blood most of my career.

spk_1:   5:12
It's pretty dangerous to have water in your blood, Jeff.

spk_2:   5:16
Really dangerous waste water

spk_1:   5:17
in your blood. It's even worse. What brought you to a BB?

spk_2:   5:21
I came to a B B is an opportunity. Thio, take the water Channel that the baby had been tart starting develop over the past six years or so and take it to the next level. And, ah, a great opportunity for me and, uh uh, to bring some of the expertise I had on variable frequency drives and product management and other things, and try to help a BB grow and be more successful than they are today.

spk_1:   5:47
Well, tell us if you can a little bit about these new Dr offerings and also what this 10 year warranty means for customers.

spk_2:   5:55
We're really excited about the opportunity to offer the 10 year warranty with our standard Dr products. And the great thing about our industry is that when they build something, it's there for a long time. You go to plant your butt, lift stations, the equipment in there for a long time, and as a result of that, we end up with structures that tend to be older. And we've all heard complaints and problems with our aging infrastructure in the water wastewater segment is just one, and definitely it falls in that area. Also, the 10 year warranty word offering helps, too extend some of the light that, uh, of these aging infrastructure facilities that people have been running into problems with by standing behind the product for 10 years were saying a BB will take responsibility for the drive. You have a problem, you pick the phone up, you call our 880 b number and we support you and take care of it and get it six. And then you're then you aren't having to worry about your aging infrastructure. We're supporting it.

spk_1:   6:56
Well, I know infrastructure concerns air important to a lot of people there working in the municipal market. If I were a plant operator, a treatment plant operator 11 or some of the obstacles that would be in my way of putting these drives in place? Or are there any?

spk_2:   7:11
You know, it's really easy. We've got absolutely incredible industry special out there in the market, our channel partners that we work with across the United States that bring their expertise, domain expertise into help these operators and engineers to utilize the 5 80 product for their facility. Some of the advantages of the product is you can literally use it on just about any type of pump or application in the plant, so you don't have to have one kind for us in tropical pump in one kind for a blower, it's all the same drives. So by reaching out and talking to our channel Partner network, you get the expertise. Guys who know the industry understand how to apply them, understand the the buzz words and can help you adapt the product to customize it for your application.

spk_1:   8:03
And where do you see where do you see these drives finding the most purchase where you find customers most excited about?

spk_2:   8:09
Oh, wow way had excitement literally from Orlando to Maine and Maine to California, Hawaii and Alaska. Um, we've really had a lot of fantastic call for these in some of the reasons. You know, we use variable frequency drives to help make the process work better Wait, save energy. We're out there. Selling it is we're doing it for process control. It allows us to to handle surges a little better and to handle low dry spots or or other conditions we might see in the plant. Much easier and much better than we can. Just full speed operation. So the ability to control these processes really extends itself to water. Tow wastewater to, uh, you know, swimming pools to, ah, irrigation applications. Anywhere where pumps are involved is a great opportunity to utilize thes drives. Thio thio make your life much easier.

spk_1:   9:07
So this is touching on the advantage of efficiency. What are some of the ancillary benefits that come out of this process?

spk_2:   9:14
You know, the my gosh, when you start looking at the mechanical wear and tear, uh, nonrevenue leak reductions, water hammer reductions, check valves. In some plants, the check valve will slam very heart of the pump comes off by using the check valve ramp down on the drive. We allow that check out to see itself very quietly, very smoothly, and then once the valve is seated, we turn the pump. Offer it quickly. So you stopped producing any head or flow from there. So ah, lot of things to extend the mechanical side of the infrastructure, the less mechanical wear and tear by starting and stopping the motors a little, a little slower, a little bit easier. You don't have that hard jerk that you have to break the base of the motor or pomp or damage the seals or the bearings and the motors, or actually the mounting hardware of the equipment on the concrete slab that they mount this stuff on. So it's not just the energy Saving is not just a process control. It's really looking to extend the life of all of the parts of the infrastructure that are affected with water flowing through the waste water or blowers or oration or whatever you got.

spk_1:   10:23
So you're extending the life cycle of the entire system.

spk_2:   10:27
Yes, sir. Yeah, an NFC advantage of the drive. It's one dr can basically work all your applications and simplify and make it easy to program supported by the A B D 10 year warranty. Um, and, uh, in all of those things, one of the models that Amy has is who you choose. Matter said when you go to somebody with the experience and the expertise and the channel that a BB has, Uh, well, we're really out there to help solve your problems.

spk_1:   10:53
And with that 10 year warranty, you're probably also getting in a lot of new data to help with the next generation of products as well.

spk_2:   11:01
You know, uh, data is a very big thing data collection and acquisition, and we're starting to hear words like predictive maintenance and preventative maintenance. And then, you know, we have issues. We have emergency maintenance where we have to replace a street or we have water main break in. Being able to predict when the variable frequency drive or the fans or the bearings or the motors are potentially going to fail means we could do it on Wednesday afternoon. We don't have to do in an emergency. We don't have to air Freeport's in. We can have everything there when we need it, and it makes it easier to do repairs. And in your ride, the reliability increases significantly and what we've known, what were using what were learned, utilizing with a BB hundreds of years of experience in motors and equipment. Obviously, we're not in the business for over 100 years, but just the decades of experience we have in the motors and equipment just utilizing that and helping to make our customers lives easier.

spk_1:   11:59
And how do you balance the need between data fluidity and moving the information where it can be put to the most good, as opposed to the concern for security that a lot of plant operators would have with their data?

spk_2:   12:14
You know, there's a lot of people concerned about the cloud because because of security, because they don't really know how to protect their data. And one of the things we're explained people is the cloud is more of assemble. Your cloud could actually be a server data storage that you use in your facility, and then you can choose to send data to a B B to have us do some of our analytics to, or you can choose not to, so you don't have to worry about where that data is stored, you have to worry about where it's going out to. You can control that and keep it within your facility and send the burst to us. We send the analytics back and then it's yours again.

spk_0:   12:54
You don't have

spk_2:   12:54
to worry about that.

spk_1:   12:56
Is that some of the stuff that you're hearing from your customers in the field already?

spk_2:   13:01
We're beginning to hear that. I mean, that's one of the push backs we get from a lot of our customers is they're afraid of. You know who has access to the data? Who owns my data? You know, I know you're getting it, and and a baby has access to that. Who owns that data? Who owns the the analytics of everything. And we own the logic. We own the experience and with the data, but we don't own the date itself. We understand how is how the bearing lifestyle goes over time, Givens of vibration and he. But we don't have to know the horsepower ratings and the duty cycles. We just know what happens to the motor when you're giving those conditions. And if we can take that data and do the analytics for the temperatures in the drives and the current ratings of the drives. We could help predict when they might fail if they're going to fail and maybe even extend their life by changing the operational patterns. But we are hearing that from our customers about who's owning the data, how how to handle it. And also, some of them are afraid of the amount of data. They have so much data, they don't even know what to do with it.

spk_1:   14:04
Kind of paralysis by analysis.

spk_2:   14:07
Exactly. Exactly. And we're trying to help them by offering many more. Uh uh, You know, many more analysis, different things we can do with it. But, uh, I think today we're all kind of overwhelmed with the amount of data between email texts and all these other ways to get information. Uh, it's kind of overwhelming. It's like drinking from a fire hose,

spk_1:   14:26
right? And so how do you see, uh, how soon do you think the gap could be bridged where technology like this can give us truly preventative and predictive maintenance?

spk_2:   14:38
You know, we can see it today in some applications. We can do this today. Sometimes in our infrastructure, we're a little behind the Times. Uh, we might not have the infrastructure in a smaller facility or municipality to support those kind of investments today, but we can put the equipment the hardware in today, and then we can update it or upgraded in the near future in the far future, to be able to accommodate the data acquisition and all of this information, exchange and technology that's going on out there.

spk_1:   15:10
So it's possible that within our lifetime we might replace meantime between failure with meantime between repair

spk_2:   15:17
that that's the hope. That's what we're definitely looking to do. We'd like to see it, You know, in the short term, we'd like to see, you know, in the next 3 to 5 years, we'd like to see more of that. But I think we've gotta learn to be a little more patient and do it right. And, uh so, yeah, I think that our lifetime will definitely see, and I think our kids like times will be part of their day to day operation.

spk_1:   15:39
Well, here's open. Jeff. Thank you so much for taking time to talk with us today.

spk_2:   15:43
My pleasure entirely. And I won't encourage anybody if they have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to the A B B water Waste Water Channel partners for any information or question that they may have.

spk_1:   15:55
And where can they find more information about a BB online?

spk_2:   15:59
Check out the W w a b b dot com, and you can also go to backsplash. Back Flash Wolfpack Splash Water back Splash water on that will take you to our site.

spk_1:   16:11
Got it? Well, thank you so much. Jeff has been a pleasure talking with you. I've enjoyed it immensely. Thank

spk_2:   16:16
you

spk_1:   16:16
for calling you take care.

spk_0:   16:27
We're thankful to the listeners to this bought gas as well as the readers of MPD magazine. If your subscriber, the November issue, should be in your hands already. In addition to the 2020 buyer's Guide, this month's issue includes a feature in Our Pumps Solution section from soldiers mannish Tobar illustrating the benefits of retrofit for boiler feed pumps and a liquefied natural gas plant that increased overall performance by 5%. And I encourage everyone to check that article out are featured Gay study this month and Boris of well, tech buyer power shells, How they integrated a bio methane plant into a fridge. Potato chip producers Food processing system. Richard, What's your favorite potato chip? Jay is, too. For me, it's either gonna be, um, not your cheese Doritos or restaurant style tortilla chips. So I got to kind of battle Now that they're both corn chips, right? They're both conscious. William was a potato chip. Well, well, fine. I'll tell you a funny story. A friend of mine, his Catholic, and one year for Lent. He said he was going to give up meat and he's over at the house and he's just hanging out. And I'm asking how his house was Lynton observances. Going, he says, is going very well. And then he reaches over into my kitchen, which I have no problem with. Friends as a friend grabs a bag of pork rinds and starts chowing down in front of me and ask him what he's doing on. And he says, What? I'm just having a chip. I thought I was okay and I said, Well, of course it's okay, but you're in pork rinds, he says. Well, I know these are my favorite chips E and I tell him, pork, pork rinds. Those air not chips. That's me keyword man, and he gets very upset. He's like, Oh, man, I don't know what to do if you know what God made you this way So I don't think you will be punished and left for being dumb. Yeah, that's a no, no sin of omission. Sins of commission. That's just not knowing that pork Rhines are not potato chips. I don't know. I punish anybody. Maybe Maybe he just thought it was the flavoring. Maybe. Maybe he just thought it was like like shavings. I don't know. I'd like to give him that. You have to. I mean, you're the one that's friends with him for myself and thank you for asking. I'll probably with a Pringle. Also, in this issue, Steve, mostly of B. J and Pumps, shows outflow. Tlhis bum control systems can be the best solution for de watering on construction sites. If your current subscriber there's still time to sign up for a free 12 month subscription by visiting NPT mag dot com and clicking on that subscribe tab, this has been the efficiency point. A podcast from NPT magazine, always on Twitter at mod pumped mag for updates on Our next episode Diseases episode was produced by Richard Counsel. Until next time I'm your host, Jay Campbell, and thank you for listening.