When Alexander Frerichs was studying commercial engineering at The Hague University, he took a part-time job as a postman in his hometown of Zwijndrecht, in the south-west Netherlands. One of the addresses he used to deliver to and pick up from was the Dutch base of Atlas Copco compressors.
“When I was looking for somewhere to do my graduate project, I saw the list of the companies in our town and I remembered Atlas Copco as one of the places on my round. I applied and the rest is history,” he says.
Fast forward ten years and Product Manager Alexander, along with R&D colleague Rachid Carauch, has been a key part of the team responsible for the delivery of Atlas Copco’s DZS VSD+ dry claw vacuum pump, the first on the market to feature an intelligent control system that can be run from a smartphone app. The product was launched in early 2019 and it’s shaken up the market.
A dry claw pump is used in many different industries and applications, but the food industry is prominent as this pump is ideal for pick and place applications, holding packages in place during production and vacuum-packing goods to extend their shelf-life.
“The traditional offer from other suppliers on the market is standard fixed-speed pumps, but our pumps have the app controllability, flexible pumping speed and pressure setpoint control, and that stands out. The flexibility and precise monitoring not only mean excellent process control, but also substantial energy and cost cuts,” says Alexander.
Rachid Carauch, Project Engineer, worked closely together with Alexander on the project, and share his great pride in what they’ve achieved.
“I was very happy to be part of it because it was a great challenge to develop a pump that could be smart controlled,” says Rachid. “I wanted us to be the first ones to get this idea to market. We know that the world is evaluating energy savings, and connectivity such as cloud data and doing everything with your smartphone is becoming very important - it’s the future!”
The customer can simply commission the machine and set its three parameters via a Bluetooth connection. The designated VSD+ app allows the user to commission, control and monitor his vacuum pump. The fact that the drive is connected to the pressure sensor allows the pump to temporarily slow down or shut off in periods of lower load from the process, a big change from the on/off binary of traditional vacuum pumps.
Alexander and Rachid worked with a team of engineers, designers and project experts from Atlas Copco units in Belgium, China, Germany, India and France. The atmosphere of respect for one another’s ideas and freedom to innovate meant it was a truly collaborative process.
“We’re not just sitting in marketing shouting to our colleagues in R&D: ‘Build me this!’ It’s a close collaboration and we often challenge each other as to whether the idea is right,” says Alexander. “In Atlas Copco, product development is always based on existing or anticipated customer needs and we visit and discuss with customers to get a thorough understanding of the application and the environment in which the product is used.”
“Marketing often bring home the ideas, but we brainstorm together,” adds Rachid. “We in R&D also make suggestions of what and how to improve. In this case, marketing came with the idea of the product being controlled by a smartphone, and we in R&D felt we could also make the machine run faster and increase its performance. It’s a win-win. It works in both directions.”
Alexander adds, “Here, both sales and engineering understand the customer need, and that’s a big strength. We really strive to be the best, to go beyond the competition. And don’t underestimate the drive for innovation in our production, purchasing, quality and logistics teams. This kind of teamwork is not just about reaching the market standard, but setting it in the first place.”
And the market standard that Atlas Copco has set is truly impressive. The customer can simply commission the machine and set its three parameters via a Bluetooth connection. The designated VSD+ app allows the user to commission, control and monitor his vacuum pump. The fact that the drive is connected to the pressure sensor allows the pump to temporarily slow down or shut off in periods of lower load from the process, a big change from the on/off binary of traditional vacuum pumps.
“A vacuum pump is an installation that’s often overlooked,” says Alexander. “But often smaller pumps are a significant part of the energy bill when you add them all up. That’s a significant driver for this particular product as well as the smart software. If, for example, you can match the pump’s performance to the actual demand and instead of an 11kW fixed speed pump only consume 8kW, you can save 35% on energy. That will have a huge impact on your costs and on your CO2 footprint.”
The customer is the ultimate judge, and so far the reaction has been good. “Our customer base is growing every month,” says Alexander.
“Just think - two years ago this kind of vacuum pumps were running 24 hours non-stop. Now you have the possibility to adapt the speed to your need, and in the future we’ll have even more possibilities using data, controlling via Wi-Fi,” says Rachid.
The surest sign of a winning idea is when it’s picked up elsewhere. Rachid and Alexander’s colleagues have been watching closely.
“Our idea led the way, and the competition have started to develop the same sort of thing. That shows we’re doing a great job and besides - we already have new things cooking in our kitchen.”
