Expert

Pumping and operating a pumping station is generally not the core business of the company. It is usually an auxiliary or side process, treated as a "necessary evil" that is a source of costs and problems. These costs are often significant. Some estimates indicate that about one-fifth of all electricity production is used to drive pumps. Other components of pumping station operating costs, such as maintenance and renovation costs, are also significant. Maintaining the continuity of pumping station operation is in many cases a problem that absorbs the attention of the company's management. Minimizing pumping costs and ensuring continuity of traffic requires specialist knowledge, not always available in companies whose core business is something else. In modern economics there is a clear tendency to the so-called "outsourcing", i.e. companies focusing on basic tasks and outsourcing all side tasks to specialized companies.

Pumping and operating a pumping station is a typical task that can be advantageously outsourced to specialists. There are two basic stages in this task. One is the selection and purchase of devices, and the other is operation.

Design offices traditionally provide assistance to users at the device selection stage. This is usually a good solution because the designer, thanks to his knowledge of the designed process and the wide market offer, is able to suggest the user the optimal solution. However, there are cases where this is not the case, which may be due to several reasons:

• Some designers are not independent at all, but are affiliated with device manufacturers. These may be capital connections, common in the case of large international concerns taking shares in Polish design offices. However, some smaller design offices collect commissions from manufacturers for recommending their devices. The selection of pumps in such a case is not objective at all. On the contrary, devices from preferred manufacturers are biasedly promoted in a way that does not take the user's interests into account.
• Sometimes the reason is simply routine and the desire to limit the scope of work. Instead of conducting an extensive comparative analysis aimed at optimal selection, the designer recommends a device whose catalog he has on the shelf.
• Some offices specializing in the design of specialized processes do not have employees with sufficient knowledge of pumps and pumping systems.

Moreover, even in cases where the designer reliably fulfills the task of selecting the optimal pumps, his role usually ends there and the user is left alone with the problem of operation and maintenance. For the above reasons, in order to efficiently deal with pump problems, the user should remain in contact with the pump manufacturer. Cooperation between the user and the producer is difficult because in a market economy their interests are seemingly opposite, because increasing profits for one of them takes place at the expense of reducing them for the partner. The user therefore treats the manufacturer's offers not as proposals for the objectively best solutions, but as the most profitable proposals for the manufacturer. Despite this, it is possible to build long-term relationships based on trust, because for a serious manufacturer, customer satisfaction is more important than a one-off, high profit, which allows for obtaining subsequent orders.

In addition to the problem of lack of mutual trust, there are other factors that make dialogue between the user and the manufacturer difficult.

• Pumps are often purchased through intermediaries. Not every manufacturer maintains its own sales network and the strategy of many companies assumes sales through intermediaries. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as the intermediary company has the expertise needed to select the pump correctly. However, it also happens that the intermediary is unable to collect the necessary information, and what's worse, for fear of his commission, he tries to prevent direct contact between the user and the manufacturer. As a result, manufacturers receive inquiries about "an unsubmersible pump for medium-low density sludge, Q = 10m³/h, H = 10-15 m", or a pump with the following parameters: "minimum pressure of 2 atmospheres at 10 taps % inch each, water circulation 15-25 m, lifting height approx. 2-2.5 m. Water at the last settling tank cleaned approximately 20%” (quotes from authentic requests for offers from intermediaries).
• Pumps often constitute only a small part of the value of a turnkey installation. In such a case, the contractor often does not attach much importance to their selection, focusing only on the price and delivery date, because the issues of operation after the warranty period are not important to him. In such cases, in order to simplify purchases, complete deliveries from one manufacturer are preferred, without paying attention to the correct selection of individual pumps and without consulting the user who will operate the installation after its start-up.
• In tenders for facilities financed from external sources (e.g. European funds), formal requirements are often too extensive and dominate over technical issues. In the latter case, in some cases, specifications are imposed without justification, preferring imported devices, which are often in contradiction with Polish regulations and engineering practice.

In general, it should be stated that the tender procedure is not always the optimal purchasing method. Theoretically, the tender is supposed to ensure equal opportunities for all competitors and lead to the selection of the most advantageous offer. In practice, if there is bad will on the part of the contracting authority, while maintaining the appearance of a fair tender procedure, it may make a biased choice. For this purpose, it is enough to include in the technical specification the features relating to a specific product or to informally provide additional information to the preferred supplier. Therefore, the tender does not constitute a reliable protection against abuse, but it has the following unfavorable features:

• The tender procedure is expensive for both the buyer and the supplier. Preparing an offer that meets usually extensive formal requirements is time-consuming. Since, by definition, only one out of several tender offers wins, the supplier must include the cost of preparing offers in the product prices. The buyer must bear the cost of preparing the tender documentation, as formal deficiencies may constitute the basis for appeals and questioning the results of the procedure.

• The tender procedure is time-consuming due to the time needed to prepare documentation, the time needed to prepare offers and their analysis. Moreover, there is a risk of being involved in an appeal or even court process.

• The tender procedure makes communication between the user and the supplier difficult. For formal reasons, the requirements and parameters should be specified in advance, otherwise an accusation of tender manipulation may arise. Meanwhile, not everything can be predicted, as suppliers may propose better solutions that differ from the tender assumptions. The flexibility required to take advantage of such proposals is difficult to reconcile with the formal correctness of the tender.

• A clear selection of an offer is only possible in simple situations, for example when the only criterion is price. In practice, the choice is usually multi-criteria, because in addition to the purchase price, operating costs are equally important, as are technical advantages that are difficult to convert into money (e.g. ecological safety, noise level, etc.). In addition to difficulties in correctly selecting the weights of individual criteria, there may be difficulties in verifying the reliability of offers. . Some bidders may make unrealistic promises regarding, for example, the intervals between renovations, which can only be verified after the purchase.

For some entities, making purchases in the form of a tender is a formal and legal requirement, and in other cases it is advisable when there is a fear that the people representing the buyer do not sufficiently care about the interests of their company, which may result from negligence or putting personal interests ahead of them. However, if the company's interest is secured in another way, for example through effective corporate supervision, it may be more effective to make purchases in a different manner.

A beneficial form may be permanent cooperation with a supplier selected on the basis of experience in operating existing devices, the advantages of which over competitive products have been confirmed in practice. This does not mean a restriction of competition, because in the current market conditions, the inflow of other offers is continuous, which allows for ongoing verification of the competitiveness of the equipment of a regular supplier.

Constant cooperation ensures proper communication between the user and the manufacturer. It can cover a wide range of elements.

Signaling future needs.

For each manufacturer, it is very important to understand the future demand for pumps in terms of new design solutions and parameters in advance so that it is possible to complete the construction work before making the purchase. Traditional market research methods, for example in the form of surveys, are not always effective. Direct indication of future needs by the user benefits both parties. The manufacturer limits the risk associated with investing in a new product, while the user receives a product that strictly meets his needs.

Providing information needed for correct selection under conditions of proper communication.

During regular contacts, you can practice effective procedures for selecting new pumps. The user knows which parameters are necessary to make the optimal selection and can determine them, while the manufacturer, knowing the user's conditions, does not have to request a full, standard set of information every time. As a result, an optimal selection can be made with a limited risk of error and a moderate amount of work. The existence of free two-way communication is also important. In the conditions of permanent cooperation, the manufacturer not only responds to specific requests for offers containing specific parameters, but also has the opportunity to discuss the adopted solutions, propose alternative solutions and verify the parameters.

Conclusion of a long-term contract for the supply of pumps.

Under conditions of permanent cooperation, it is possible to agree on deliveries for a longer period, for example a year. This allows the manufacturer to reduce prices by reducing marketing costs and better production planning. In addition to price discounts, the user benefits in the form of a guarantee of on-time deliveries and more favorable payment terms, which do not have to be strictly related to delivery dates. There is also a reduction in costs in the procurement department.

The manufacturer's involvement in repairs and maintenance.

The direct benefit of the user from constant cooperation with the manufacturer is that the maintenance services are familiar with the devices used, which reduces training costs and limits the risk of incorrect operation. However, if the user considers it beneficial to limit his own maintenance services, the manufacturer may take over some of the tasks in this area. It is able to offer regular customers of its pumps the following forms of service:

1. Reactive – a traditional form of service in which the manufacturer responds to the customer's request (usually when problems occur).
2. Control – in addition to responding to the customer's request, the manufacturer carries out periodic inspections, adjustments, advice and training (e.g. checking alignment, checking bearings, adjusting stuffing boxes, verifying working conditions).
3. Full – the manufacturer undertakes full maintenance (i.e. planning and organizing renovations under the customer's control).
4. Operation of the pumping station at a price determined per m³ – the manufacturer undertakes a comprehensive service consisting in pumping, including renovation. Determining the price per pumped cubic meter allows you to clearly decide which type of pump is the most economical. Attempts to determine this at the stage of individual tenders do not always give correct results. When a pump manufacturer undertakes to pump at a price per cubic meter, it assumes actual responsibility for representations regarding the actual operating costs of the pumps.

If users are interested, the manufacturer is able to enter into negotiations about providing a selected form of service, more complex than the traditional, reactive one that is used as standard.

Renovation management is closely related to the issue of spare parts delivery dates. It would be advisable to implement a system dividing spare parts into categories depending on the frequency of their replacement and the scale of production of a given type of pump. There may be five categories, marked, for example, with letters A to E, as in the table.

For individual categories, the manufacturer could specify guaranteed delivery times, for example:

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A – on the shelf
B – 7 days
C – 14 days
D – 30 days
E – 60 days

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The affiliation of individual parts to different categories should be determined by the manufacturer and communicated to the user. You should be aware that maintaining a stock of spare parts involves costs. It should be possible to negotiate the composition of individual categories with regular customers. It should be added that commissioning the pump manufacturer to carry out repairs completely frees the user from the problem of the delivery time of spare parts. To sum up, it should be said that establishing permanent cooperation between the user and the pump manufacturer brings tangible benefits to both parties. Such cooperation may be formalized in the form of a contract or remain informal, based on long-term contacts and trust. Further forms of permanent cooperation include:

• full user standardization
• the so-called "global partnership", where the user - a large international company - uses pumps from one manufacturer in all its plants around the world.

Before concluding cooperation agreements, it is necessary to consider whether the benefits resulting from reducing purchase and renovation costs outweigh the losses associated with limiting the freedom of choice of pumps.

Dr. Eng. Grzegorz Pakula

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The paper was presented at the 6th Forum of Pump Users and Manufacturers.

It was also published in the "Pompy-Pompownie" magazine.

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Author's comment after 15 years:

"Even though the text was written 15 years ago, it remains largely up-to-date. A disturbing phenomenon is the intensification of the tendency to exceed formal and legal requirements in tender specifications for pumps, which was already signaled 15 years ago. Comparison of the volume occupied in specifications, for example by the description of requirements regarding bank guarantees, the format in which documents are required, etc., with the volume occupied by the description of technical requirements, indicates a clear advantage of the former. Very often, standard documents containing general and irrelevant requirements are published as technical specifications, while failing to specify parameters that are crucial for the selection of the pump. It is becoming common practice to include general contract templates in tender specifications that are not suitable for a given case, such as, for example, transferring all clauses of the contract for the construction of a power unit concluded between the general contractor and the energy company to the pump sub-supplier. You may get the impression that many tender specifications are written by lawyers and economists rather than technicians. Of course, creating the correct formal and legal structure for the contract is important, but this cannot exclude the agreement on essential technical issues. Design offices, with some notable exceptions, often "don't feel the need" and are unable to properly formulate requirements or selection criteria. At the same time, however, a positive tendency can be noticed, which is that, despite formal and legal difficulties, the cooperation between pump manufacturers and users postulated in the article works in many cases. Over the 15 years since the text was written, there have been numerous examples of establishing partnership cooperation in the form proposed, thanks to which pump systems have been designed and implemented at a high technical level and their operation is carried out correctly. Nevertheless, the call for partnership cooperation in the technical field remains valid."