Sulzer’s upgraded after-sales service workshop facilities in Malaysia were opened in July 2015. This service center started its operation in 2001 with very basic facilities, and the service business has grown steadily every year since then. Currently, the team carries out the service and repair of about 1200 to 1500 pumps a year in this workshop. When Sulzer acquired Cardo Flow Solutions in 2011 and started to implement the Sulzer Safe Behavior Program (SBP), it was a real challenge to live up to Sulzer’s high safety standards with the old workshop facilities. Management’s support and guidance to upgrade the existing facilities helped the team to overcome this situation, and now, the workshop fully complies with Sulzer standards.
New overhead crane
Before the upgrade, all the bigger pumps that exceeded a capacity of three tons were disassembled and reassembled outside the workshop with the help of a mobile crane. During this process, it was a great challenge to coordinate the crane movement and lifting speed. The crane allows inserting the rotor into the housing without letting the rotor hitting the stator. At the same time, the safety of the workers needed to be assured. Ever since Sulzer installed an overhead crane in 2015, all pumps can now be repaired inside the workshop. The largest overhead crane has a lifting capacity of 7 metric tons, and it can lift up to 6.7 m in height. The photo shows pump repair work on a 350 kW pump weighing about 5.7 metric tons. Such pumps can now be disassembled, reassembled, and loaded onto a truck without the need for a mobile crane. So, repair work can be carried out faster and more safely.
Service offering
In addition to the service repair of the pumps, Sulzer offers several value-added services to the customers (e.g., sales of replacement equipment). The service portfolio includes:
- Service repair of Sulzer or third-party equipment
- Replacement of any brand of equipment with Sulzer equipment
- Planned and preventive maintenance of equipment
- Application of locally developed accessories and fittings that help to replace third-party equipment with Sulzer equipment without major modifications on site
- Setup of pilot plants to prove energy-saving capability of Sulzer equipment
- Provision of technical advice, troubleshooting, and energy audits
- Preparation of technical solutions to overcome operational issues
The service center has shown sustainable growth in service revenue and profitability. This success and the expansion will help to maintain this facility, which will benefit customers in Malaysia and abroad.
Recent projects
The team carried out a service project on six submersible pumps of type AFP. These were installed at a pump station close to the Sepang International Circuit (where once a year the Formula 1 race takes place) in Malaysia. These pumps supply river water to the KLIA Airport in Kuala Lumpur. The photo shows the installation on site following a complete overhaul of the pumps in the workshop in Malaysia. The overhaul included new mechanical seals, bearings, and temperature sensors.
As part of a flood protection project in the Asia-Pacific region, eight submersible propeller pumps are currently being installed and commissioned in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. These pumps should prevent the flooding in the city that always occurs after the frequent heavy rains. Sulzer is performing the modifications because the pumps were not operating at the specified duty point (low head).
These two projects demonstrate how customers benefit from the Sulzer service center in Malaysia. As installation, commissioning, and troubleshooting abroad are also part of the Sulzer service business in Malaysia, customers in other countries in Asia-Pacific profit as well.
Sulzer Technical Review
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