West Rand-based pump manufacturing company Bru-Quip has started manufacturing double-diaphragm pumps for the local market, reports sales director Rob Shaw.
The double-diaphragm pump, which is reported to enjoy a considerable market share in South Africa, is currently being imported by six local companies.
Shaw believes Bru-Quip's local manufacture of the pumps ¨C which have a nonstalling and nonlubricating air valve ¨C is proving to be reliable and cost-effective.
He believes the quality of the locally-manufactured pump is on the same level as the quality of an imported one.
The company has already received and delivered a number of orders for the pumps that it started manufacturing 18 months ago, mostly from the mining industry. ¡°Our pump is popular in the mining industry because it is more robust than the imported one,¡± Shaw states.
He also notes that the pump is highly versatile and can be used in any industry.
¡°It pumps almost anything that flows, as long as the user has air, it can be run dry against a closed head, and its flow rate can be varied from zero to a maximum,¡± Shaw says.
He adds the imported pumps at times come at a lower cost, but are costly to maintain because of their expensive spares, while the cost of locally-manufactured spares is lower.
The pump offers low maintenance, even with extremely abrasive slurries, due to low internal fluid velocities, resilient elastomer diaphragms and the absence of close-fitting sliding or rotating parts, says Shaw.
Bru-Quip intends to export the product and has already been approached by companies from Germany and Singapore with proposals to source the pump from the company.
The 27-year-old company's main activity is the manufacturing of liquid-ring vacuum pump units.
With a staff complement of nine, the company mainly supplies the mining, chemical, and food and beverages industries.
The company also manufactures plastic pumps, and will soon be introducing a new air-operated pump for underground use, Shaw reports.
He says the air-operated pump is still being tested.
The company does 50% of its machining and manufacturing in-house, and also repairs all kinds of vacuum pumps.
The company's new air-operated double diaphragm pump is currently being used for pumping backfill at a Klerksdorp mine, where it has been running trouble-free for three months, Shaw says.
Bru-Quip has also exported a number of pumps to Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The company's future plans include expanding its market base, as well as being able to do all its machining in-house.
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