5 Reasons Why You Need a Dust Control System
5 Reasons Why You Need a Dust Control System
Within manufacturing processes, there are times when production equipment generates dust that can prove difficult to eliminate. Because of this, the manufacturing industry must apply dust control methods to these dust generating processes.
The top five reasons for implementing dust control methods into your processes
1. Improve the quality of the product
· Reduce or eliminate unwanted dust on the product
2. Reduce employee exposure
· Improve employee health by reducing the dust concentration in milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3)
3. Reduce equipment process safety risks
· Dust build-up on equipment could become a fire hazard
· Dust build-up on surrounding equipment/building area increases a secondary explosion risk
4. General housekeeping
· Commonly, process dust migrates from the line and contaminates adjacent process areas, requiring general cleaning
5. Increase the bottom line
· Reasons 1-4 all increase the bottom line by decreasing labor hours of clean up, producing a better product and providing a safer working environment for you and your employees
So now you are considering the installation of a dust control system at your facility and are thinking how to justify it. Consider the following scenario:
These are the example given variables of a typical manufacturing process and its dust control needs:
· 1 hour per 24 hour day to clean up process equipment due to dust control issues for a process without a dust control system
· $50 per hour labor cost on average
· $5,000 per hour loss in production cost not operating the line due to dust clean up without a dust control system
· 8,200 hours per year operating for the process with or without a dust control system (49 wks @ 24/7)
· A 30,000 CFM dust control system required for the example process
· $900,000 cost of the dust control engineering, design, and installation
· Result- 50% reduction in downtime cleaning because of the added dust control system
A summary calculation for the cost of production loss for a process without a dust control system over one year’s time:
Production Loss without a Dust Control System (1 year)
$1,715,000 - Cost of Production Loss
$51,400 - Labor Cost to Clean the Line
$1,766,400/yr
Then you can quickly calculate the outlay of investment and operating costs as well as the potential production loss of running a process with a dust control system over one year’s time:
Investment & Operating Cost (1 year)
$900,000 - Capital Investment
$49,000/yr - Motor Electrical Operating Cost
$12,000/yr - Maintenance Cost
$961,000/yr
Production Loss with a Dust Control System (1 year)
$857,500 - Cost of Production Loss
$25,700 – Labor Cost to Clean the Line
$833,200/yr
Therefore, just looking at the simple payback and not the net present value of the system, one can see- in this scenario, a dust control system justifies further investigation.
If you have any questions on why or how to justify a dust control system, please feel free to contact me for further discussion, or comment below.
Reference- for this example the following calculations and assumptions were used:
Estimated Production Loss / Year
EPLPY = (1 hr/day clean-up) (343 days/yr) ($5,000/hr) = $1,715,000/year loss production
EPLPY1 = (0.5 hr/day clean-up) (343 days/yr)($5,000/hr) = $857,500/year loss production (year 1)
Estimate Cleaning Labor / Year
ECLPY = (3 people) (1 hour/day) (343 days/yr) ($50/hr) = $51,450
ECLPY = (3 people) (0.5 hour/day) (343 days/yr) ($50/hr) = $25,700
Estimated Motor Operating Cost / Year
EMOC/YR = (125 HP) (0.85 FL)(0.746) ($0.07/KWH) (8,200 HRS/YR) / 0.954 = $47,690 Main DC Fan
EMOC/YR = (3 HP) (0.85 FL) (0.746) ($0.07/KWH) (8,200 HRS/YR) / 0.895 = $1,220 Fines Handling RAL
Therefore, electrical motor operating cost is estimated to be $49,000/year.
Dust Control System Maintenance Cost
4 quarters x $3,000/quarter = $12,000/year.
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