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28 / July 2021 powderbulk.com is a fully costed action plan with financial justifi- cation for that plan. 5. The audit output shouldn't look like an attempt to sell a compressor, control system, or whatever the supplier has to offer. Beware of automated surveys. 6. Long-term compressed-air system improve- ment savings often fall short of companies' goals because they neglect the detailed design, proj- ect management, and sustained effort that are required postaudit. Maintaining the savings requires better, faster feedback and a change in company culture. 7. If time is money, then postponing a project because the plant doesn't have the time, incli- nation, or internal expertise to implement the project is often a poor financial decision. The ROI for most compressed-air projects is strong enough that any aspect (or all of it) can be outsourced and still meet your ROI. PBE For further reading Find more information on this topic in articles listed under "Compressed air" in the article archive on PBE's website, www.powderbulk.com. Paul Edwards (paul.edwards@loweraircost.com) is founder and president of Compressed Air Consultants (CAC), Charlotte, NC, which he founded as an indepen- dent audit firm 18 years ago after starting up the audit business portion of a major compressor company. He has a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and is a nationally recog- nized speaker in several organizations that serve the powder and bulk solids industry. Mauricio Uribe (mauricio.uribe@loweraircost.com) is an auditor at CAC and has been with the auditing team for more than 5 years, mainly doing international audits. He's the founder of CrowsNest, an independent auditing company established 18 years ago in Santiago, Chile. He has a BS in mechanical engineering and has interna- tional auditing experience. Compressed Air Consultants Charlotte, NC 704-376-2600 www.loweraircost.com certain point would have no effect on the collector and would only waste precious compressed air. Also, new employees could go through a 10- to 15-minute web- based presentation that discusses how air is used in the plant and what the plant considers best practice for its particular processes. Having an air champion or a compressed-air focus team that meets infrequently and for short periods of time can also pay large dividends. In one plant we just reaudited after 5 years, tens of thousands of dollars were unnecessarily spent because, after the initial audit, no one was paying attention to how individual decisions were impacting operating costs. Had there been a small focus group that met for 30 minutes on a quarterly basis to discuss all things compressed air, the plant could've avoided some of those costly decisions. In addition, if the plant had involved its consulting firm — whether formally or informally — the consulting firm could've steered the personnel in a different direc- tion where they wouldn't have had to spend any money. A compressed-air focus team is more likely to have greater success than just an air champion alone, especially if the team is made up of individuals from various stakeholders within the business. Having all interested parties at the table to look at potential compressed-air decisions and their cost consequences allows a plant to make strong business decisions based on fact rather than just opinion. Key takeaways To conclude this three-part series on compressed-air sys- tem improvements, remember these important points: 1. Compressed-air system improvement proj- ects have ROIs that will often rival and surpass other projects you may have planned for sys- tem improvements, and those ROIs can often be achieved without purchasing new compressors. 2. Looking at all the potential sources of cost reduc- tion — productivity, operating costs, and capital costs — and involving all company stakeholders is a more financially sound approach than using dis- cretionary money to attempt to fix system- related issues only in the compressor room. Simply adding compressed-air capacity is often only a band-aid that won't fix the actual problem and will cost you a lot more money in the long run. 3. Consider using an independent expert that can demonstrate working knowledge of your pro- cesses. This eliminates the inherent conflict of interest when your advisor is also a supplier. 4. The first step in the compressed-air improvement process is the audit. A quality audit analyzes all costs and parts of the system. The audit's output