Grundfos pushes efficiency via app
Danish pump manufacturer Grundfos has launched a service app for Thailand to digitalise its pump management service.
Regional service director Nicolai Thrane said the company’s vision emphasises intelligent water management, decentralised water and wastewater management, clean energy and sustainability.
The company also focuses on water and energy efficiency by closely aligning its practice to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The company’s pumping solutions are focused on being efficient through conservation of energy and digitalisation.
“It’s very important to safeguard water and energy. About 10% of the world’s electricity is consumed by pumps. If you move to energy-efficient pumps like ours, you can save about 5% of that energy,” he said.
Mr Thrane said Grundfos champions sustainability by reducing its carbon footprint.
The company has an ambitious goal to decrease its carbon footprint by 50% from 2008 levels by 2030.
He said the company is working with customers to provide solutions that will enable them to reduce their water usage as well as electricity, to ensure better efficiency.
“In each of the countries where we work, we have reduced our water and energy footprint across our facilities,” said Mr Thrane.
Efficiency starts as early as when people buy a product, he said. The life cycle cost of a product needs to be considered.
“Most of the time, the initial cost you pay to buy the product is only 5% of the entire cost. Some 85% goes into the electricity that it consumes and the remainder goes into maintenance. So if you buy a more energy-efficient product, you might invest a little more upfront, but that’s only 5%,” said Mr Thrane.
“People can offset the cost through energy savings. Once you earn the cost of the product back in savings, the rest is all savings. That’s why it is important to have energy checks.”
To serve its efficiency and digitalisation goal, the company launched the SmartServ app to provide an effective way of providing service support for any Grundfos product in Thailand’s key infrastructure. It is to be used in industry and water utilities that use Grundfos products.
The company aims to employ digital technology to improve water efficiency, especially for predictive maintenance.
Customers can use the app to locate the nearest service provider, fill in the details of the request, attach a picture of the pump or system, and submit a service request.
Grundfos promises the request will be received within four hours. The requests will be resolved within three days. The app will also act as remote assistance for digital pumps.
This app will improve the quality of service immensely because it reduces the downtime of products or systems, he said.
“As soon as a pump breaks down, it’s important we get the system running again as fast as possible. Here communication is in play — by managing the issue via the app and communicating directly with the end-user, you can reduce the downtime of the pump,” said Mr Thrane.
“We can monitor the conditions of the pumps. Based on algorithms, we can actually predict when the pump is due to be serviced, helping customers avoid breakdowns.”
In big facilities if pumps are not working, the service team can be there quickly, getting it up and running again, he said.
Mr Thrane said the main focus of Grundfos is R&D, which accounts for about 5% of revenue. The company invests in sustainability and energy efficiency.
Whenever Grundfos launches a new product or a new version of its products, they have to be 3-5% more energy efficient than the previous version, he said.
Some 95% of the components in its pumps are recyclable.
“Much thought goes into how sustainably a product is designed till the end of its life. We are also trying to reduce our carbon footprint in many of our offices around the region,” said Mr Thrane.