When something goes wrong with a piece of equipment in your plant, it’s quite simple to replace it when the equipment is fairly current and readily available in the marketplace.  All that’s needed is a model number and a purchase order.  But what happens if this is not the case?  There are many instances where a new piece of equipment is required because the piece we are replacing is extremely old. In addition, there are many circumstances where a change in the process or an upgrade requires a new piece of equipment to be specified.

Whether you handle the specification process yourself, use in-company resource or call in an engineering consultant, you will have an easier time if arm yourself with information and complete some preparatory thinking before you order your equipment.  If you follow these simple steps, you will be more likely to specify and purchase the correct piece of equipment.

First – Know Your Process Parameters.

It is worthwhile to review exactly how the piece of equipment is used in your plant.  Write up a short description that will become the basis of your specification.  What is this piece of equipment used for?  What specific operations is it called on to perform?   It is important to write this description clearly because the equipment rep or consulting engineer may know the piece of equipment, buy they will not know or understand your process.

Second – What Will Come In Contact With the Equipment?

Many plants run multiple products and multiple batches.  It is critical to determine every one of your raw materials or product components that will come in contact with the piece of equipment.  If you are using corrosives and solvents, this becomes particularly important because it will allow the equipment rep of consulting engineer to properly select compatible materials.  It is also important to be through and list every possible chemical that will come in contact with your equipment.  We have seen more than one new piece of equipment destroyed over the one corrosive that was left off of the list!

Third – Think Through the Operating Requirements.

What are the operating requirements that your process will impose on this new piece of equipment.  Are there required volumes, throughput, temperature ranges etc.  This is a good time to talk to your operators and ask these questions.  It si not uncommon to have the “actual” operating requirements different from those on file in the facilities or engineering department!

Once you have assembled this information, you should collect it in a specification format.  This can be a simple narrative document as long as it clearly covers the three areas above.  This document can then be used with your equipment rep or consulting engineer.