Advanced industrial vacuum cleaning systems increase productivity and improve safety. (Process Machinery).

Today's industrial vacuum cleaning systems, capable of picking up material as heavy as bowling balls or as fine as a mist, are now far more sophisticated than their brethren, the common shop vacuum. These powerful and sophisticated vacuum cleaning sytems, often custom designed for specific applications, but also available pre-engineered, are becoming an integral part of industrial processes for reclamation of production materials, maintaining and cleaning critical production equipment to reduce downtime, and extraordinary housekeeping, such as removal of hazardous waste or material too heavy to be handled safely by human labor. In fact, for many manufacturers and processors, industrial vacuum cleaners are now being completely integrated into production and process systems and are quickly becoming a key component of critical stragetic issues that range from productivity to environmental safety and worker health.

Yet, as sophisticated as today's vacuum cleaning systems are, a surprising number of companies still use ordinary shop vacuums purchased from the local building supply. Even when used for ordinary housekeeping functions, these throwaway vacuums are expensive to operate, noisy and inefficient. Some companies spend literally tens of thousands of dollars on shop vacuums that quickly find their way into the trash heap.

Of course, the proper selection of an industrial vacuum cleaning system is based primarily on the application. In some cases, small air and electric powered drum-style units will suffice, while others require large electric and diesel powered units for multiple users and filtration systems capable of capturing particles that are invisible to the naked eye.

Some applications require sophisticated customized vacuum cleaner installations. For other applications, compact, off-the-shelf vacuum systems are perfectly adequate when replacing crude or unnecessarily hazardous cleaning methods, such as the use of compressed air hoses for blowing debris.

Users of industrial vacuum cleaning systems may assume they need a custom, one-of-a-kind solution when their application actually calls for a pre-engineered product. In other words, most applications require standard equipment that offers the option capabilities to best fit their application.

A specialist in the design and manufacture of industrial vacuum systems, Vac-U-Max's products range from compact electric-powered units to large and powerful diesel-powered vacuum systems. The company is also a leader in the design and manufacture of pneumatic systems and support equipment for conveying, weighing and batching of dry materials. Experience with vacuum and positive-pressure pneumatic systems and controls is offered, in addition to a nationwide network of distributor and sales representative specialists.

Industrial hygiene is an important function that requires effective vacuum cleaning systems. There are increasing concerns among workers, labor unions and OSHA about the quality of the plant environment. For example, in companies that produce tires, belts, gaskets and rubber products using black rubber, carbon black, a very fine powder used as a pigment in black rubber products, is both a housekeeping problem and, when airborne, an employee health problem. Vacuum cleaning systems with advanced HEPA filters are used to address and solve these issues and problems.

Vacuum cleaner filtration systems must be capable of completely removing hazardous materials and even everyday dust from the workplace. Vacuum systems must have appropriate power, in many instances the capability of picking up heavy production residue, returning such material to the production process. At the same time, vacuum systems should be designed so that noise hazards are minimized, either by dampening system noise or configuring the system to minimize worker exposure to high noise levels. In most cases, these safety issues are best addressed by a collaborative effort between the industrial consumer and experienced vendors.

Industrial vacuum cleaning systems are also frequently used as a means to clean machine tools and other manufacturing equipment. However, it is not uncommon for manufacturers to incur thousands of hours of downtime each year using manual or other outmoded methods to clean machine tools and automated production equipment. In many instances, the benefits of correctly chosen vacuum cleaning systems include productivity and safety. When compressed air is used to clean devices and components, users do not have control of the debris. Vacuum cleaning units are said to be cleaner and easier to maintain, and can be designed for constant use.

With all the productivity and safety issues that are associated with industrial vacuum systems today, users view their vacuum cleaning systems as capital equipment. Vac-U-Max systems are sold worldwide and range from small air- and electric-powered drum-style units to large electric and diesel units. Centralized units can support fixed piping networks for general plant housekeeping or spill recovery. Options include continuous pulse filter cleaning, HEPA filters for hazardous materials and a large variety of filter media. Material handling choices are provided for collected materials, and electrical components are offered for all area classifications, along with stainless steel construction when required by application.