Shapiro’s Fluid Recovery System

Machine shops from the aerospace, automotive, medical device, defense, and general machining industries are an integral part of Shapiro’s customer base. That is why Shapiro invests time and capital in finding ways to assist them in running their businesses more efficiently.

The Problem

When working with machine shops, one problem was detrimental to both the client and Shapiro. The culprit: cutting fluid. Metalworking fluids, sometimes called cutting fluids or coolants, are liquids used in machining to reduce friction between the workpiece and the tool during operations like cutting, abrasion, and metal forming. Shapiro began a quest to find and test the best way to contain the standing or leaking fluids and to optimize the use of the fluid.

Over the years, Shapiro has provided leakless bins to mitigate leakage of metalworking fluids on to shop floors as well as changing internal equipment to update the flow of material through our client’s facilities. We also optimized payloads by strategizing with our client’s team creating value in equipment usage to lessen our service visits and in turn, lower their carbon footprint. We have visited clients who have developed their own systems to recover the costly fluid needed to run their machines and lessen their moisture deductions. Many of these internal systems, over time, were abandoned due to the intensive labor needed to run them, and some simply didn’t work.

The good news: Shapiro bins are leakless which means the cutting fluid collects at the bottom of the bins rather than on the shop floor.

The bad news: the fluid added weight to the bin that was not metal which resulted in a deduction for the problematic standing fluid in the bottom of the bins and the additional steps of collecting and recycling the fluid.

This meant the metal in the bins could not be delivered directly to consumers. The excess liquid collected in the bottom of the bin can cause a mill to reject the shipment due to the propensity slowing down their processes and potential of creating undesirable flames in furnaces. Therefore, the material had to be sent to a Shapiro facility for processing which required additional steps, including dumping the material in a designated area to collect the excess fluids into a tank and schedule a service to pump and recycle the fluid.

The Solution

After hours, days and weeks of discussion and problem solving, our innovative team of engineers found a solution that would be helpful to both the client and Shapiro. They developed a fluid recovery system that sends the excess cutting fluid back into the client’s machine to cut more parts, instead of collecting in a bin. The fluid recovery system would go on to solve all sorts of issues, but while Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was the fluid recovery system. This type of innovation shows the Shapiro team is wired to find and fix the hard stuff.

It took several iterations, more personnel, interesting branding discussions, and trials to bring the fluid recovery system to fruition. And we are not done yet. At Shapiro, we are driven to provide an exceptional experience and continuous improvement for our clients.

So far, we can share that the Shapiro Fluid Recovery System

• Reduces cutting fluid usage and costs by 75%
• Improves the run time of machines by decreasing the time expenditure allotted to refill
• Saves on water usage
• Lessens chance of leakage or spills on the shop floor

Fluid Recovery System Maintenance

Not only has Shapiro’s Research & Development team created the Fluid Recovery System, they have also developed a maintenance program for the pumps placed in our client’s facilities.

The pumps are delivered with 30-micron recyclable filters that keep metal from going back into the machine’s tank. The filter has an easy and quick disconnect with two snaps and can be done by the facilities maintenance team or for an additional charge, the Shapiro team will maintain the pumps.

Next Steps

Shapiro begins the Fluid Recovery System journey with a discovery call to help us assess the needs and develop a plan. Once a client commits to the cost and environmental savings of our Fluid Recovery System, we schedule an installation to begin the process. 

Results

The factory setting for running the Fluid Recovery System is one minute for every thirty minutes, however, the pumps can be adjusted to meet the flow rates of the client. One of our clients sets their timer to run two minutes, every fifteen minutes. It’s totally dependent on the facility and their needs.

Our experience is most machines average one gallon per hour meaning eight per shift and forty per machine, per week. No matter how many machines a facility has, the savings can be significant.

Our clients are more than pleased with the Shapiro Fluid Recovery System and the environmental impact and bottom-line benefit of reusing the cutting fluids.