Whitepaper: Select the Right Pump before Errors Get Costly

In a contributed article, Adrian van Wyk, Managing Director of Referro Systems, explains why purchase price, motor power and flow curves are losing weight in pump selection. He points to lifecycle cost, efficiency across the actual operating range and the limits of predictive maintenance without matching maintenance processes.

On 1 October 2026, VSX – VOGEL SOFTWARE GmbH welcomed 22 users of Spaix, the software for pump and valve selection and quotation, to the first Spaix User Summit at Hotel Elbflorenz in Dresden. Guests from sales, engineering and IT, travelling from four continents, spent a full day exchanging experiences with each other and with the Spaix team.

Vacuum technology is indispensable in paper sack manufacturing. It plays a vital role at several critical stages of the production process. At dy-pack, suction cups mounted on small robotic arms grip the sides of each sack blank, lift it from the stack and position it for the next process step. Vacuum ensures that the sacks are aligned one after the other so that the bottom can be opened in a controlled manner.

One of the most effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of a vacuum system is to ensure that the operating capacity of the vacuum pump is aligned with the actual needs of the process. A vacuum pump that runs at full speed when the process demand is low wastes energy and can cause unnecessary wear on equipment, reducing service life. By implementing intelligent control systems and variable speed drives (VSD), energy consumption can be significantly cut, leading to lower operating costs and a reduced carbon footprint.

Every vacuum pump converts electrical energy into mechanical work. Inevitably, much of that energy becomes heat, resulting from heating in motor windings, friction between moving parts, and gas compression. While heat generation is unavoidable, how it is managed influences not only the efficiency of the vacuum pump, but can also affect the efficiency of other associated systems and equipment located nearby.

The UK water sector’s AMP8 programme will invest more than £100 billion in infrastructure over five years. In this guest comment, BPMA Technical Officer Gary Wilde argues that success will depend on more than capital alone — whole-life procurement, resilient supply chains and investment in skills and technology.