Don Eaton, CEO of Sauer Compressors USA, discusses the company’s growth in high-pressure air compressors and industrial air and gas compression. He explores compressor technology, reliability, uptime, strategic investments and distributor training designed to improve customer support and long-term system performance.
Industrial air guns are essential for cleaning manufacturing equipment and production areas, but improper selection or misuse can create serious safety and compliance risks. This article explains OSHA Standard 1910.242(b), the engineering behind OSHA-compliant safety air guns, and how nozzle design, thrust, noise control, and operator training help facilities improve worker safety while maintaining effective industrial cleaning performance.
Discover how Ring Power’s leadership philosophy, employee development programs and commitment to innovation have fueled decades of growth in the compressed air industry. Company executives share insights on building high-performing teams, fostering a competitive culture and preparing the next generation of industry leaders.
Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine has conducted its first-ever reader survey for this 20th anniversary issue, and the results show a positive outlook for compressed air system sales in the near future.
We asked a hand-selected list of original equipment manufacturers, independent compressed air system sales and service companies, manufacturing plants and independent system auditors to share their thoughts, highlighting the changes they’ve seen over the past 20 years, then predicting what the next 20 years will bring.
For 20 years, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine has published articles focused on helping manufacturers reduce power demand, lower water consumption, and improve the performance of compressed air, cooling, blower and industrial vacuum systems. In this article, we highlight a sampling of those stories across the following industries:
Plastics and Packaging
Food and Beverage
Automotive and Transportation
Cement, Building Materials, and Mining
Metals, Pulp, and Paper
Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, and Research
Wastewater Treatment
In this interview, FS-Elliott CEO Everson De Campos discusses the company’s strategic direction, emphasizing innovation, sustainability and advanced manufacturing in centrifugal air compressor technology. He highlights investments in global production, engineered-to-order solutions and new product development, including the Polaris platform, as well as growing demand for oil-free compressed air in critical industries. The conversation also explores lifecycle service innovations, digital monitoring approaches and the importance of workforce and channel partner training in meeting increasingly complex customer requirements.
Compressed air system reliability relies on engineering expertise, environmental management and proactive maintenance. This article highlights how Brandon & Clark improved performance in two demanding applications: reducing failures in a dust-heavy silica mining operation through frequent preventive maintenance, and executing a complex disassembly and reassembly of a 300 hp air compressor in a confined university facility while preserving the OEM warranty. These cases show how tailored solutions and long-term service strategies enhance system reliability.
A modular nitrogen generation system integrated with compressed air infrastructure enabled on-site nitrogen production, reducing reliance on delivered CO₂ and improving process efficiency. Adjustable nitrogen purity levels (e.g., 99.99%) optimized flow rate and demand matching while maintaining product quality in brewing applications. The implementation demonstrates how scalable nitrogen generation technology can lower operating costs and support growth in small to mid-sized industrial operations.
Through detailed plant audits, load profiling and system standardization, a regional distributor helped a multi-plant food processor optimize its compressed air infrastructure using 200 hp lubricated VSD rotary screw compressors, 10,000 gallons of storage and properly specified food-grade lubricants. By focusing on correct sizing, temperature monitoring, contamination prevention and lifecycle maintenance practices in dusty environments, the installations delivered stable operating pressures, improved energy performance and scalable capacity for continued expansion.
An aerospace manufacturer worked with Renew Energy Partners to address energy waste caused by variable compressed air demand across a 30-building campus. By upgrading to a variable-speed drive compressor, repairing leaks, and improving air drying under an energy-as-a-service model, the project reduced energy use by more than 270,000 kWh annually while supporting long-term decarbonization goals.
A Southern Indiana office furniture plant was wasting hundreds of dollars per day because its oversized VSD air compressor could not turn down low enough to match reduced demand after a shift to metal fabrication. To avoid drive faults, the plant vented compressed air to create false load. The audit revealed 300 cfm of wasted air—about $400 per day—and led to a redesigned system using a fixed-speed compressor for base load and a VSD unit for trim. The new configuration eliminated artificial demand and cut compressed air energy use in half, setting the stage for further savings through advanced sequencing, storage, and demand control.
The Best Practices 2025 EXPO & Conference was the busiest one yet, with 89 presentations, 84 exhibitors and nearly 1,000 registered attendees. It included two conference tracks, five workshops and five EXPO classroom pavilions. The event was so big, we’re splitting our show report into three reports to capture all the activity.
One existing air compressor was a rental and not fully integrated into our compressed air system. We upgraded the desiccant compressed air dryer to improve operational efficiency, reduce energy consumption and save on the combined cfm. We save close to 900,000 kWh of electricity, and about 704 cfm every weekday.
They got to a point where every time they added a new piece of equipment, it did not eliminate their rental, nor did it eliminate the water problems, the leaks and everything else they were experiencing. The system had issues that adding more equipment simply could not fix.
There are multiple compressed air applications in a waste management facility. This new recycling center uses laser-guided optical sorters to divide waste, with no human involvement on the sorting line. Laser optics determine what type of material each scrap is, then compressed air jets maneuver each piece to its collection area. Compressed air also powers handheld blow guns used for cleaning, as well as the bundling and packaging system.
Automate 2025, showed attendees how to make their industrial plants more efficient with robotics. Throughout the conference, robotic arms shuttled packages, burgers and even macarons with speed and accuracy. Driving this new technology was a complex network of pneumatic cylinders and pick-and-place automation powered by pneumatic vacuum generation. Innovation makes these proven technologies more efficient than ever.
With over 49 locations and 10,000 employees, the company’s Casa Grande, AZ, plant specializes in tempering, taking annealed or raw glass, cutting it to size, running it through a 1,250°F (677°C) oven and then using a pressurized air system to quench the glass and turn it into safety glass. Compressed air powers the plant’s belt systems that transfer materials, the seaming system that rounds the corners and the washer system that cleans particulates off glass before it goes into the furnace.
The items included three 550 horsepower (hp), oil-flooded, water-cooled, single-stage air compressors with inlet valve modulation capable of providing 1,540 scfm at 165 psi (11.4 bar), two heatless desiccant, 3,138 cfm, 165 psi (11.4 bar) compressed air dryers, and two nitrogen generators for the main station, as well as two smaller air compressors and heatless desiccant compressed air dryers for each of three smaller facilities. Air compressor packages typically meet API 619, but the customer did not request that in this case. The motors, however, need to meet API 547. Air compressor system piping needed to be carbon steel built to ASME B31.3.
Before CAGI data sheets were created, air compressor distributors and their customers could only go by the manufacturers’ claims. He found there wasn’t any uniformity to the numbers manufacturers put out, so making comparisons was challenging. Some compressed air manufacturers measured capacity from the bare airend, while others measured from the air compressor’s outlet.
IPS supplies compressed air to a lot of machinery running outdoors, such as dust collectors and feed mills on grain elevators, as well as to other equipment in environments lower than 32°F (0°C). Temperatures that low require desiccant dryers. Hoffman helps his customers sort out their options and determine which type of desiccant dryer – heatless, heated purge, heated blower purge – is ideal for their needs.
SP4 motors provide the high efficiency and reliability required for air compressors which operate under demanding and variable-load conditions. The reduced energy losses and cooler operating temperatures mean a lower total cost of ownership for manufacturers. Additionally, the NEMA Super Premium efficiency level ensures compliance with stringent energy regulations, making this a future-proof investment.
From October 29-31, 2024, professionals who operate, maintain and design industrial compressed air, vacuum, blower, nitrogen generation, process cooling and HVAC systems gathered at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA, for the 6th annual Best Practices 2024 EXPO & Conference. The event featured two tracks of conference presentations and panels.
A leading aerospace engineering firm, sought a quote for a compressed air system for its new manufacturing plant. This firm, which already operates seven existing systems across its campus, was planning its eighth and turned to its longtime partner for a solution.
The customers wanted to be able to monitor their system from a control room. They wanted to be able to see the overall view of how the system was running. The bigger thing on the backend – especially for us from an engineering perspective – was being able to do better troubleshooting and helping them without the need to be onsite.
