Surprisingly, hydraulic hose assemblies rank among the highest maintenance concerns for many operations, whether for mobile equipment or industrial machinery. Besides the cost of a replacement assembly, many operations have to figure in the cost of driving to the nearest hose fabrication facility, which can include lost revenue due to equipment downtime, labor, fuel and vehicle costs.
These costs can be eliminated by purchasing an on-site hose crimping machine, which enables anyone to produce factory-quality hose assemblies quickly and easily. While owning your own crimper used to be considered a luxury, it is almost becoming a necessity in today’s demanding business environment. Fortunately, the cost is not as high as you might expect -- typical portable crimpers cost anywhere from $1,800 to $2,700, while bench-mounted versions range from $3,700 to $7,600.
Investigate the Options
Before you can determine if an on-site crimper is worth the investment, you need to become familiar with the equipment options on the market and decide which would best fit your operation. This will determine the total cost you need to compare with the cost of off-site fabrication.
Many types of hose crimpers are available in portable and bench-mounted models with varying power sources, including hand, battery-powered, electric, and air-over-hydraulic pumps. The right machine for your operation depends on the quantity and size of the hose and the types of fittings you will be fabricating. You must also consider where the fabricating will take place.
Portable vs. bench-mounted
Portable crimpers range from small, lightweight units powered by a hand pump to larger machines with separate power units. They can weigh anywhere from 42-100 lb. Generally, the larger portable machines are needed to crimp a wider variety of fittings in both steel and stainless steel. Because portable crimpers use smaller pumps, they may not be able to handle larger braided or spiral hoses and typically have a slower cycle time. Full cycle time for a portable crimper is generally 20-30 seconds, whereas a bench-mounted crimper can have a cycle time as low as 6 seconds. Because of the narrower range of capabilities, portable crimpers are less expensive than bench-mounted crimpers.
Bench-mounted crimpers also come in a variety of sizes. Advantages over portable options include an all-in-one crimper/power unit design and faster cycle times for high-volume productivity.
Branded vs. universal
Another important decision to make is whether to purchase a crimper designed for a particular brand of hose and fitting (i.e. Parker, Gates, Weatherhead) or a universal crimper. At first, the universal equipment may seem like the obvious choice. But in reality, the most benefit comes from using a complete system – hose, fitting, and crimper – designed and manufactured by one company to work together. This way you can be assured the equipment is designed to work seamlessly as one system. It is the best way to ensure a simple, safe and reliable hose assembly.
Important features
To get the most from your investment, look for these key features in a crimper:
- Simple to operate – look for a design that ensures the correct position of the fitting in the die for a perfect crimp every time. Parker’s ParkalignTM feature is one example. This feature provides a positive stop, giving the operator a tactile indication that the hose is in the right place for a perfect crimp.
- Durable – to get maximum payoff, your crimper must be durable enough to withstand the abuses of a shop environment, or worse, the demands of working in the field.
- Linked crimp dies – look for dies with a linked design to keep segments together. Otherwise you’ll end up with loose parts, which are easy to misplace or mismatch.
- Color-coded dies – dies color-coded by size make for easy identification and reduced setup time.
- Bottom-loading design – this makes it much easier to handle long hose assemblies
Accessories
You may want to consider several accessories to maximize the benefit of crimping equipment and increase your fabrication speed:
- conversion kits - enable equipment use with other manufacturer’s fittings (if not a universal crimper)
- cabinets – protect equipment and keep it clean
- cut-off saws – for cutting spiral or multibraided wire-reinforced hose
- push-on tables – quickly and easily push fittings onto hoses for crimping
- die racks – keep dies within easy reach and organized
- mandrel toolkits – for assembly of field-attachable fittings.
Stock order
If you decide to purchase a crimper, you will also need to build an inventory of hose and fittings to facilitate efficient assembly fabrication. Talk to your manufacturer’s representative to determine your required inventory level. You will need to include this cost in the calculations of on-site crimper ROI.
After-sale support
One area many people forget to evaluate during the purchase decision is how well the manufacturer supports you in training and ongoing use of your equipment. Ask what training the manufacturer offers on proper use of the equipment and correct assembly procedure. The manufacturer should also offer readily-accessible tools to help you in the everyday use of your crimper. For example, Parker offers an online tool, CrimpSource (www.parker.com/crimpsource), for easy access to all the specifications necessary to correctly fabricate a hose assembly. An online tool, as opposed to a printed manual, ensures the information is always up-to-date. Customers can also use this tool to download updated print manuals, crimp decals, and other information critical for the crimper operator.
Calculate the ROI of an On-Site Hose Crimper
To determine how much an on-site hose crimper could save your operation, you need to compare the cost of purchasing the equipment with the cost of going to the local hose assembly fabricator. It is important to consider all of the associated costs, including equipment downtime, labor, vehicle, and fuel.
First, gather information on all of the following:
- Number of hose assemblies replaced or purchased annually
- Total hourly cost of the maintenance personnel (including salary, benefits, and all costs associated with employment)
- Total hourly cost of the individual who leaves the facility to obtain a replacement hose (driver or parts runner)
- Distance to the nearest hose fabricator
- Transportation cost per mile
- Hourly cost of equipment downtime – this is usually the highest cost
- Value of recommended stock order
- Price of the crimper and any accessories.
Next, consider the steps involved in off-site hose fabrication and the time it takes to complete each step:
- Locate driver/runner
- Provide instruction/details
- Travel to hose supplier/fabricator
- Wait in line for service
- Discuss needs/application with CSR; is CSR widely enough known to be used without spelling out?
- Waiting time before hose fabrication begins
- Fabrication of hose assembly
- Paperwork/billing
- Return to shop.
This process can easily take one to two hours (or more), depending on the distance to the nearest assembly fabricator. This is time your maintenance personnel and driver/runner are not putting toward constructive work; it is also time during which your equipment is not operational. You must figure this cost, labor cost for both maintenance and the driver/runner, plus transportation cost (including fuel and vehicle costs) to drive to and from the fabricator when figuring the cost of off-site fabrication.
In contrast, on-site assembly fabrication with a crimper would normally take between 10 and 20 minutes of a maintenance person’s time, reducing labor costs and equipment downtime. There would be no transportation costs or labor costs for a driver/runner.
ROI example
To illustrate how all of this data correlates to a potential ROI, let’s look at a real-world example. This operation has the following data associated with hose assembly fabrication:
- Hose assemblies replaced annually 22
- Hourly cost of maintenance personnel $48.75
- Hourly cost of driver/parts runner $31.5
- Distance to the nearest hose fabricator 16 miles
- Transportation cost per mile $0.505
- Hourly cost of equipment downtime $175
- Value of recommended stock order $3700
- Price of the crimper $1000
The shop manager for this operation estimated that the total time involved with off-site hose fabrication (total of steps 1-9 in the previous section) was between 60 and 117 minutes. Using those time estimates and the data included above, he calculated the cost of off-site hose assembly fabrication at $211 to $396 per hose. Based on the labor cost of having maintenance personnel fabricate a hose on-site, a crimper would lower his per-hose fabrication cost to between $37 and $74 for a savings of $137 to $359 per assembly.
To calculate the ROI, the shop manager next totaled the cost of the crimping equipment and the hose and fittings he would need to stock. He determined he would need to stock about $3,700 worth of hose and fittings to fabricate assemblies on site. The price of the crimper he was considering was $1,000. Given the potential savings per hose, it would take him only 13 to 34 hose assemblies, or between 8 and 18 months, to recoup the cost of the crimper.
Tools to Help You Decide
If all these numbers are making your head swim, don’t worry. Your hose distributor should be able to help you determine if an on-site crimper makes good financial sense. Parker distributors use the On-site Crimper Value Calculator for this purpose. It captures the required data to show the ROI of an on-site crimper. The tool also makes it easy to change some of the figures (i.e. price of the crimper or number of assemblies replaced annually) to see at what point the ROI would be acceptable.
With the number of crimper options available, in sizes and configurations to fit any operation, an on-site crimper could very well make a big impact on your operation’s bottom line. Weighing the cost against that of equipment downtime, labor, fuel and vehicle costs is the best way to ensure you are making smart decisions to control maintenance expenses.