The pump industry is growing rapidly, due in part to the increased demand for clean water and the need to implement new flood-control measures in certain regions of the world. Companies in the agriculture, pharmaceutical, mining and chemical industries also rely on the pump industry for the equipment they need to manufacture and distribute their products, increasing the demand for pumps, valves and other items.
To respond to this increased demand effectively, companies in the pump industry must do everything they can to increase revenue and reduce their expenses. One way to reduce expenses without cutting back on staff or giving up on new projects is to do a better job managing your inventory. Firms in the pump industry can also reduce their expenses by making safety a priority, especially when it comes to maintaining and repairing equipment. Read on to learn more about how durable data plates can help you prevent financial losses and keep your employees safe.
What Are Metal Data Plates?
Custom data plates are typically used to comply with government safety regulations, but they’re also useful for tracking company assets. In the pump industry, data plates are especially useful for maintaining safety during inspections. Each plate contains important information about each piece of equipment, ensuring employees know how to conduct an inspection safely.
For example, data plates are often used to let operators and repair technicians know they’ll be working on high-voltage equipment or equipment that uses some type of refrigerant. When operators and maintenance professionals have this information ahead of time, they can take adequate safety precautions before beginning an inspection or repair.
Data plates may contain any of the following:
- Electrical rating
- Bar codes
- Load capacity
- Minimum or maximum temperatures
- Serial numbers
- Maximum pressure
- Device number
- Asset number
How Are Custom Data Plates Marked?
Data plates are only useful if they contain the information your company needs to track inventory and keep employees safe. To ensure a high level of durability, these plates are usually marked via photo anodizing or embossing. Photo anodizing embeds each design under a protective layer, making it easy to produce custom designs for a wide variety of applications. Although photo anodized data plates can be used indoors or outdoors, they’re especially helpful for outdoor applications, as they retain their durability even after long-term exposure to extreme weather conditions.
Embossing involves stamping data into a piece of metal, which leaves a raised impression in each tag. Embossed tags are well-suited to harsh industrial conditions, as each design is raised, allowing it to remain legible even if it gets paint, water or another substance on it.
Applications for Metal Data Plates
Data plates have several applications in the pump industry. These are a few of the most common.
Inventory Management
Good inventory management keeps costs down and makes it easier to fill orders, allowing your company to maximize its profit margin. Metal Marker Manufacturing can customize your data plates with serial numbers, asset numbers, product descriptions and any other data you need to track your firm’s assets and prevent significant losses. Using metal data plates to track assets has several key benefits for firms in the pump industry:
- If you know exactly what you have on hand, you won’t waste money ordering items you already have in stock.
- Careful tracking ensures all inventory reports are accurate, making it easier for executives and department managers to make data-driven business decisions.
- If you don’t track your assets carefully, it’s difficult to notice when something is missing. Using metal data plates for asset management makes it easier to spot early losses before they hurt your company’s reputation or its bottom line.
- End-of-year inventory is much easier if your employees know what they’re looking for and where it should be.
Overall, one of the main benefits of using custom data plates is that maintenance and repair personnel will know exactly what you have on hand, allowing them to do a better job adhering to recommended maintenance and part replacement schedules.
Employee Training
Employee training is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, but you can’t afford to skimp on it; otherwise, employees may make costly mistakes that put your firm’s reputation at risk. If you apply custom data plates to all key parts and equipment, employees with maintenance and repair responsibilities will have the information they need to choose the right tools for the job. Displaying information about each piece of equipment also eliminates the need for maintenance and repair personnel to hunt down paper manuals, reducing the amount of time it takes to perform needed updates.
Safety Management
The safety-related benefits of custom data plates can’t be overstated. Employees in the pump industry deal with a wide variety of hazardous equipment, increasing the risk for occupational accidents and injuries. One way to reduce the risk is to make sure your employees have immediate access to safety-related information. We can print a custom safety tag for any piece of equipment, making it possible to alert maintenance and repair personnel to electrical hazards, maximum pressure warnings and other information they need to protect themselves.
You can even order custom data plates with safety-related instructions printed right on them. For example, if your firm uses any equipment with lasers in it, you can affix a data plate that says “DANGER: AVOID DIRECT EXPOSURE TO BEAM.” You can also purchase custom data plates printed with information about what type of personal protective equipment is required when repairing or maintaining each machine.
Metal Marker Manufacturing offers a wide variety of custom identification products, including metal data plates for the pump industry. Call (800) 428-0095 or visit our website to learn more about how custom metal tags can help you reduce your expenses and protect your employees against serious injuries.