“What seemed like a simple one-off request for an established Vokes brand filter rapidly evolved into a significant filtration requirement with a very short lead-in time,” explained Paul Baker, Cleanova’s Sales Director for Europe and Africa. “Fortunately, Cleanova has the agility to accommodate the unexpected and we were able to trace the original filtration design, manufacture the OEM Vokes filters to the quality and quantities required, and overcome some interesting logistical challenges along the way.”
The online enquiry came from a manufacturer in the US, who was working on delivering the gensets for a major crude oil pipeline in Africa. Gensets are often required to operate in remote, harsh environments and draw on various fuel types to operate effectively. Filtration is an essential requirement in preventing equipment damage and downtime by ensuring that the crude oil is clean of contaminants before it enters the generator.
The team at Cleanova responded promptly to the initial enquiry, and relationships were quickly re-established.
“We retain the original designs for our filtration products because we know their reliability means it can be many years before a replacement is required,” said Baker. “In this instance, it enabled us to manufacture multiple original Vokes filtration units that meet the customer’s original specifications precisely.”
The genset manufacturer needed the filtration units within a tight time frame to meet the pipeline operator’s timetable. This was not only challenging from a manufacturing perspective but also raised some delivery challenges. Cleanova was not registered as a preferred supplier and there was no time to process the paperwork. To avoid any logistical delays this might cause, the Cleanova team worked with a buying house so that the necessary paperwork and payment terms could be put in place, enabling them to ship the filtration units on schedule.
The filtration units were shipped in three batches through 2023. They were then installed and tested by the genset manufacturer before the finished items were sent out to Nigeria.
