Case Studies

The customer had optimized equipment and operational workflow across their facility in Texas, but sought a way to extend tool life in a threading application, further decrease coolant consumption, and save on overall costs. Their previous cutting fluid suffered from a high consumption rate, so the customer decided to run a short trial in one of their eight CNC machines to find a suitable replacement.

The customer decided to conduct a trial of CoolPAK ™ S5406, a superior semisynthetic cutting fluid with excellent cooling ability and mechanical lubricity. The coolant is optimized for high-volume production on steels and other ferrous and nonferrous materials. The formula contains no nitrites, phenols, triazines, or sulfurized additives and is especially prized for its low mist and low residue.

Though CoolPAK cost more than the previous cutting fluid, lower consumption and increased productivity and tool life created drastic savings throughout the length of the trial. After switching to CoolPAK, the customer cut their number of major cleanouts per year from three to one. While the previous coolant required a 15% concentration in the sump to be effective and had a makeup concentration of 5%, CoolPAK needed only half that amount to achieve optimal performance, dramatically reducing coolant consumption.

Over time, this contributed to significant savings. With the previous coolant, the customer used 1,400 gallons of makeup concentrate per year while CoolPAK needed only 560. As a result, the customer reduced their cost of coolant concentrate per year from $16,800 to just $8,960. Combining total coolant spend, disposal costs, and overhead from cleanouts, the previous cutting fluid cost a total of $24,720 per year. The total cost of ownership for CoolPAK was less than half that at only $11,184, resulting in $13,536 in savings per year on coolant alone.

CoolPAK created even more dramatic savings in terms of tool life. The total tool cost while using the previous solution was $42,000 per year. After switching to CoolPAK, tool life extended enough to drop tooling spend to just $9,545, for $32,455 in savings. After switching all eight CNC machines to CoolPAK, Master Fluid Solutions^® reps estimated combined coolant and tooling costs would drop from $168,960 to $79,872 for a total annual savings of $89,088.