For facilities that depend on reverse osmosis/deionized (RO/DI) water systems, maintaining uninterrupted operation is critical to production. If your operations should go down, what is your backup plan? And does it fit into to your validation process?
Having a Plan B in place is absolutely essential should an unplanned emergency strike your operations. But before we get to plan B, let’s take a closer look at RO/DI water applications and implementation.
For hospitals, biotech companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, blenders or any other facility that needs purified water for their production, deionized water is a necessity.
It can reduce operating costs, increase ROI, achieve compliance with industry standards, and reduce down time.
Be proactive, not reactive
Because deionized water processes are essential, safeguarding performance continuity really needs to be an integral part of your system, not an afterthought.
With no emergency system in place, your business is left scrambling to fix the problem at the time of occurrence. Being inoperative until a service provider becomes available could be devastating to your business’ bottom line.
Planning for these worst-case scenarios is the best insurance plan of which a company can invest.
For instance, if you don’t have a backup system in place and your pump fails, you may end up waiting between two-four weeks while a new one is being manufactured.
That’s because many pump manufacturers no longer stock surplus inventory.
Working with a provider who stocks the pumps, membranes, UV components and other critical parts could be the difference from getting back up in hours versus weeks.
Putting Together a Contingency Plan
If your water system goes down, do you have a contingency plan designed to get you back up and running fast? If not, you are putting your operations in a very vulnerable position – one that has huge long-term implications.
Here are the safeguards that need to be in place if you want to ensure 100% bacteria-free water in the event of an emergency situation:
1. Portable exchange DI tanks
Portable exchange DI tanks need to be available for quick integration, as well as all the requisite membranes, pumps and other parts. Unlike less sterile mobile systems, portable exchange DI tanks that are produced at an FDA registered facility are designed to deliver bacteria-free water.
2. Support crew
You need a provider with a robust support infrastructure – one that can dispatch a field engineer and team of specialists to your facility fast.
3. Inventory availability
Unless you stay on top of your parts inventory and identify the items in the system with long lead times you could be down longer than you can afford. A discussion with your service provider will help identify what replacement parts have longer lead times and when additional DI tanks will be needed.
4. Emergency Solutions
If your reverse osmosis system should fail, in most cases your provider should be able to get you back up and running within 24 hours.
This means choosing a provider who has the capabilities to handle emergencies – innovative solutions like single-system exclusive DI canisters and redundant pumps. Things that keep you in the driver’s seat, and ahead of any potential system failure.
When thinking about your operations, you need to know how much downtime is permissible, and you need a partner who can develop and facilitate a recovery plan that aligns with your facility’s tolerability.
Make sure you take these steps today to prevent tomorrow’s emergency situation from affecting your bottom line.
We’ll do more than give you a quote—we’ll visit your site to analyze your industrial water needs.
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