Vacuum Pump Services Corporation may be new, but only in name. The talent and expertise behind its doors span decades.
“We have many years of experience,” said VPS President Bob Sandora. “A combined 100-plus years of experience. Because we’ve been in the vacuum business for so long, we know what these pumps are capable of doing and what abuse they can and cannot take.”
He said VPS affiliate company Solar Atmospheres has more than a hundred pumps in operation every day.
“Initially we started out just repairing our own pumps,” Sandora said. “As time went on, we saw an opportunity to make our expertise available to other users of vacuum pumps.”
Extensive Services
VPS does pump rebuilds, repairs, and reconditioning. It offers helium mass spectrometer leak checking services, system troubleshooting, and onsite consultations as well as new equipment and spare parts for sale.
All that expertise doesn’t mean as much without a positive customer experience, and Sandora names customer service as one of his highest priorities.
“We pride ourselves in customer service,” he said. “If a customer calls me today, he has an answer today — not tomorrow, not next week. I want to get back to them the same day that they contact us.”
Above and Beyond
Customer service sometimes goes above and beyond even extraordinary promptness, according to Sandora. It extends to “going the extra mile” in other ways for a customer when called for.
VPS is currently working on two 300 CFM vacuum pumps, two 150 CFM vacuum pumps, and a 35-inch diffusion pump. In addition to those projects, there are seven rotary vane pumps on schedule to be rebuilt.
“We get them in, break them down, clean them up, and get them out the door,” Sandora said.
Prepping a Job
When a job comes in, a simple process gets the job started and finished, according to Sandora.
“You call us with a pump that needs repair,” he said. “We issue you an RMA number. The pump comes to us, and we do a complete evaluation at no charge. We then send that evaluation back to the customer with an estimate for the repair. If they are OK with the price, they issue a PO. We do what needs to be done to get that pump back online, and get it back to the customer as quickly as possible.”
“Vacuum Pump Services is part of the Solar Atmospheres family of companies,” Sandora said. “We’ve been in the heat-treating business for 30-plus years. Since the expertise already existed with in-house pump repairs, it seemed like a natural progression to extend those services beyond the company, so we started reaching out to our competitors and other end users, and continued on from there.”
For affiliate company Solar Atmospheres, VPS rebuilds and repairs heavy duty Stokes-type vacuum roughing pumps and Roots-type vacuum blowers, performing those services at a reasonable cost as quickly as possible, according to Sandora.
Pump repair and the Future
Sandora said he thinks the future of pump repair is strong despite a changing landscape in the industry.
“Dry pumps are on the scene,” he said. “The dry pump definitely has its place in the industry, but commercial heat treaters such as we are don’t make widgets. Every process we do is different — so the rotary piston pumps and the rotary vane pumps are not going away. They’ve been around for 50-plus years, and I expect that they’ll be around for another 50. That’s what we specialize in.”
For more information: vacpumpservices.com