As part of our Expert Series, Global Pumps are interviewing the talented designers and manufacturers behind some of our leading pump brands. In this interview, we chatted with Duncan Brown, Product Manager from Verderflex. Check out the interview below or read the transcript to learn more….
Duncan: My name is Duncan Brown, and I am the International Product Manager for Verder’s range of Peristaltic Hose Pumps.
Q: How did you develop the technology for the Verderflex Peristaltic Hose Pump range?
Duncan: Verderflex is a brand name of Verder, which is owned by a Dutch family. Verder started as an industrial pump distributor and eventually saw a market niche appearing for a range of innovative products. During this time, Verder grew from being a distributor into a worldwide pump manufacturer. We realised there was a growing market for peristaltic pumps and Verder decided it had to penetrate the market as a manufacturer to control the product from cradle to grave. This new strategy would enable Verder to innovate a new, competitive pump.
Today, a typical development cycle involves identifying the market requirement - what the pump needs to do, what it needs to deliver and most importantly, what benefits will be of value to the customers. Every new product enters the market, Verder try and innovate the technology, manufacturing and user experience. At the end of the day, users want to pump the liquid from A to B, the better we can make that experience, the better it is for the customer.
In terms of how we establish market requirements, we talk to a wide range of partners. For example, we have partners like Global Pumps in Australia who we have worked with for many years and ask for input. We also reach out to Verder manufacturers around the world, particularly in the mining, wastewater and food and beverage industries. From these discussions we clarify what the pump has to do and what it should not do, and a design is produced. We construct it, test it and if we like it, we bring it to market. If there’s things we do not like, we’ll go through a design reiteration.
Q: Can you describe the difference between a peristaltic and tube pump? What variation is more popular? Why?
Duncan: If we look at the two technologies today, we have the hose pump which uses a reinforced rubber hose with a nylon mesh inner, which helps it withstand greater pressures and can handle up to 16 bar. Of this variety, our most popular product is the Dura series. The Dura is a second-generation hose pump developed in 2006, so it learns everything from the VF series, which was introduced into the market in the 90’s.
If you look at our tube pumps, they are generally low flow and low pressure. These tube pumps use an ordinary reinforced tube, and typically dose a few milliliters a minute. The most popular in that category are the Verderflex Rapide, an industrial-style tube pump. Or we have the very sophisticated, advance Vantage 5000 which has a touch screen display and can be programmed directly at the site of the pump, with all decisions saved in the pump’s memory. Recently, Verderflex supplied a number of these Vantage 5000 tube pumps to a chemical manufacturer in France who is bottling hand sanitizer, at about 100 bottles a minute.
Q: What makes the range of Peristaltic Hose Pumps from Verderflex different from competitors?
Duncan: Our fundamental difference is that we focus on what the user wants. Rather than “here’s our technology, use it”, we’ve looked and said, “how can we improve our technology”.
The first requirement in a hose pump is the hose life. So Verderflex have what is accepted as being the best hose on the market. It is designed to maximise fatigue strength which increases the hose life compared to anything else on the market. This ensures the customer does not need to change the hose as often - which means fewer servicing intervals, less consumption of spare parts and lowers the overall operating costs.
We have also designed the hose clamping mechanism. This makes it [changing the hose] very simple, there are no exposed bolts, and everything is contained inside the pump.
In the case of tube pumps, changing the tube is a relatively simple process but programming the pump is very complex. Market leading competitor products demand that consumers remember which button to press to operate the pump. We [Verder] have looked at the technology out there which we can implement in a touch-screen display - like what we use on icon display. Thanks to this, most customers pick the pump up and with a few clicks or presses, they have programmed it. This focus on innovation has made our tube pumps easy to use.
So, I think it’s these points that highlight the differentiating differences between Verder and competitor pump products.
On another note, we work very hard to ensure our partners in any country know how to operate and understand our technology. This ensures they can provide very good service.
Want to discover the Verder products? Global Pumps are proud distributors of the Verderair and Verderflex range, encompassing air operated diaphragm pumps and peristaltic hose and tube pumps. If you’d like to learn more about these products, visit our website, or get in touch with one of our friendly team members.
