Marcelino is a jack-of-all trades. As well as serving clients at the counter, he is also seen on the CNCs machining seals or working in the polyurethane department. This week we catch up with him to hear some interesting sealing stories and find out his favourite aspects of the job as Sealing Sales Manager at Oz Seals Queensland. It was also his 25th birthday this week!

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned so far about the role of seals in pumps?

There’s a vast variety of seals for slurry pumps, which use packings rather than mechanical seals. There’s also the food processing plants where they have pumps for fluid transfer, including augers, mixers and agitators.

In what way could seals be useful to the food processing industry?

We had for example, a client who had a problem with the meat escaping out of the pump and into the electrical motor behind it, so we created an encapsulated packing chamber with an oil seal to hold the grease back in the bearing and protect the food. That way it sealed the meat off from coming towards the actual motor itself and it worked.

We mainly use PTFE, EPDM and food grade Silicon for these sorts of applications, as well as food grade pure PTFE packings.

What’s your favourite aspect of working at Oz Seals?

I enjoy learning new things. There’s always new clients coming in which have problem areas. I would say my favourite aspect would be learning what the problem areas are, how to solve it and recommending the best seal to solve that application. The more we know and understand the clients’ sealing requirements, the more we can assist in sealing the application.

What is one thing that many people aren’t aware of when doing maintenance and when replacing seals on agricultural equipment?

In some cases, our clients are unaware of what kind of seal they are after, or even what the temperature, pressure rating or chemicals coming in contact with the seal. Unless they send a sample in, it can be hard to get the information required but asking the right questions will help. It can sometimes be difficult to know exactly what the right seal is for that application. When people come to us with their problems, even very difficult problems we don’t use the word “no”, we always find the solution.

A great seal supplier should be able to recommend the best seal for the application regardless of what was previously used, because when the seals outlast the expectancy of performance, it can save a business significant downtime costs, not to mention eliminate the headaches caused from using inferior quality product.

What happens if their machine is from a discontinued line or they can’t find the seal from their genuine parts supplier?

Let’s say the genuine part is no longer available on the market or it is difficult to get in if it’s from Europe or somewhere overseas. It may take a lot longer to get in and their downtime is much longer because they’re waiting for seals which won’t be coming for another month. If, for example the client is in the outback, we could make the exact same replica of that seal and it’ll only take less than a week to get to them. By sending a full set of samples we can work out what they need, even if their equipment is discontinued.

What in your opinion are some of the biggest challenges facing the seal industry right now?

Not every supplier knows what the best seal for a certain application is. A great seal supplier should be able to recommend the best seal for the application regardless of what was previously used, because when the seals outlast the expectancy of performance, it can save a business significant downtime costs, not to mention eliminate the headaches caused from using inferior quality product. We stand by that the words “highest quality always pays off”.

What exciting news can you tell us that we can look forward to from Oz Seals?

We are in the middle of developing a land and new building for the company. As we’re a growing, we are also aiming to provide faster delivery by stocking a larger range and manufacturing seals on demand.