Pump Market - The Japanese Strategy

• Tsurumi prioritizes immediate availability of its extensive pump range by maintaining large stock supplies in European warehouses, enabling rapid delivery.

• The company's reliability stems from its origins in the Japanese rental market, where durable and easy-to-maintain pumps are essential.

• Technical innovations include forced lubrication systems and moisture-resistant electrical components to enhance pump longevity.

• Modular design allows users to perform many maintenance tasks themselves, supported by extensive online training resources.

When it comes to dewatering pumps, time and reliability are two crucial factors. Japanese manufacturer Tsurumi is firmly committed to both.

When flooding strikes, every hour counts. Whether for civil engineer-ing projects, tunnel construction or flood relief, pump technology must be ready for immediate use. While many manufacturers strug-gle with long delivery times due to order-based production, Tsurumi emphasises that it can deliver almost all pumps immediately from stock, giving users a significant time advantage. This is a remarkable achievement, given the extensive range of around 500 pump models with capacities of up to 30 m³/min and delivery heads of up to 216 m.

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“We have made a virtue out of necessity,” explains Daniel Weippert, Managing Director of Tsurumi Europe GmbH. “As delivery times from our central factory in Japan are long, we need to have sufficient stock. We therefore keep a six-month supply for Europe in our Ant-werp warehouse and a three-month supply for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in Düsseldorf. We keep spare parts in stock according to necessity, not turnover frequency – in other words, we keep the full range in stock.' 

Immediate availability is crucial, especially in construction dewater-ing, in the event of accidents or in time-critical projects in civil engi-neering and specialised applications. Weippert adds: ‘When a pit fills up or heavy rain is forecast, there is no time to wait weeks for sup-plies.’ Deliveries are then made within hours by express direct deliv-ery. This has become a key success factor for Tsurumi.

Origins in the Japanese rental market

The reliability of the pumps with the blue water vortex in their logo is another factor and is deeply rooted in the company's philosophy. A look at Japan, the home market of the company founded in 1924, provides the explanation.

There, the purchase of pumps is the big exception. Instead, rental models dominate. For manufacturers, this means that pump failures are not profitable and jeopardise the business model. Tsurumi has therefore designed its products for maximum service life and ease of maintenance. This is intended to keep the pumps operational for many years. Purchasing customers in Europe benefit from this.

Features such as position-independent forced lubrication, developed by Tsurumi, underline the Japanese company's technical expertise. Thanks to a centrifugal oil distributor, the double mechanical seal is always reliably lubricated – regardless of whether the pump is stand-ing upright or lying down. This in-house development prevents prem-ature wear, especially under changing operating conditions. 

Another common cause of failure is water in the electrical system. Tsurumi's answer to this is to encase each conductor individually in synthetic resin to prevent moisture from creeping into the cable har-ness. Highly wear-resistant materials such as silicon carbide (only diamond is harder) are also used for components subject to heavy wear, such as impellers and seals. These are not only chemically resistant, but also less sensitive to abrasive media such as sand, sludge or bentonite.

Thanks to the modular design with many identical parts, users can also carry out many maintenance tasks themselves – and quickly get the pump up and running again on site. The manufacturer shows how this is done in over 100 training videos on YouTube.