John Crane reduces lithium producer seal costs by 48%

John Crane, a Smiths Group plc company, has reduced annual mechanical seal expenditures by 48% for a major global producer of battery-grade lithium through its Managed Reliability Program.

In the first year of implementation, the program reduced seal consumption by 37% and increased the Mean Time Between Repair (MTBR) by 62% across 362 pumps. Specifically, annual seal consumption dropped from 427 to 267 units, while the average interval between repairs rose from 10.2 to 16.5 months.

These improvements reverse a five-year trend of declining performance where seal consumption had doubled and annual costs had exceeded USD 1.2 million. To achieve these results, John Crane implemented on-site reliability engineering, digital failure traceability, and application-specific engineering reviews. The initiative also included optimized material selection, improved seal support systems, and technical training for maintenance and operations personnel.