A custom hydraulic power unit and overhauled press circuit for a Tampa-area concrete block plant
A family-owned concrete block manufacturer in southwest Hillsborough County, two production lines, with a flagship Besser block press at the heart of the higher-margin line. Founded 1962, second-generation ownership.
Fluid Power
Eaton
The problem
The block press's original 1980s-era hydraulic power unit was running on a heavily-modified 60 hp motor with a patchwork of three different pump generations in series. Cycle time had crept up from 14 seconds nominal to 19 seconds over five years, and the system was running 25 °F over its design oil temperature, accelerating seal wear. The press was the plant's bottleneck. Two failures in 2023 had cost the customer $260,000 in lost production and overtime.
Three quotes from competing distributors had come back at $190,000 to $240,000 for a drop-in replacement unit. None of them addressed the downstream press circuit (manifolds, valve banks, accumulator), which we suspected was at least half the actual cycle-time problem.
“The other distributors quoted us a power unit. Adams quoted us a working press. That's a different conversation.”
What we did
Our engineer spent a day on the press and walked the customer through what the gauges and oil-analysis data were actually saying: the power unit needed replacement, but the manifold downstream was producing 18% pressure drop under load — much of the lost cycle time was there. We quoted a paired solution: a fully custom 75 hp Eaton-pump power unit (sized correctly for the actual press demand, not the original spec) and a redesigned cartridge-valve manifold that eliminated four hose runs and three flange transitions.
We built both in our Tampa shop over six weeks. We staged the entire skid in our shop, ran a 24-hour pressure-and-temperature soak test before delivery, and coordinated install during a planned 4-day mill maintenance window. Total project: $172,000.
The result
Press cycle time came back to 13.2 seconds — better than the original 1980s spec. Oil temperature settled at 12 °F under design. The customer ran the second half of 2024 without an unplanned press stop, the first time since 2018. Adams now handles the customer's quarterly oil sampling and reliability check.
Components used
- Custom 75 hp hydraulic power unit (Adams shop-built)
- Industrial pump assembly Eaton
- Cartridge-valve manifold (Adams shop-built)
- Hydac filtration & breather assembly
- Quarterly oil sampling & reliability service (Adams)
