Many UK manufacturers continue to rely on compressed air-driven ejector (Venturi) vacuum pumps to generate vacuum for CNC hold-down applications. Although simple to install, these systems are often highly energy-intensive, place significant demand on site compressors, and become increasingly inefficient and costly as production scales.
This case study demonstrates how a UK CNC plastic machining specialist replaced multiple Venturi vacuum systems with a centralised mechanical claw vacuum system from BECKER UK. By switching from compressed air generation to energy-efficient mechanical vacuum pumps, the company significantly reduced electricity consumption, lowered maintenance costs, and achieved a return on investment in under two years.
As a leading supplier of vacuum pumps, compressors and centralised vacuum systems across the UK, BECKER works with manufacturers in a wide range of industries to optimise vacuum performance, improve energy efficiency, and ensure systems are correctly specified for long-term operational demands. This project highlights the importance of selecting the right vacuum technology, not only for performance, but for sustainability and cost control.
Our customer is a UK-based contract manufacturer specialising in precision CNC machining of plastics. They also manufacture high-accuracy diffusion-bonded manifolds for:
Vacuum systems are critical to their operation. They use vacuum hold-down systems to securely position plastic plates and fixtures during CNC machining, ensuring precision and repeatability.
Originally, the company generated vacuum using compressed air-driven Venturi ejector pumps installed across multiple CNC machines. While effective at producing vacuum locally, ejector vacuum pumps:
As the company expanded and added more CNC machines, the number of Venturi systems increased, significantly raising compressed air demand and overall energy consumption. With UK industrial energy prices rising, the business needed a more energy-efficient vacuum solution.
Our customer approached us to help them reduce their energy consumption and maintenance costs.
Ejector vacuum pumps operate using compressed air to generate vacuum via the Venturi principle. However, compressed air is one of the most expensive utilities in manufacturing. Compared with mechanical vacuum pumps, ejector systems typically:
For facilities operating multiple CNC machines, decentralised Venturi systems often become costly and inefficient over time.
BECKER site specialists conducted a full site survey to find the possibility of effectively and efficiently reducing energy consumption whilst also driving down maintenance costs. Our team identified an opportunity to replace the decentralised ejector systems with a centralised vacuum system. Previously, the customer used compressed air via a simple Venturi system to generate a vacuum on the machines, however, as the product mix had changed over the years, the company has required a greater number of vacuum systems across many of their machines.
The new installation included:
Below is a direct comparison between compressed air ejector systems and mechanical claw vacuum pumps:
| Feature | Ejector (Venturi) Vacuum Pump | Mechanical Claw Vacuum Pump |
| Energy Source | Compressed Air | Electricity |
| Energy Efficiency | Low | High |
| Operating Cost | High | Significantly Reduced |
| Maintenance | High Compressor Wear | Low, Oil-Free Design |
|
Scalability |
Limited | Ideal for Centralised Systems |
| Demand Control | None | Variable Speed Control |
| ROI Potential | Low | High (often < 2 years) |
Mechanical vacuum pumps operate directly on electricity and eliminate the need to generate compressed air for vacuum production, dramatically reducing energy consumption.
The centralised system is controlled by BECKER’s Vacuum Plus controller, which automatically adjusts pump speed to match real-time demand, reducing electricity consumption, maintaining stable vacuum levels, lowering equipment wear, and optimising overall system efficiency. Unlike Venturi systems that consume compressed air continuously, the inverter-driven claw pumps only use the energy required at any given time, drastically improving cost efficiency and delivering measurable savings for our partner.
By replacing the ejector vacuum pumps with a centralised mechanical claw vacuum system, the customer achieved:
In addition to cost savings, the new system supports the company’s sustainability objectives by reducing overall energy consumption and associated carbon emissions.
“We worked closely with BECKER in designing how we would do the installation, and we basically agreed we would do it in two phases, and that really helped minimise the disruption to the production facility, and the actual installation itself went very smoothly. From our experience with BECKER, I would definitely recommend them.”
Managing Director
BECKER claw vacuum pumps are oil-free mechanical vacuum pumps designed for continuous industrial operation across UK manufacturing sectors. Key benefits include:
Claw technology offers a robust and scalable alternative to compressed air ejector systems.
If your facility is currently using ejector or Venturi vacuum pumps for CNC machining or manufacturing processes, there may be significant opportunities to reduce energy consumption and operating costs. BECKER UK offers free site surveys and energy audits to assess whether a centralised mechanical vacuum system could deliver measurable savings for your business.
Speak to our UK vacuum system specialists today to find out how much energy your operation could save.
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