Location: USA
Customer: VDM Metals
Industry: Metals Manufacturing
Timeline: 2025
Background
VDM Metals, a leading supplier of high-alloy materials, has been a key player in the U.S. manufacturing industry since the 1970s. With facilities in New Jersey and Nevada, they specialize in serving industries like aerospace, plant construction, and oilfield equipment.
Challenge
In 2025, VDM Metals faced severe power quality challenges at one of its production facilities. The plant's two large 1500 HP, 600V, 2000A motors disrupted power stability, creating frequent voltage sags and spikes throughout the facility. These disturbances severely impacted VDM's newly installed Everett saw machines designed for automated cutting. Although these machines featured integrated power conditioners, the frequency of power fluctuations was causing repeated board-level failures in the VFDs and servo drives.
Solution
To quickly and effectively address these challenges, VDM Metals chose a Comsys active harmonic filter - a PPM300v2-3-A-110/480-UL filter, to stabilize their electrical network. Comsys' active harmonic filter was recommended by Everett Saw due to its proven reliability and efficiency in similar industrial cases.
Results
After the installation of the Comsys ADF filter, VDM Metals saw immediate improvements in power stability. The filter successfully eliminated electrical failures in the machinery, smoothed out power fluctuations, and prevented further damage to sensitive equipment. This resulted in improved uptime, reduced unplanned maintenance, and uninterrupted production.
Sales and technical support is outstanding. Greg Parker, the sales manager, came to our site to commission the unit and extended his stay by a day without cost. Also, they have offered offsite monitoring to ensure the product is performing well. We will be purchasing three of these units for the saws and we are exploring the applications to be placed on DC motors, where the source of the problem is.