T50-Y Model Turbine Air Starter with Integrated Relay Valve

Reasons to Choose Better Engine Air Starters... from TDI.

Put simply, an engine or package that starts first time, every time, is perceived as more reliable. This adds value to your brand and profits to your statement.

Choosing TDI Improves the Engine Starting System
A Better Starting System Improves the Engine
Better Starting Provides Greater Reliability
Greater Reliability Strengthens Your Brand Image
A Stronger Brand & More Options Mean Greater Profits

Facts & FAQs for OEMs

How can choosing TDI starters(or just better air starters), make a difference?

Commissioning a new engine package takes its toll on the starting system.
Often, the first negative experience a customer may have with your engine will be a failed air starter – perhaps even several times within the first year.
What if the OEM made a choice that meant the first air starter lasted not only beyond the warranty, but into the third, fourth, or even fifth year of service?
OEMs who eliminate this “weak link” in customers’ brand experiences gain a competitive advantage over those who do not.

What are the Top 10 most common air starting problems to your customers?

Hard starting engines due to poor fuel quality, lax maintenance or improper tuning
Sites with poor quality starting air (dirty & wet)
Sites with insufficient starting air volumes due to air system under-sizing, facility expansion, changing regulations
Sites who do not perform proper or timely starter maintenance
Sites requiring NFPA 110 compliance...
Sites requiring NFPA 20 compliance
Other regulatory compliances (EPA, OSHA, etc…)
Needs to increase engine utilization
Need to reduce any downtime (scheduled or un-scheduled
Customers’ needs to streamline operating procedures

Look in your starter operating manuals and they will describe the operation conditions necessary for successful operation of the starter . . .
There is always plenty of clean, dry starting air on tap
Starter lubricators are kept full
Air starters run for only the few seconds
Engines are perfectly tuned
Engines running only on high quality fuel.
Unfortunately, these conditions only exist in the starter operating manual – not the real world. Which is why breakdowns and starter failures are common first year experiences. The good news is that there is a starter that can persevere through all of these common operating conditions.
If these problems really do exist, why don’t OEMs see more warranty claims related to failed air starters?
Read the stipulations in the starter manual and you will see why customers feel as though they do not have a chance making a claim. Here’s why most customers don’t bother making warranty claims.

OEMs and customers often take a “failure to use as directed” approach to starter problems.
Manufacturers of lesser starters, write starter operating procedures that compensate for the outdated starter technology they use… and allow them to dodge starter warranty claims.
When air starter fails, even during the warranty period, customers often blame themselves and very rarely consider this incident warrantable.
Since most starter failures occur in ‘real-time” (while facing expensive downtime), plunking down more cash for a replacement starter is quick, seems inexpensive and so becomes acceptable.
Once the crisis is over, doing warranty “paperwork” is soon forgotten.

While the problem may be solved without cost or warranty claim to the manufacturer, the customer’s disappointment and bad experience with the engine brand’s reliability becomes the real cost.
Are customers diligent regarding air starter selection, system specifications and acceptance… and if not, why should an OEM be concerned?

The starter is an all or nothing short-term proposition… either the engine starts, or it doesn’t. Therefore, users may ignore the starter until it stops working.
End users rarely track “starter usage” as a separate line item in expense budgets or even maintenance logs… so starter longevity is often a mystery to upper level managers.
Starter replacements are often “factored in” as a normal cost of operating the equipment or the facility… viewed simply as “incidental parts” expenses.”
Without customer feedback in this regard, OEMs rarely “get around” to learning if, why and how they might eliminate many customers’ starting system challenges.
OEMs that do acknowledge and tackle these challenges gain a competitive advantage on those who do not.

The reality is that because the starter is a lower cost component, it often goes under the radar as part of a large engine purchase. Unfortunately, when this “lesser component” causes big, expensive downtime, it results in a bad customer experience with your engine brand. OEMs that are tackling these challenges are gaining a competitive advantage over those who are not.
Are air starters and air starting systems viewed in the same way as other engine sub-systems by Engine Manufacturers?

Starters are perhaps the most overlooked accessory on the engine. Why?
Other engine systems, electronics, fuel, ignition, cooling, exhaust & lubrication systems must meet rigorous demands on the equipment, every running hour… 24/7.
By contrast, the engine’s starting system may only be used a few minutes a month. In fact, as engine run time (utilization) increases, starter utilization decreases!
Therefore, air starters are too often selected to meet “typical” or minimal requirements, or by untrained decision makers… based solely on a “commodity” price comparisons.
Reducing costs takes precedent over adding value, because OEMs may not know how to market a superior starting system to their customers.

Regardless of why things happen, this fact remains: the engine that starts more reliably, is perceived as being more reliable.
In the field, are there many end user customers replacing the manufacturer’s “standard” air starter offerings, with TDI starters? If so, why?

YES. TDI is the #1 specified replacement turbine air starter – replacing both vane and other turbine starter brands.
Why? TDI turbine air starter technology is far superior to older vane-type air starters that are still embedded in the specifications at many OEMs.
TDI TurboTwin is the best and biggest selling turbine powered air starter, period. Ask customers who have tried them and now insist on TDI.
Because TDI invented turbine powered air starters. Its all we do.
Every day, people responsible for operating equipment on demand, dependably and while meeting an increasing number of industry regulations, are quickly figuring out that TDI starters work best.
These same people replace their original (OEM supplied) air starters with TDI starters… more often than all other brands combined.

If your customers are already replacing your current OEM starter with TDI TurboTwin, why not offer them the choice to do it when they buy the engine? It’s something they would appreciate and find value in.
If these challenges exist, why don’t OEM’s give more time and thought to the selection of air starters and the subsequent design of more innovative air starting systems?

There can be an exponential effect of improving the engine’s fuel system, which results in recurring savings over the life of the engine (i.e. lower fuel consumption), which is easily measurable. These types of changes get more attention and resources for consideration.
By contrast, the additional benefits provided by a well engineered starting system or just better starters, are often difficult to measure or quantify.
In any good process driven company, what cannot be measured does not exist… or at the very least, cannot garner development resources.
Lack of knowledge or an awareness of what is possible.

While the benefits of a more reliable start system may be hard to measure, it is an issue your customers can give you some very measured feedback on.

Are other OEMs being influenced by the thousands of users who have discovered TDI?

Yes. Around the world more and more OEMs and equipment packagers are choosing TDI starters too.
Increased industry competition means it is essential to be more responsive to your customers changing needs… which is exactly what TDI helps OEMs do.

What about cost? Can incorporating TDI starters into my engine specifications earn my company increased revenues & extra profits.

Yes, because sound starting system design & selection = reduced costs of ownership for your customer & Greater Customer Satisfaction
Demonstrating & offering added value, for customers who need it, allows you to add more revenue & greater profits to your engine & equipment lines

Where do I get started?
You don’t have to be an expert. Get a crash course on overall air starting system function & design and learn how to make the best starter selections for your applications by contacting TDI.

For more information please contact:

Chuck DiPasquale - National Accounts Sales Manager
Ph: 412-381-8181
Fx: 412-381-4834
charles.dipasquale@ge.com