SIC 3563 Air and Gas Compressors

SIC 3563

This category covers firms primarily engaged in manufacturing air and gas compressors for general industrial use, and non-agricultural spraying and dusting equipment. It does not include manufacturers of refrigeration and air-conditioning compressors, which are classified in SIC 3585: Air-Conditioning and Warm Air Heating Equipment and Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment; pneumatic pumps and motors for fluid power transmission, classified in SIC 3594: Fluid Power Pumps and Motor; agricultural spraying and dusting equipment, classified in SIC 3523: Farm Machinery and Equipment; or laboratory vacuum pumps, classified in SIC 3821: Laboratory Apparatus and Furniture.

NAICS CODE(S)

333912

Air and Gas Compressor Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Although air and gas compressors are vital to scores of commercial and industrial products and activities, compressor manufacturing is a small and mature industry within the industrial machinery sector. Products from this $5 billion industry are used in the chemical industry, steel mills and blast furnaces, energy-related extraction industries, pipelines and well-drilling, and general construction. Despite slow and often cyclical business, several of the industry's top producers have managed to turn a healthy profit, especially on newer technology and aftermarket parts.

In the early 2000s some 311 U.S. companies manufactured air and gas compressors and related devices. They employed almost 19,708 workers, including 10,361 production workers, and had a collective payroll of $887 million, according to statistics released in 2005 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The vast majority of air compressor makers operated small facilities with fewer than 100 employees, but a relatively low number of larger facilities supplied the lion's share of output.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

Historically, manufacturing in this industry has been heavily concentrated; in 1977 more than half the industry's employees worked in the four largest facilities, and 79 percent of all facilities employed fewer than 100 workers. By 1992 this had changed somewhat—while 79 percent of all facilities still employed fewer than 100 workers, diffusion was more evident in the larger firms. The 56 firms that had more than 100 employees accounted for 81 percent of all workers.

The use of compressed air and gas can be divided into three major categories, according to the Compressed Air and Gas Handbook: compressed air and gas for process services, compressed air for power, and compressed air for general industrial applications.

Process services include chemical alterations like combustion, nitrogen fixation, polymerization, hydrogenation, and alkylation, and change of state operations like quenching, drying, and atomization. Products that result from these types of procedures include liquid fuels, plastics, synthetic rubber, ammonia, and fertilizers.

Power uses utilize the potential energy of stored compressed air to directly perform work. The tools and devices powered by compressed air are termed pneumatic. They generally perform more slowly than electric tools but are faster than hydraulic and provide smooth power application. The energy potential can be translated into rotation and torque with the use of rotary air motors, vanes, or air turbines. Reciprocating motion and direct force provide easily controllable presses, clamps, and feeding devices. Air pressure can be used to accelerate a mass such as a pile driver or pavement breaker. Blowguns use the air pressure stream directly to move materials such as chips, debris, and paint. Air can displace fluids, semi-fluids, and solids to drive materials through pipelines. When air and liquid are mixed, the resulting bubbling action provides agitation, mixing, and aeration.

Industrial uses of compressed air include plant maintenance and...