Certain industrial processes require challenging combinations of flow rate and pressure, which cannot be achieved using a single pump. In these cases, it might be necessary to use multiple pumps arranged either in series or in parallel. Redundancy in the system is another common reason to advocate the use of multiple pumps.

The hydraulic loop and the control of the system becomes increasingly more complex with the number of elements involved, and it is therefore critical to deeply understand and estimate the impact of multiple pumps on the overall process performance.