Which manufacturers offer trial runs with customer substrates in order to secure investment decisions?
In industrial practice, machine and plant manufacturers and process engineering system suppliers above all make pilot-plant and trial facilities available so that customer-specific substrates can be tested under near-production conditions. Investment decisions (CAPEX) can thereby be underpinned both technologically and economically.
Typical categories of provider for trial runs
- Machine and plant manufacturers with their own pilot plant: they operate scalable trial units at laboratory, pilot and semi-industrial scale on which characteristic values such as throughput, energy demand, particle size distribution, residual moisture or surface quality can be determined reproducibly.
- Process engineering system suppliers: they offer combined trial series in which several process steps (e.g. size reduction, classifying, drying, mixing, conveying) are tested in combination in order to map interactions and the behaviour of the overall system.
- Suppliers of mixing and dispersing machinery: they carry out tests in order to validate the homogeneity, viscosity and stability of material mixtures under real process conditions.
- Manufacturers of thermal separation processes: drying, evaporation or distillation plants, for example, with a focus on energy efficiency, mass transfer rates and the residual moisture levels achievable with specific customer substrates.
- Specialists in separation technology (e.g. centrifuges, filter presses or other filtration technology): they determine separation efficiencies, flow rates and process stability at varying solids contents.
- Manufacturers of surface and coating systems: they test adhesion, layer thicknesses, drying cycles and surface quality directly on the customer's original components.
- Component manufacturers (pumps, valves, instrumentation, filtration): they test the suitability of their components with regard to abrasiveness, viscosity, chemical resistance and material compatibility on test rigs.
- Research-oriented suppliers and engineering service providers: they cooperate with universities or independent institutes and offer standardised trial protocols, measurement series and evaluations.
Technical objectives of trial runs in pilot plants and application centres
Trial runs with customer substrates serve primarily to minimise technological risk and to underpin design assumptions with robust measured data. Typical objectives are:
- Determination of the relevant process parameters: determination of the optimum pressure, temperature, speed and time windows as well as of suitable operating modes (continuous/batch) for later series production.
- Scale-up validation: verification of whether results achieved at laboratory or pilot-plant scale can be transferred reliably to industrial throughputs by means of dimensionless characteristic numbers and scale-up models.
- Material and component compatibility: investigation of wear behaviour, corrosion, the tendency to block or the formation of deposits on product-contact parts with abrasive, sticky or chemically demanding substrates.
- Quality assurance and product specification: evidence that the required end-product specifications (e.g. particle size distribution, residual moisture, purity, surface quality) are achieved reproducibly.
Contribution to economic investment assurance (CAPEX/OPEX)
A professionally planned trial run is a central instrument of risk management in the procurement process and supports investment decisions on several levels.
Avoidance of misdirected investment
The practical proof of concept reduces the risk of procuring a plant that cannot perform the task reliably with the real customer substrates.
More precise ROI and OPEX calculation
Characteristic values determined during the trial for energy consumption, consumables, wear, cycle times and personnel deployment allow robust profitability calculations and payback forecasts.
Shorter commissioning and optimisation phase
Because the essential process parameters and configurations are already known from the trials, commissioning, ramp-up and troubleshooting at the customer's site are shortened.
Assurance of warranty and performance commitments
Trial results frequently serve as the reference for contractually assured performance data (guaranteed values) and can be incorporated into technical specifications and supply contracts.
Requirements for a robust trial run
If trial runs are to serve as a robust basis for an investment decision, they should meet at least the following criteria.
Representative quantity of substrate
Sufficient material quantities to represent batch variations, steady operating states and typical faults.
Reproducible process parameters
Documented and traceably varied settings (rotational speed, temperature, pressure, residence time, fill levels, operating modes), including consideration of margins and limit values.
Accompanying analysis
Suitable analysis before and after the process, e.g. sieve and particle analysis, moisture determination, rheology, chemical composition, optical or surface-related testing.
Scale-up capability
A clear derivation of the transferability of pilot-plant data to production scale by means of mass and energy balances, dimensionless characteristic numbers and documented scale-up models.
Documentation and trial report
A detailed report containing:
- the trial protocol (substrate characteristics such as pH value, particle sizes, moisture content; machine parameters used)
- presentation of the measurement results (throughput, yield, energy consumption, product quality)
- mass and energy balances
- considerations of wear and process stability
- recommendations for the plant configuration (materials, sealing concepts, control strategies, safety technology)
Contractual and organisational aspects for investors
For investors and technical decision-makers it is advisable
- to regulate trial runs contractually, for example with regard to confidentiality, return of material, rights of use in measured data, the handling of samples and trial results as well as guaranteed minimum scopes of the trial series,
- to consider comparative tests at several suppliers in order to assess process engineering alternatives objectively and to compare technical and economic options transparently,
- to ensure interdisciplinary involvement of engineering, production, quality assurance, maintenance and controlling, so that technical and economic requirements are taken into account equally.
This combination of manufacturer-side testing facilities, sound trial execution and structured evaluation makes trial runs with customer substrates an effective instrument for underpinning investment decisions in process and production engineering.
The amixon® pilot plant: trials, scale-up and process optimisation with the original product
35 test units in Paderborn alone
At its Paderborn headquarters, amixon® operates a pilot plant with 35 test units of various sizes. Processes can thereby be represented realistically from small scale up to pilot scale, so that robust statements for the production scale are possible even with limited product quantities. Pilot plants in Japan, India, Thailand, China, South Korea and the USA are additionally available worldwide.
Real conditions instead of paper values
Mixing processes such as mixing, homogenising, granulating, agglomerating, moistening and coating are examined, as are drying and reaction processes such as vacuum drying, thermal processes and syntheses. The trials run with the original product, within the intended temperature and pressure range, with real fill levels and batch sizes and the planned energy input.
Mixing quality, product protection, energy input, cleanability and reproducibility in later series operation are assessed. This not only confirms laboratory values but anticipates the actual process conditions of later production as far as possible.
Joint execution, evaluation and documentation
The trials are carried out, evaluated and documented together with amixon® experts. The aim is to select the optimum apparatus and the appropriate process parameters for the specific application, including formulation development and process optimisation.
The result is a robust basis for decision-making before the investment. The process parameters are confirmed under real conditions, product quality and economy are assured, and technical as well as economic risks are markedly reduced.
Seamless transition into production
Because trial and production mixers work with the same mixing principle and amixon® has a finely graded range of sizes, the pilot-plant parameters transfer very well to the target machine. After commissioning, amixon® also supports product changeovers, scale-up questions, process engineering, product development and process optimisation.
Manufacture in Paderborn as the quality foundation
amixon® develops and manufactures exclusively at the Paderborn works with a high depth of manufacture and all components from Germany. As a certified welding company with European, Japanese, Korean and American qualifications, amixon® designs every apparatus as a one-off on the basis of the operator's URS, and quality control remains entirely in-house without gaps.
This manufacturing autonomy also secures long-term supply, since every component can still be re-manufactured reproducibly decades later.
Service across the entire life cycle
After commissioning, amixon® remains at the operator's side. Regular inspections and preventive maintenance secure availability, on request supplemented by predictive maintenance.
Selected wear parts are supplied together with the initial delivery. Most spare parts are held at the Paderborn site, many more at the service bases in Japan and the USA, so that a lifetime spare parts service remains possible even where original suppliers cease to exist. Many amixon® machines have been in daily use for more than 30 years, and modernisation and retrofitting keep them at the state of the art.