BlendSave is LIAD’s patented automated resin management and blending system. It is a central system that provides optimal factory management of multi-ingredients and multi-processing machines combinations for all plastic manufacturing plants.
BlendSave receives the materials from silos, prepares the batches by weighing the ingredients in parallel, distributes them to the production machines and mixes them on the machines’ throat (see Figure 1 below).
Traditional gravimetric batch blenders receive the materials from silos through a manifold, weigh the components in serial order in one weighing hopper, and then mix them in a mixer and discharge the mixture to the production machine (see Figure 2).
In the end, both BlendSave and traditional gravimetric batch blenders serve the same purpose – weighing and mixing components prior to processing.
Figure 1: LIAD’s BlendSave
Figure 2: Batch blenders on the machine’s throat
BlendSave weighs raw materials in parallel and has up to 50 weighing channels. Each production machine is linked to a mixture buffer at the bottom of the BlendSave, up to 50 mixture buffers. From the mixture buffer the entire batch is conveyed to the mixer on the specific production machine. A central control system manages the scheduling of the batch preparation for the various machines. BlendSave unique solution prevents contamination between batches, as they all are weighed separately and mixed on the production machine.
The amount of ingredients in the recipe
Batch blender uses only a few (usually up to 4) ingredients, while BlendSave can use dozens of ingredients to create enriched recipes.
The large amount of ingredients in the BlendSave provides the manufacturer a full flexibility in adding different material grades. Cheaper grades in certain amount can lead to significant cost saving.
Change of ingredients in the recipe
There is nothing easier than to add or to remove an ingredient in a recipe in BlendSave. The operators use a PC application from where they choose from the numerous of ingredients that the system has. With batch blender a long procedure of emptying, cleaning and charging channel is required, while the production machine must be down.
The production machine size
Large production machines are high, as well as batch blenders for those large machines. Because of that, mounting a large batch blender on a large machine can be very challenging and unsafe. On the other hand, when using BlendSave only a mixer is mounted on the production machine.
Investment on factory evolving
When a BlendSave is required to serve a new machine, we only need a mixer and a single vacuum loader with a conveyor pipe from the BlendSave to the new machine, while working with batch blenders requires a complete new batch blender and vacuum loaders and pipes for each of the raw materials.
Prevention of human mistake
The more human is involved , the higher is the chance to have mistakes. Using the same raw materials with several batch blenders requires a complicated manual manifold station. For the long term connecting a wrong raw material to a batch blender is probably inevitable, and that leads to products reject or even worse mass recall. With BlendSave the high price of human mistakes is avoided as the entire distribution process is fully automated.
Suitable for large and small factories and any amount of materials used
As the number of machines in the factory increases the advantages of BlendSave increase as well. One BlendSave can serve up to 50 machines with a total capacity of up to 3 tons per hour.
In the similar manner, as the amount of materials in the plant increases the advantage of BlendSave increases as well. One BlendSave can manage up to 50 different raw materials.
Total cost
The cost is one of the most important things. When calculating the total cost one should take into account that each batch blenders should be equipped with several vacuum receivers, and the complexity of the piping system.
In the bottom line, the total cost of one BlendSave system is less than the total cost of ten batch blenders.
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