Process equipment Engineering

In many cases, Lahti product portfolio has already solutions available to handle the change, but sometimes there is clear need to create tailor made solution handle some specific area in the process. This is the crucial point where long-term experience in Process Engineering comes to play important role – subject which Lahti Precision is known after working decades in the industry. One important thing to note is that when you choose an experienced supplier  and use the supplier as sparring partner, the first and most obvious solution may not be the most suitable one for the overall process, instead there may arise totally new ideas which changes the game completely.

The following factors, for example, can be said to be relevant for the engineering of process equipment:

• Material properties to handled:
  • bulk density, granulometric composition, hydroscopicity and abrasion properties
  • flammability or dust explosion possibility, which creates an EX- space requirement for the equipment
  • fluidization capability, in other terms if the material is capable to be transported easier when mixed with air
• Capacity requirements and possible future options
• Space requirements for the equipment
• Existing process control system and possible new equipment control system requirements
• Material flow diagram and limitations that may bring to the process
• Weighing equipment as part of the process and their accuracy requirements
• Reporting requirements and connectivity to ERP for example

Of course, the above issues are only part of the specifications used in the design work, but as can be deduced from the list of others, process design is often a much more complex matter than just building a pipe from location A to location B.

Since equipment is usually designed to be in operation even decades to come it is a good idea to consider when choosing a partner who has sufficient expertise to manage the overall process. It is important to realize that supplier should be able to modify and modernize the process in the future as well, since it is quite rare that the production process will remain exactly the same in future.

High level of expertise in material handling is extremely important for Equipment Engineering, and this is one of the cornerstones of Lahti Precision, which we are proud of and also appreciated by our customers. On the other hand, it is very niche area in Engineering and almost impossible to learn by literature, meaning that the nuances are shared and studied together with senior Lahti colleagues. Especially weighing as part of continuous process requires multidisciplinary skills to perform properly. This kind of expertise is usually not available in general engineering offices and because of that, Lahti has been involved in several large scale projects with core process and weighing specific scope of supply.

Different certificates and regulatory requirements, such as EN and OIML- standards and MID- directive are nowadays integrated parts in the Engineering process. They have to be taken into account in the design first place, especially in deliveries where weighing equipment are part of the scope.

All of the above is tied together by integrated automation system which today includes different types of bus techniques, closed feedback loops, process controls and reporting services which are then usually connected to Customer specific upper level control systems. Nearly every time, there is a need to report the manufacturing figures into ERP-system(s), which may also control parts of the production by sending recipe information or collect batch data to ensure complete visibility into the production chain and collect quality data.

Lahti Precision has decades of experience in supplying process equipment for demanding customer needs at all levels, from the delivery of individual equipment to complete factory-level systems. We can therefore say in good conscience that we are the leading solution provider of weighing and dosing systems in Europe.

The author of the article is our technology director Janne Kousa. He is responsible for the development and design of our company’s key technologies.