I often receive RFQs for new extrusion plants. This, aside from a business card or an email, is the first step in acquiring a new plant. After the initial inquiry, I send a survey form to the customer so they can better explain their needs. I find that often the requests are for more hourly capacity than necessary. Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n
Mr. Jones wants to produce 640 tons of product per month. He calculates that he will run 8 hours a day, 4 tons per hour (TPH), and 20 days per month. His capacity determination is correct; however, it is not the most efficient way to meet his monthly demand of 640 tons of product. I would challenge Mr. Jones to consider running a 2 TPH plant 16 hours a day and 20 days a month. In this scenario, he will also produce 640 tons of product, so if Mr. Jones can set up his business to run 16 hours per day, he can reduce his initial investment significantly.<\/p>\n
He also has built-in extra capacity. In our scenario, he only works 20 days a month, so only about two-thirds of the time. If he needs more product in a certain month, he can increase his running days and, if necessary, his hours. The 2 TPH extrusion line can run 24 hours a day, 26 days a month. This gives Mr. Jones a max capacity of 1,248 tons per month.<\/p>\n
Thinking about capacity is also important when you plan for the future. If you are going to start with a 2 TPH plant, but you envision expanding to 4 tons per hour in the near future, you may want to consider sourcing larger hammermills, augers, and coolers from the start, because the incremental cost is minimal compared to buying a complete second unit. The good news is that Insta-Pro extrusion lines are compact and modular, so they fit very well into expansion plans and can easily be added as your business grows.<\/p>\n
This same principle applies when evaluating higher-capacity solutions. Rather than installing multiple smaller extruders to reach a target throughput, it\u2019s more efficient to invest in a single, higher-capacity system. Insta-Pro\u2019s 9000 extruder is designed to produce the same high-quality ingredients as the 1 TPH 2000 extruder, but at up to 4 TPH with a single unit. Compared to installing four 2000 extruders to achieve similar output, a single 9000 can deliver meaningful savings: about 11% lower purchase price and 26% lower installation costs, while dramatically reducing facility requirements with 60% less floor space and 54% less cubic volume.<\/p>\n
In practical terms, that means fewer machines to operate and maintain, simpler plant layouts, and more room for future expansion without sacrificing product quality. It\u2019s another way to think about capacity: not just in terms of output per hour, but in how efficiently that output is achieved across your entire operation.<\/p>\n
What Mr. Jones\u2019 example teaches us is the importance of good communication with the equipment salesperson. They can work with you to determine the best approach for your vision and offer different solutions to fit within your budget. Also, even if you’re set on a certain capacity, consider alternative solutions you might not have previously considered; the most efficient path forward isn\u2019t always the most obvious one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I often receive RFQs for new extrusion plants. This, aside from a business card or an email, is the first step in acquiring a new plant. After the initial inquiry, I send a survey form to the customer so they can better explain their needs. I find that often the requests are for more hourly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[92,35,36,32,179,69],"class_list":["post-24147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-businessstrategyandfinance","tag-business-strategy","tag-capital-investment","tag-creating-a-profitable-plant","tag-customer-support","tag-extruded-products","tag-profitable-feed-processing-plant"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n