Friday, 12 April 2019

Useful And Essential Facts About Pilot Plants

By Edward Foster


New technologies are developed every day that passes. In addition to that, new tech-based products are developed and put to commercial production by companies everyday as part of diversifying their product portfolios. New products are meant to ensure that companies continue to survive in the market and compete effectively with other newer technologies produced by rivals. However, not every idea that a company/individual comes up with is worth commercializing before adequate data has been collected about it. This is worth knowing about Pilot plants.

Prior to firms getting in profitable manufacturing of new technologies or products, they first produce on small scale. A pilot plant is a set up that is used to undertake small scale production of products or technologies before commercialization. It is a manufacturing system. New production technology is employed in developing new products founded on new technology in small scale using pilot factories. The main reason for this is to gain knowledge that can be employed in the design of large scale systems of production and marketable items.

The products that are produced from these plants are usually real and can be used for various purposes. First, these products can be used as samples that can be used to test the market. The sample products are given to customers in the targeted market so that they can test them. After testing, customers give feedback, which is then based upon to improve the final product.

Quality control is also another function that pilot factories perform besides gauging the market. In such instances, company engineers test sample commodities to see if the necessary standards have been met. Such standards may be put in place by the government or the management of the firm on its desired quality. Should the product fail to comply with the standards, re-engineering is done until the standards are achieved.

Pilot plant is a term that is very relative since the plant come in various sizes. However, it is for a fact that they usually have a smaller size when compared to full-scale production plants. Scaling them down or up is possible since they are intended for learning reasons and are small too. The goals one intends to achieve usually determine how scaling is done.

The simplicity and the cost it takes to build these plants usually vary from one scenario to another. Some plants are very simple in that they can be built in labs with the use of stock lab equipment. On the other hand, some plants are very large and very costly. A complex pilot plant can take up several square feet of space and cost several millions to construct.

Complex plants are usually custom-made and fabrication is done from process piping, equipment, and instrumentation. These kinds of plants can be used for the purposes of training personnel. Workers can then apply the knowledge they gain about the pilot plant in real life situations when working at the full-scale plant.

There exist a number of methods that these plants employ in scaling down risks emanating from building big process factories. To begin with, computer simulations and semi empirical methods are employed in validation of assumptions and designs. Therefore, firms sidestep gambling with money prior to being sure about the feasibility of a certain process.




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