الأحد، 17 فبراير 2019

Here Is Information On 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.

Products produced from pilot factories are often real and one can use them for various functions. Firstly, one can use these products as samples to be used in testing the market. Customers in the market that is targeted are given sample products for testing purposes. Feedback is given back by the customers after they have tested. These feedback is used as the basis for making improvements in 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.

The term pilot plant is a very relative one because these plants come in a wide range of sizes. However, one factor that remains is that they are smaller compared to full scale production plants. Because they are small and are meant for learning purposes, it is possible to scale them up or down. Scaling is done depending on the goal that needs to be achieved.

The cost and ease of building these plants often differs from scenario to scenario. Building some plants is simple such that it can be done in a laboratory using stock lab equipment. On the contrary, other plants are costly and very large. It may cost millions of dollars and take several square feet of space to construct complex plants.

Composite plants are often customized. Process piping instrumentation and equipment are used in their construction. Complex plants serve to train personnel. The workers may then use the knowledge they got from the pilot plant in real life instances when they work in full scale factories.

These plants reduce the risks that come from construction of large process plants in many ways. First of all, computer simulations and semi-empirical techniques are used for validation of assumptions and designs. Therefore, chancing money before being sure of what could be achieved is avoided by companies.




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