As the nutritional product marketplace continues to grow, the search continues for efficient, consistent, quality solutions for dry blending. There persists, however, the basic need for uniform blending, even dispersion of low-inclusion additives, through clean-out and quick batch turnover. Unfortunately, not much has changed about the equipment used to blend nutritional, dietary and nutraceutical powders.
As formulators look to gain a competitive advantage and grow profit margins, they face many considerations, but the one factor commonly overlooked is the heart of the operation, the blender. Margins are minimized or maximized in the process- re-work, high energy costs, long blend times and a lack of easy clean-out usually inflate the cost of goods sold and, ultimately, affect the profit margin.
Most familiar in the dry-powder marketplace are ribbon mixers, cone blenders, V blenders and paddle mixers. While these are dominant technologies in this segment, most manufacturers experience similar problematic situations. As a result, the common standard of “uniform blend� is blurred. Read on about Uniformly Blending Nutritional Supplement Powders