In evaluating a pneumatic conveying system, a company wants to be convinced of three basic pieces of information:

1. Is the system going to truly automate a process?
If a particular process now involves 5 personnel, can most or all of those personnel actually be eliminated from the process and assigned elsewhere? Will it actually be possible to run that process with little to no further attention, save perhaps periodic monitoring?

2. Is the system really reliable?
Will the system run 24X7 without babysitting? Will it stand up to the required process; is it robust and seriously proofed against breaking down? How much maintenance will it require?

3. What is the actual cost of the system?
The overall price of a system is only the beginning of such a question. How quickly would the system pay for itself?  How much actual time and cost will be saved by its implementation?

These questions each tie into one other, and each and all must be answered in detail. Fortunately, if reliable expert assistance is sought, that first set of horribly niggly engineering-type questions need not be solved by a facility, and the important questions as above can be answered fully by an outside expert and to a facility’s satisfaction.

An understanding of material characteristics is essential when designing a vacuum transfer system — experts often already possess data about a particular substance’s behavior and will test within a proposed configuration to ensure it will work properly. This knowledge must, by necessity, be extensive; for example, there are often several product grades within the same product group and those forms may have completely different characteristics such as free flowing, sluggish or non-free flowing. One grade of Zinc Oxide may have the consistency of talc, while another might be more cohesive and adhere to inside surfaces of conveying tubes.

Experts in pneumatic conveying solutions, such as Vac-U-Max, an early pioneer of vacuum technology, are skilled in designing proper solutions based on application specific needs. Rather than trying to dazzle you with the complexity of the technology, a pneumatic conveying company who routinely designs and builds custom pneumatic conveying solutions will most likely have an idea of how to tailor a system to meet present and future needs and will be able to provide solutions that work properly out of the box in the facility.