Blending Accuracy Using IND780Batch

Solberg foam concentrates are a firefighting foam product, packaged and sold in 5-gallon pails, 55-gallon drums, and 265-gallon totes. Firefighting foams are used to suppress or extinguish Class A (ordinary combustibles) and Class B (flammable liquid) fires. Firefighters use Class B foam to fight industrial fires in industries, such as aerospace, chemical production, defense, energy generation, marine, mining, pharmaceuticals, and others.

For Solberg, poor batch quality caused by inaccurate blending means expensive finite materials are wasted. Solberg must dispose of any bad batches because they can cause more than just reputational damage to the company; bad batches can have life-or-death consequences. If firefighting foam concentrates are incorrectly blended, the product could fail to suppress fires as designed, with devastating results. When Solberg opened its new facility in Wisconsin, USA, it took a hard look at the design of its blending operation to control production in a sustainable and economical way. The company turned to its local measurement and process control equipment distributor, Valley Scale Service, Inc., for advice. The IND780batch controller from METTLER TOLEDO was a natural fit because it ensured that Solberg’s foam concentrates are always made with the correct amount of raw materials, which ensures top quality and helps improve the company’s ecological footprint by reducing waste.

Valley Scale installed the IND780batch terminal to control two heavy-capacity METTLER TOLEDO weighing platforms– one for each of Solberg’s twin 5,500-gallon blend tanks. With the new equipment, operations ran much more smoothly. Productivity also improved, says The Solberg Co. Vice President of Engineering Steve Hansen. Blending accuracy is critical to producing the best product at the lowest cost with minimal waste, says The Solberg Co. Vice President of Global Marketing Dave Pelton. “Precise blending is important not only for the performance of the product but also because of the cost of the raw materials that go into the products. We want to maximize yield and reduce waste,” he says.

Hansen agrees that perfect blending is key in the firefighting foam industry. “As our products carry multiple agency listings and approvals, the ability to blend consistently is paramount,” he says. “The IND780 batching process allows us to set tolerances on each raw material addition to achieve the required quality.” The IND780batch has shortened the blend time for products while increasing throughput and capacity. Precise blending allows Solberg to produce a consistent, high-quality product for a critical application while maintaining an efficient and environmentally conscious operation. “The IND780batch has been dead-on accurate,” Pelton says. “For us, it’s all about improved efficiencies.”