Sales of Malvern Instruments range of Insitec on-line particle size analyzers have grown significantly in Japan in the last six years.

According to Craig Howarth, business director for Malvern Process Systems, this sustained sales growth is being driven not only by the quality and applicability of the instruments themselves, but by the major challenges faced by Japan’s manufacturing sector.

“To meet the challenges posed both by the global market and by increasingly effective competition from other Asian economies, including China, Japanese powder manufacturers are seeking new ways to sharpen process control and improve product quality,” he said. “This has seen the Insitec being installed in Japan in significant numbers. The implementation of on-line particle size analysis using the Insitec allows producers to consistently manufacture leading edge, high quality powders which fully meet increasingly stringent customer requirements. It is therefore becoming the default process control tool for increasing numbers of Japanese powder processors. As well as new customers, we are seeing a high level of repeat business in Japan, with additional installations from existing customers. Such investment is a real testament to the effectiveness of the Insitec solution.”

The reliable, high quality, on-line particle size analysis which the Insitec delivers allows manufacturers to move on from the relatively intermittent control afforded by manual off-line measurement to fully optimized, automated control schemes. This improvement in process control leads directly to enhanced product quality and in addition facilitates the economic production of previously inaccessible products. These benefits are being observed by powder processors operating across a diverse range of industries – from cement to toners, from metal powders to pharmaceuticals.

The Insitec has been designed to meet industrial requirements for wet as well as and dry particle size measurement in the size range 0.3 – 1000 micron. It is rapidly installed, requires no calibration, needs little maintenance and is extremely reliable. Integration with existing plant hardware and software is straightforward. Multiple unit orders are increasingly becoming the norm as more manufacturers adopt Insitec as their de facto control standard.