Small, bigger, biggest.
The Research & Development department at Kisuma develops products for new applications. Since early 2019, we have a pilot unit at our disposal. This allows us to do even better co-creation based work with our clients. Kisuma continues to invest in innovation, because we believe that this ensures our long-term continuity.
A glimpse into the future
Production processes for new materials that have already been tested on a small scale in our laboratory can be scaled up further in the pilot setup. It is possible that these processes will later be used in our factory for large-scale production. Therefore, you could say that the R&D pilot provides a glimpse into the future!
From sample to production: a huge step
When getting to work on the development of a new product, we begin with a lot of consideration and deliberation. We develop a process that enables us to produce the desired material. This not only concerns product properties, but also involves how the company is able to produce efficiently and safely as well as in an environmentally friendly way.
After that, we begin small-scale production in our laboratory, typically just a few hundred grams. This is usually enough for a client to use when investigating the product. If this yields positive results, larger-scale research will follow. This also means that a larger quantity of our product is required, often dozens of kilograms. Until recently, producing these quantities was very time consuming for us. The quantity that the client ultimately requests from us is actually much bigger, tens of thousands of kilograms or more. As you would expect, producing on this scale is significantly different from creating a sample in a laboratory.
Mini factory
With the pilot installation, we now have a step between the laboratory and the factory. This allows us to work better with our partners. By doing this, we can have clients test a larger quantity of sample material more quickly. It also enables us to acquire crucial knowledge about the scalability of the production process.
This is an important intermediate step, for us as well as the client. We start in the lab, then scale up to the pilot and, if we succeed and the customer is satisfied, we produce the requested quantities at the factory. This is how we create a reliable product.
Want to learn more about our pilot? Please contact us!