Choosing the appropriate mixing technology for a specific application is key when considering manufacturing processes in coatings production. Because end products and raw materials vary, there is a range of mixing and dispersing technologies employed in the coatings industry. Additionally, suppliers of coatings raw materials are creating new products that can change mixing processes in manufacturing. For instance, an additive supplier develops a product that can undergo wetting and dispersion in a single dissolver step instead of a dissolver and a milling step, possibly prompting a change in mixing operations.
In the introduction to the 2004 edition of the “Handbook of Industrial Mixing,” a reference book for the industrial mixing industry, the authors point out that there is significant cost when mixing issues are not evaluated during the development of industrial processes. The handbook reported “yield losses of 5% due to poor mixing are typical” in the chemical industry. When an industry implements advancements in technology, the mixing technology that supports those advancements must also be considered.