Selecting a powder handling system vendor is important because the vendor can make or break your project. A successful project works well, comes in on time, and stays on budget, while a poor project is frustrating and time-consuming as well as harmful to your company’s performance and potentially your career! Choosing the right supplier is critical, but it’s not always straightforward.

The good news is that there are many good equipment and system suppliers to choose from. If you need a new system with a variety of equipment types, you’ll first need to decide whether to get it all from one system supplier or buy each piece of equipment separately and integrate the system yourself.  Designing your own system can save money, but it is not recommended unless you have a lot of experience, plenty of time to figure out the details, and can accept the risk of making sure everything works well together.

Consequently, you’ll probably want to choose a primary supplier who accepts responsibility for everything in the system. However, if there are one or two expensive critical items along with a lot of other supporting equipment, it’s reasonable to make a separate contract for the critical items along with a contract with a systems vendor to supply all the remaining equipment.

For example, your critical item might be a new mixer or extruder. If you are comfortable specifying and buying it, then buy it directly from the manufacturer and save some money instead of buying it through the system supplier. The systems supplier will happily provide the remaining material storage, conveying systems, and controls. Just make sure to tell each supplier everything they need to know about the other one and be extra careful at all the interface points. Pneumatic conveying companies, in particular, are good at supplying partial and complete material handling systems.

It takes time to bring vendors up to speed on a project and evaluate their bids, so you’ll first want to narrow it down and choose two or three potential vendors to send your bid request. Don’t underestimate the importance of this initial narrowing process.