Vibratory separator machines for food and beverage applications

Just as vibratory separators and screens are not one-size-fits-all, the separator manufacturer’s technical support should not be either. The customer base for these machines falls roughly into four categories, and the right level of technical advice respects the needs of each. 

• Some customer interactions are purely transactional. That is, they know exactly what they want, which is the same thing they ordered last year, and the year before that. They do not want to be upsold on something different. It is just a reorder. A good mesh expert is still available to review whether their mesh choice is providing the optimal throughput and durability, but mostly stay out of the way.
• New customers who have little experience with separators, are unfamiliar with their capabilities and who might have little technical know-how might be overwhelmed by all of the choices. They want some technical guidance from an application engineer without feeling like they are being pressured to buy something they do not fully understand.
• In between those two are customers who may have some past experience with separator machines or are themselves engineers with a technical background. They like to do their homework first but would still like to discuss their options with an application engineer to make sure they have not missed anything. 
• OEM customers who need to incorporate a separator into a processing line that they sell as a package. They will be ordering many of the same machine and expect them to be tailored to integrate seamlessly into their process. When they speak to a technical consultant they expect an application expert, not just a sales contact.

For any of these categories of customer, being met with the wrong one of these technical approaches can be unhelpful and off-putting. Respecting every customer begins with establishing and demonstrating credibility in each of these categories. An engineering-led company that decouples technical service from customer sales commissions is best suited to demonstrate to each and every customer that their best interests are the top priority. Offering online machine sizing and selection tools, instructional materials and no-pressure customer guidance from experts allows each type of customer to engage on their own terms at their own comfort level.

The shift from sales contacts to application engineers has yielded customer support improvements in the form of demystifying the selection process. Online selection calculators and tutorials have helped to inform the customer. Many separator manufacturers have decoupled sales from commission, giving customers a peek behind the curtain to see that sizing and configuring these machines really does take extensive expertise.

Selection

The following is a table of applications and examples typical of the food and beverage processing industry. Vibratory separators have been used in these ways for as long as they have been around. The utility of these machines depends on how they are configured. Each one of these examples requires different wire mesh screens, different accessories and different adjustments to the machine, and all must be sized to the customer’s production rate.