An industrial agitator is a mechanical device used to achieve different mixing tasks like homogenization, suspending, dispersing, mass transfer and heat transfer in various process media (liquids, gas or solids) in sectors such as pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and cosmetics. The expansion in production capacity of industrial verticals, particularly the chemical industry, is one of the reasons driving the growth of the worldwide industrial agitators market. The Chinese government has started implementing stricter environmental protection norms and global players are looking to diversify supply risk after covid19 pandemic, thereby improving export opportunities for Indian players. Therefore, the India’s chemicals industry is poised for strong growth & huge investments will be seen in India in this segment.
Having said that, clients have been increasingly quality aware in recent years, and several overseas agitator manufacturers have joined the Indian market, selling products that are nearly 3-4 times the price of Indian ones. To make matters worse, the market is very much disorganized at local level. As a result, a competent domestic player with the necessary reputation to deliver items that meet international quality requirements at a more reasonable price is required. There is increasing requirement of optimizing mixing processes to improve the yields and at lower power consumption as well. With this, manufacturers must develop unique methodologies to supply innovative products in order to achieve the necessary mixing objectives in a timely & economic manner.
Formeca Industries is one such organization that has made a name for itself as a one-stop-solution provider when it comes to offering tailor made agitators & reactors. The company has been leveraging decades of experience in catering to the diverse requirements of its customers. The company offers complete reactor systems, after identifying the desired mixing objectives so as to deliver optimum equipment which can provide the required mixing in the lowest possible time. The organization’s success can be attributed to the company’s quality oriented approach, which is backed by its well equipped infrastructure, and dedicated workforce. This has helped them in obtaining a long list of leading clients with repeated orders. The fact that Formeca Industries is a researched-backed, technology first company, enables it to understand the end-objectives desired by its niche customers.
“Considering the experience that we have accumulated, we have chosen to diversify in this specific sector by developing a distinct brand named ROTAQO Process Systems. Under this brand, the company has been successfully marketing and selling its agitators. Our expertise is in high pressure/high temperature multiphase (Solid–Liquid–Gas) Reactor Systems for processes like Hydrogenation. Furthermore, the brand's distinction can be demonstrated by unparalleled performance, build quality, aesthetics, and improved ROI”, says Uday Prabhu, CEO at Formeca Industries.
ROTAQO is a brand that specializes in Advanced Reaction Engineering solutions for the Process Industries. ROTAQO's ultimate goal is to increase its clients' profitability by delivering innovative technological solutions such as Data Analytics & Digitization, FEA & CFD - which will help them improve efficiency, yields, and cut costs. It provides comprehensive competence in Reaction Engineering, including the design, simulation,
engineering, and production of whole Reactor Systems.
Ensuring One-point Liability to the customer
When we talk about agitators, they are fitted on what is known as a mixing vessel. In general, there is a vessel and an agitator that, when combined, create one piece of equipment known as a reactor. However, there are several large participants in the market today, but the majority of them simply offer only agitators. This raises problems since these equipments have many internals which affect the reactor performance, and there is no one point of culpability. Understanding this, Formeca Industries has a competitive advantage in the market because it is providing a whole Reactor System rather than simply the agitator; the customers purchase the vessel from a vessel manufacturer and the agitator from an agitator manufacturer. It is combined and utilized in the process. As Formeca Industries supplies the entire reactor, the entire delivery commitment and performance obligation is borne by a single source, rather than having equipment purchased from two distinct vendors.
“We have a dedicated staff that focuses solely on agitators and the solutions that go with them. With shifting market conditions, we also intend to add additional components, and we have begun to produce products such as mechanical seals, which are a vital element of the agitator and reactor as a whole. Furthermore, we intend to build our own pilot plant where clients may take necessary trials to check the performance. During the trial period, one may see whether or not they are obtaining the desired results”, highlights Uday.
A Futureready Organization
With lots of risks involved in carrying out the mixing processes such as hydrogenation, one cannot just simply install reactors at the client’s site; the particular equipment is a part of a much bigger chemical plant. Formeca Industries has a technically-adept team of seasoned professionals which comprises mechanical & chemical engineers who perfectly understand every critical parameter that is required; be it during lab trials or the actual plant installation. Moreover, the company has exclusive tie-ups with consultants from Institutes such as ICT in Mumbai as well.
Formeca Industries has also been leveraging the latest technologies to bring in the needed innovation in the market today. For instance, it has integrated welding facilities like Submerged Arc Welding for welding of thick vessels to ensure quality output in significantly less amount of time. This especially is very important when it comes to manufacturing high pressure vessels.
Our technically-adept team of seasoned professionals comprises of mechanical and chemical engineers who perfectly understand every critical parameter that is required; be it during lab trials or the actual plant installation
In recent years, the size & complexity of chemical plants & associated chemical reaction equipments have increased steadily, thereby increasing the need for safer designs. “We have utilized modern design approaches such as FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to ensure mechanically safe and robust designs and improved operational efficiency. CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) has allowed us in understanding the fluid behavior while an agitator is running within a reactor, to analyze various loads on vessel internals, optimize heat transfer, and how all of the mechanics operate, among other things. We have also collaborated with a number of technology evangelists to improve technology across its infrastructure”, explains Uday.
“We prepare a process model and analyze the data in the lab and tell you what exactly would be the best possible approach in deriving a particular product desired by the client. This is something which we have recently launched and is very exclusive to us”
Today, as the data has become a sort of bread and butter for any organization, Formeca Industries has also been offering data analytics and process modeling to create structured information and develop the perfect solution for its clients. Firstly, the mixing and the reaction is studied in the lab. And once they get the satisfactory results, every data is collected and analyzed to come out with the best outcome. In today’s demanding market conditions, customers want to go from the lab to production in a very short span of time, carrying out our experiments virtually really helps to attain it. “We prepare
a process model and analyze the data in the lab and tell you what exactly would be the best possible approach in deriving a particular product desired by the client. This is something which we have recently launched and is very exclusive to us”, signifies Uday.
Formeca Industries' objective is to provide constant value addition while also contributing to the nation's economic and infrastructure development. It also aspires to develop professional business practices and generate world-class job opportunities, particularly for young upcoming talents. The organization’s vision is to be a world's leading company in the field of Process Plant & Equipment engineering, wherein, the products when supplied should provide absolutely trouble free service to the nation and to its valuable customers. Over the years, the corporation has earned a reputable standing in this industry due to the perfect blend of people, process and technology.
