Basically the job we do is very simple. We mix some useful ingredient with a diluent like water, or talc in the case of powders, and we pack it into suitable containers. We can do it in small amounts or in larger amounts, say 1-2,000 litres or kgs. We can do it every once in a while or every day.

This simple idea is made less simple at every turn, usually by the addition of one or more simple variations. For example, the mixture or the useful ingredient with water may be improved by the addition of one or more additional ingredients that may prevent the mixture from being too frothy or from fermenting in the warm. A powder mixture may need to improve its flow properties or absorb unwanted moisture or to be fragranced or coloured.

Some formulations can include over a dozen ingredients and sometimes they need to be pre-mixed to ensure that they are properly dispersed or reacted together before they are brought into contact with other ingredients. Sometimes the pre-mix also requires a pre-mix of one or more of its ingredients. Sometimes one or more of the ingredients need to be heated before addition because they are solid at room temperature and need to be sprayed into the mix and sometimes the water needs to be heated to combat the endothermic heat of dilution when an ingredient is dissolved in it. Sometimes the order of addition is critical to the outcome as in the wrong order a precipitate will fall out and the formulation will fail its quality criteria.

To our clients these simple variations are of critical importance and they assume that they make an insignificant impact on our simple business. They happily ask that we accommodate them with a range of different pack sizes or label variants which may or may not be for different formulations and in range of different quantities. After all it is just a few simple variations isn’t it?

As we spread our net to attract more clients and more products we add new formulations and new ingredients and new variations to our portfolio. We find that we need to acquire or accommodate a range of different, fragrances, biocides, anti-foams, pigments, dyes, emulsifiers, viscosity modifiers, moisture absorbents, absorbent granules, clays, talcs, sands, polymers, oils, solvents and chemicals of all sorts both with and without water of crystallisation.

Often we also attract variations of the client’s business model which can result in very different outcomes according to their requirement for making to order or making to stock or making to stock for immediate fulfillment of internet orders. The three approaches have very different impacts on the manufacturer.

Most of the chemicals have some form of hazard warning whether it is irritating to some part of the body, potentially hazardous to breathe, potentially sensitizing (which is a particular worry) or simply toxic, corrosive, explosive or flammable. Each one must be considered in the context of its individual use and in combination with the others in the formulation and occasionally in combination with another chemical that might be stored in the vicinity. This consideration must be documented, communicated with the people involved in the mixing and appropriate training provided with appropriate equipment to control and contain the chemicals and ultimately be worn by the operator as a final protection. The simple business must have a system to identify, record and manage all of the hazardous chemicals used in the business from the janitor and the mechanic to the laboratory and production staff. This includes the materials purchased by the company and all those provided by the clients and contractors.

It is also necessary to archive the information concerning materials that are no longer used or for which the hazard data has been changed.as well as to ensure that the business is up to date with the latest safety data for all of the chemicals currently in use. If we develop a formulation of our own to sell to someone then we must prepare a safety data sheet of our own that meets the criteria laid down in the European Regulations before we can supply it or transport it anywhere. All of this is a bit less simple.

Not forgetting the issues relating to the disposal of any waste streams generated by the process which certainly include the empty containers for all of the ingredients used. Some ingredients are particularly hazardous to marine environments and so even empty containers washed to drain could end in a river killing all the fish for miles. It can happen by accident and by the action of vandals entertaining themselves on a Sunday or Bank Holiday.The resulting publicity and fine is certainly not a simple matter. The management and security of waste is a major concern for training, supervision and continual vigilance.

There is also the matter of process technology because the actual mixing is not always done best with a simple propeller stirrer in a tank.Sometimes a more significant amount of shear is required and sometimes the speed and shape of the mixer is itself critical to success. Then similar considerations arise for powder blends or granule making which may be highly sophisticated processes in themselves or simply difficult to manage the resulting blend because it flows too easily or not at all. Solid formulations may also have issues concerning the need for grinding or sieving of either ingredients or final blend, or both.

Meanwhile the business must support itself by attracting as much business as possible which usually involves a large number of small and medium sized jobs in a variety of different processes, formulations, sizes, labels, languages and variations. The inventory goes up, the variety goes up and the volume increases in pursuit of economies of scale that enable the business to win by being price competitive.

The customers who seem to be coming through with orders as their business develops are often the ones that bring additional variants as they seek to expand into new markets with new formulations or different presentations in response to their customers’ requests. These are often small, experimental, time consuming development or range extension jobs that consume many hours of management time and attention and only occasionally result in profitable growth.But can you say no?

Some of these simple jobs can be adequately monitored by physical tests that the operators can be trained to undertake and some can be sampled and analysed by contract laboratories. Apart from the cost the biggest drawback of using an outside laboratory is the time it takes to submit, analyse and receive the results. In the meantime you need to get on with packing. Sometimes you are prepared to wait, but the customer is often impatient. Sometimes you take the risk and pack anyway. How much better to have your own laboratory resource? Better still that the lab generates business of its own by developing formulations for the business or its clients. This tends to bring more variations as ideas cross-fertilize and problems are solved by changing ingredients and processes.

Meanwhile the simple product may need to be packed in suitable packaging to satisfy the safety requirements for the end use market or for the transportation to the market. Maybe the product needs to use UN approved packaging. If it does, is the packaging approved for this particular product and is it acceptable for the mode of transport envisaged? Road, sea and air are not all equal.It is the manufacturer who despatches the goods that carries the responsibility for the correct use of the packaging and for the documentation for transport. It is a little less simple to ensure that the person negotiating the order, purchasing the packaging, specifying the label, completing the despatch documentation is aware of the various requirements that applies to some, but not all of the simple mixes and packs.

The packing operation itself presents additional opportunities for variation depending on the type of filling that is required, the type of closure or seal, the accuracy of fill, batch marking, any other checks required and the the evidence of the checks being completed.

The nature of the product may also impact on the filling as a result of the frothiness, gloopiness, or tendency to separate for liquids or the dustiness, or ease and consistency of flow of a solid fill. The dusty and “flows like water” powder fills are often the worst to handle.

The actual despatch can be another matter again. To keep it simple the ideal contract is an ex works deal where responsibility passes at the factory gate. The customer usually expects us to load his transport nonetheless.

It gets less simple when the customer sends a shipping container and expects that to be loaded too. Filling a container single stacked with IBCs or nice uniform standard pallets with no “overhang” is fairly straightforward but ensuring that they don’t move in transit is not and believe me the biggest ships can be thrown about like corks in a trans-oceanic crossing. Having the right materials for securing the load inside the container and the expertise to use it is not so simple. In addition, the selection of an appropriate pallet needs to start at the design stage to ensure that there is no overhang preventing the requisite number from being loaded and also that the wood is appropriately treated so that it does not cause insect damage to another continent’s forests. Then there is the additional requirement for hazard labels for hazardous goods which is complicated further for shipments to the US which will require additional homeland security checks to be made plus the location of the hazard labels where they can be seen at all points of the journey and so must be located at a height that requires a ladder and the requisite health and safety provision for working at height in order to apply the labels. Finally the container is closed and sealed (twice for the US) but it is important to apply the seals in a way the prevents criminals from surreptitiously opening them using acid.

Then there is “known consignor” status which is another ball game altogether.

All very simple! Huh.