Productivity Improvement: From a Multipurpose to a Single-Product Unit and from Batch to Continuous Production

Abstract

Ciba Specialty Chemicals has been manufacturing the Ciba® IRGAFOS® 168 Process Stabilizer for 25 years. Two fundamental changes in the design concept of the production equipment and in the process have been implemented:
• Firstly from a multipurpose unit to a single-product unit, both running with a batch-wise manufacturing process.
• Secondly from a batch-wise process to a continuous one, both running in dedicated single-product units. Remarkable improvements in productivity have been achieved over the years, due to the extension of know-how about the product itself and its manufacturing process and to revisions in the design concept of the equipment and the production strategy.