Outsourced Powder Manufacturing Process Brought In-House

Genesys International, an innovator in reverse osmosis (RO) membrane chemicals for the water treatment industry, turned to British Rema to help bring an outsourced powder manufacturing process in-house.

With a view to generating new business, increasing operational efficiency and sustainability, and to create new jobs at the company’s facility in Middlewich, Cheshire, the company opted for ribbon blenders to optimize production in-house.

A global leader in powder processing equipment, British Rema provides technical and engineering knowhow to a variety of industries. The brief from Genesys International was to provide a solution for blending batches of the company’s existing range of anti-scalants, cleaners, flocculants, and biocides to the required powder specification at optimum output. 

To analyze the feasibility of the project and to optimize the process and agree on the final scale of the equipment, the two companies worked in partnership to conduct mixing trials on a scaled version of the proposed ribbon blender design at the British Rema test facility in Chesterfield.

Following the success of the trials, the British Rema technical team designed a system comprising two 1,250-l-capacity ribbon blenders and proposed a further access platform option to offer additional blending capacity. This would offer Genesys the ability to run the blenders autonomously and enable each unit to produce a different (discrete) formulation if required.

There are multiple benefits of the new ribbon blenders including the possibility of developing new, specialty products in-house, and no longer having to rely on external manufacturing providers. Bringing production and distribution to the UK allows the business to target larger markets with a more comprehensive range of concentrated powder products. The plan will also cut the plant’s operating and manufacturing costs and reduce the carbon footprint for its Middlewich operation, while bringing down the overall price of transporting product to the global water treatment market.

Genesys International’s group vice president and managing director, Steve Chesters, oversaw the project and was delighted at the solution provided by British Rema, “The company has made a significant investment in this project and we are delighted to announce it will be entering full production in March 2022 after 12 months of planning and installation. The support from British Rema has been exceptional throughout and they went above and beyond our original brief to develop a tailor-made solution that will enable us to create new products.

The project has already created three extra local jobs and will allow Genesys to supply our water treatment products to over 100 countries around the world. This is a great example of two British companies working hand in hand to provide world class solutions.”

The official opening of the new plant was held on March 15, 2022, and Genesys International welcomed local dignitaries, customers, and suppliers to the Middlewich, Cheshire facility.