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When deciding on the best moisture measurement technology for your business, it’s important not to make a decision purely based on the purchase price of the instrument. Weighing up the benefits and how these can impact both efficiencies and profits is key to a long-term successful acquisition.
The purpose of this article is to share with you how NIR technology will benefit your company and improve profits.
Understanding the basics of how NIR technology works, and for which products and uses it’s best suited, will help you understand how it can save you money and improve your bottom line.
To start, I thought I’d share a brief introduction into how NIR works. Near infrared (NIR) measurement uses reflectance and absorbance principles for calculating the moisture content of an item. This meter bounces a beam of light off the product (in some cases transmits the light through the sample). The light is filtered to a wavelength (or multiple wavelengths) that excite the moisture molecules. The higher the moisture content, the higher the amount of light absorbed. The instrument measures the light reflected back and an algorithm determines the light absorbed by the sample.
Let’s look at the 5 ways NIR technology can give your company a boost
1. Time
Once calibrated (only 7-10 samples are needed for a valid calibration), the process for determining moisture in your product is relatively quick. The versatility of this technology means you can get accurate moisture measurements when you need them, be it on the process line, in the lab or in the field. All of this equates to faster test results and feedback, allowing you to optimize your time, and your teams’ time.
2. Improved quality control
The speed and accuracy in which you can obtain results from NIR technology will allow you to conduct more tests within a given time period. Since you can conduct more tests and at a higher frequency, you will achieve tighter control of your product quality.
3. Better use of personnel
If your company is still using the Karl Fischer or Loss On Drying method for determining moisture, chances are a lot of personnel’s time is being tied up conducting these tests, when they should be spending their time on more profitable activities. The NIR technology allows the user to instantly get accurate measurement results they need with very little time required at all.
4. Transport/shipping costs
Having the incorrect amount of moisture in your product will affect your profits by way of (1) increasing the cost of shipping - with extra moisture in your product your total shipment will be heavier resulting in higher shipping costs and (2) product quality - if you don’t have the right amount of moisture in your product the quality will be affected resulting in either product loss or reduced shelf life, as well as an unhappy customer which could cost you’re a lot more than just the loss of product.
5. Optimizing buy/sell transactions
The ease, versatility and accuracy of NIR technology for moisture measurement gives you the ability to conduct instant and repetitive tests helping you to optimize yields out and revenue in.
NIR technology for moisture measurement is growing in popularity across many industries such as; Food and grain processors, Tobacco, Pharmaceutical, Pulp and paper, Minerals, Personal care products, Chemicals and Textiles.
To learn more about the different methods for measuring moisture, the advantages, deficiencies, and who is using which method - download our latest ebook.
