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AGITEC and MERLINC:
Set up in 1991, AGITEC (based in Montanay near Lyon) specialises in designing and manufacturing all types of mixing and stirring machines.
Today, AGITEC’s expertise is recognised by a large number of manufacturers in a wide variety of fields ranging from chemicals and
petrochemicals, paints and varnishes, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to food
processing, water treatment and the perfume industry.
MERLINC (based in Genas near Lyon) designs and manufacturers
boilers, specialising in stainless steels and noble metals. Formed in 1958, MERLINC generates most of its revenue in the
pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetics and chemicals sectors. Most of its devices are used in sterile or ultra-clean environments which are subject to strict
regulations.
AGITEC and MERLINC have teamed up to produce equipment for use in the food processing industry.
Based on the customer’s need to modernise and bring its process into
compliance, MERLINC and AGITEC designed and produced an original unit tailored to the customer's
process. The customer wished to modernise its manufacturing tool and bring it into compliance with ATEX standards without having to stop production. It quickly became clear from the outset that it would be more effective and cheaper to completely replace the tanks and
stirrers. MERLINC and AGITEC thus designed and manufactured a new unit, perfectly in line with the constraints of the manufacturing
process. Working in close collaboration with MERLINC, which produced the tanks, AGITEC supplied the
stirrers.
MERLINC’s sales manager Mr Raymond Angonin confirmed that by calling on AGITEC’s services he was securing the support of a technically sound ATEX-compliant
partner. “We chose AGITEC for its ability to respond, its consulting and its competitive
edge. We have been working together since 1999. With this unit, we were the only ones to come up with a technical solution which corresponded exactly to the customer’s
needs. Before we even secured the order, we had carried out a study which became a real technical aid by defining the geometry and the modifications to be made to the existing production
device. Over the course of the various meetings in the presence of Grégory
Badey, AGITEC’s sales manager, we demonstrated our ability to produce specifications by designing equipment that corresponded exactly to the production
needs. We did a very comprehensive job.” The MERLINC-AGITEC partnership thus emerged as the only supplier able to exactly meet the technical and economical
requirements.
It took a year of close collaboration for AGITEC and MERLINC to design and manufacture this original unit.
With a single type of electrical socket, each element functions independently with a special embedded ATEX control
unit.
The sixteen wheel-mounted mixers are completely independent of each
other. They can be moved around and plugged into any socket on the site. A frequency variator installed on each tank controls the stirring speed. The technology complies with ATEX standard – zones 0 and 20 inside the tanks
(gas and powder constantly present).
The 16 tank elements (from 50 to 1,000 litres) are equipped with 0.25 to 0.55Kw pendular
stirrers. The stirring technology is designed to operate at a variable level and to continue mixing until the tank is completely
empty. The equipment is classed as ultra-clean. It is made entirely of polished stainless
steel, has no hold-up and is perfectly tailored to pressure and temperature constraints resulting not only from the manufacturing
processes, but from sterilisation and cleaning in place (SIP and CIP). Maintenance is
reduced, easy and fast.
Notes
AGITEC: 13 employees – 2006 revenue: €2,500,000
MERLINC: 15 employees – 2006 revenue: €2,100,000
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